Coming into play on Labor Day, Brandon Nimmo was hitting .354 while Las Vegas 51s teammate T.J. Rivera was at .350 with the Pacific Coast League batting title on the line.
The two traded spots for the title during the game with Rivera leading .3531 to Nimmo’s .3529 going into the 9th inning of the 51s blow out win. Nimmo (.352) lined into a double play in the 9th inning hurting his chances. Gavin Cecchini then got out to end the inning and clinch the title for Rivera (.353) with him on deck.
Nimmo broke his previous batting average career high of .322 that he set in 2014 (227 at-bats) with the St. Lucie Mets. Rivera hit .358 (201 at bats) for the Binghamton Mets in 2014.
Both Nimmo and Rivera will rejoin the Mets on Tuesday with the Triple-A season now over.
Binghamton Mets infielder Phillip Evans came into the final day of the 2016 season trailing Portland Sea Dogs outfielder Aneury Tavarez by five points for the Eastern League batting title.
Evans finished off the season with a 4-for-6 game including hits in his final three at bats to finish at .33518 to narrowly beat out Tavarez (who sat today) average of .33506. Evans was due up in the bottom of the 13th for Binghamton but was lifted for a pinch hitter to clinch the title.
The 23-year old Evans started the season with the St. Lucie Mets and hit only .143 in nine games before an injury to Jeff McNeil gave Binghamton a need for an infielder.
It’s a fitting finish on a career year for Evans who set career highs in doubles (29), home runs (8), RBI (41) and runs scored (51). He was the primary backup infielder for the B-Mets playing 39 games at shortstop, 32 at second and 23 at third base.
He will needed to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason if the Mets choose to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Evans was the Mets 15th round pick in the 2011 draft.
Yesterday, St. Lucie Mets catcher Tomas Nido won the Florida State League batting title with his .320 average.
Mets prospects have won batting titles in Triple-A, Double-A and Single-A this season. I wonder if that ever happened before…
