Mets Minors Report 4/20: Wheeler Out Of Control, Lagares and Nimmo Are Hitting Machines, Cuan Shelled

Rafael Montero takes the hill for Binghamton today.

Last Night’s Quick Scores

Prospect Pipeline

This is now fourth straight starts in which Zack Wheeler failed to deliver six innings. It was another start where his pitch count was remarkably bad. 108 pitches and only 61 strikes in 4.1 innings is not going to get anyone promoted to the majors no matter how high you rank on Baseball America’s Top Prospect. You still have to execute. So far this season, Wheeler has pitched a total of 18.1 innings, averaging only 4.5 innings per start. That’s not going to cut it. He’s walked 12 and allowed 17 hits and his ERA now stands at an unsightly 4.91 his WHIP is now north of 2.00. The thing of it is that you can’t blame all those walks on the PCL or park factors. This has been a chronic problem for Wheeler throughout his career. (Joe D.)
Baseball America had Wilmer Flores “In the Team Photo” in this week’s Hot Sheet. They writes: “The 21-year-old went 12-for-30 (.400) with a homer and four doubles this week, but more remarkably he has just three strikeouts in 15 games this season.” Actually it’s now four strikeouts in 68 plate appearances while drawing seven walks. (Joe D.)
Andrew Brown continued his hot streak to open the season with a two-run double, giving him 14 RBI in 16 games. He’s now batting .344/.425/.565 and more than half his hits are for extra bases. He may ne in Flushing sooner rather than later. (Joe D.)
Here’s someone that often gets overlooked. Triple-A outfielder Juan Lagares went 2-for-4 last night and was on base three times. Lagares, 24, has now hit safely in 11 of his last 12 games and is batting .368/.403/.544 this season. (Joe D.)
One night after Noah Syndergaard was torched for seven earned runs for St. Lucie, Angel Cuan outdid him and was charged with nine runs in 3 1/3 innings. He surrendered four homers. I thought the St. Lucie rotations was supposed to be the Dream Team? (Joe D.)

Stat Line of the Night

* * * Kevin Plawecki went 3-for-4, homered, doubled, walked and had four RBIs. * * *

Tweet of the Day

Transactions/Injuries

Travis d’Arnaud will not require surgery and the Mets expect him to be out for eight weeks, but say he could be back sooner. The Mets catcher fractured his big toe or as Jerry Seinfeld would say, the captain of the toes.
RHP Luis Mateo will miss about three weeks with a strained elbow, but the MRI revealed no structural damage. Mateo will take anti-inflammatory medication after being examined by team doctors in New York.
Sandy Alderson had relatively good news on pitching prospect Cory Mazzoni who will rest three days after being diagnosed with elbow irritation by team doctors.
Josh Satin came out of last night’s game with what appeared to be an ankle injury.

Prospect Audio/Video

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Here’s a look at shortstop Phil Evans, shot last week by Mike Newman of ROTOscouting.com.