Mets Minors Weekly Report: Jett Williams, Blade Tidwell Impress

Blade Tidwell. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Better days appear to be on the horizon for the Mets farm system, as every team managed to either win or split their series this week for the first time all year. Here are the biggest developments from throughout the organization, including a pair of immense performances from early-round draft picks Jett Williams and Blade Tidwell.

Triple-A Syracuse

The Syracuse Mets won four of six games away at the Buffalo Bisons. Syracuse picked up just their third series win of the year to improve their record to 28-40.

Ronny Mauricio picked things up this week after a string of disappointing performances in the previous few series. He went 8-for-21 with three homers, six RBI, four runs scored, and two stolen bases.

Mauricio managed a multi-homer game and a four-hit effort this week while also making three starts in left field, his first time playing in the outfield in his professional career. Mauricio is batting .325 on the year with a .914 OPS.

The recently-acquired Luke Voit had a strong week, going 4-for-15 with two homers, a double, a triple, eight RBI, and six runs scored. He also drew a staggering 11 walks across the six games, pushing his season OPS up to 1.127.

Luke Ritter’s return to Triple-A after an early demotion and subsequent dominance at Double-A went pretty well. He went 7-for-24 with one home run, two RBI, and four runs scored.

Joey Lucchesi continues to be masterful, allowing just two hits across 6 2/3 scoreless innings and striking out six batters in his start on Tuesday. He has a 2.33 ERA in Triple-A and was just named the International League Pitcher of the Week earlier today.

On the other hand, David Peterson continues to struggle, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits across six innings in his start on Thursday. He did record seven strikeouts, but he issued three walks and saw his ERA climb up to 4.94.

Mike Vasil made his first career Triple-A start on Saturday, allowing six runs on seven hits across three innings. He struck out four batters and issued two walks in what was a rough beginning to his time with Syracuse.

Double-A Binghamton

The Rumble Ponies split their six-game series at home against the Portland Sea Dogs. The team continues to play .500 ball with a 31-31 record.

Matt Rudick went 6-for-22, failing to collect an extra-base hit but managing to get at least one hit in five of the six games this week. José Peroza went 6-for-20 with one double and one home run, also collecting at least one hit in all but one game this series.

Rowdey Jordan continues his run of strong play, going 7-for-23 with one home run, two doubles, four RBI, and four runs scored. He is hitting .316 with a 1.084 OPS in the month of June.

Christian Scott was superb in his first career start at the Double-A level, allowing one run on two hits across six innings and racking up nine strikeouts. He had a 2.28 ERA through six starts this year with Brooklyn and looks to be on track to continue that success with Binghamton.

Dominic Hamel followed up his best start of the season last week with one of his worst, allowing four runs on four hits in just 2/3 of an inning. He has a 5.62 ERA this year, including a 9.28 ERA in three June starts.

Luis Moreno set a new career high with 10 strikeouts in his start on Thursday. He has hit great form recently, allowing just three runs across 13 innings and striking out 17 batters over his last two starts.

High-A Brooklyn

The Cyclones split their six-game series away at the Aberdeen IronBirds. They currently sit with a 27-35 record this season.

Alex Ramírez had a rough week, going 3-for-20 with no extra-base hits. He did manage to draw seven walks and even picked up a stolen base, his seventh of the season. Kevin Parada went 5-for-21 with one home run and three RBI. He caught four of the six games this series, and he is hitting .254 on the season with five homers.

Blade Tidwell was sensational in his start on Saturday, allowing three hits across seven scoreless innings and striking out six batters. It was easily the best start of his young career, and he has a 4.14 ERA this season with 66 strikeouts across 45 2/3 innings.

Tyler Stuart impressed again with his start on Friday, allowing one run on three hits across six innings and striking out six. His 1.47 ERA through 11 starts continues to lead all qualified minor-league pitchers.

Low-A St. Lucie

The St. Lucie Mets won four of six games away at the Palm Beach Cardinals. They took a series off the league-leading Cardinals and have improved to a 23-39 record.

Jett Williams was a force to be reckoned with this week, going 8-for-17 with one home run, one triple, four RBI, and eight runs scored. He also drew seven walks, reaching base a total of 15 times across the six games he played.

Jacob Reimer launched two homers in the series and drove in six runs. Rhylan Thomas had four extra-base hits (three doubles and a triple) and managed to record both a three-hit and a four-hit game in the same series. Junior Tilien hit his sixth homer of the year and racked up eight RBI across the six games this week.

José Quintana made two rehab appearances this week, allowing two unearned runs across 4 2/3 innings of work. He struck out four batters and issued just one walk in his first game action since suffering a rib injury in spring training.

Florida Complex League Mets

Willy Fanas hit his first home run of the year, also hitting a triple and going 1-for-2 on stolen base attempts. Simon Juan went 3-for-12 this week with no extra-base hits.

Organizational Leaders

Batting

AVG – Ronny Mauricio (SYR) – .325

OPS – José Peroza (BNG) – .934

HR – Luke Ritter – 16

SB – Omar De Los Santos (BRK) – 25

Pitching

(Among qualified players)

ERA – Tyler Stuart (BRK) – 1.47

SO – Tyler Stuart – 67

WHIP – Mike Vasil (SYR) – 0.96

Players of the Week

Offense – Jett Williams, SS St. Lucie

Williams has been an on-base machine to start his career, and that has never been more evident than in his performance this week. He reached base 15 times in six games, collecting eight hits including his third home run of the season and drawing seven walks.

Things haven’t always come together at the plate for Williams, one of the Mets’ first-round picks from last year’s draft who is sporting a .227 batting average through his first 194 professional at-bats. However, he has always shown a tremendous ability to draw walks, posting a .408 OBP throughout his young career. He undoubtedly has the best eye of any Mets prospect, and his numbers will only continue to get more impressive as he starts to find his swing and rack up more hits.

Honorable mentions go to Ronny Mauricio for his strong week at the plate while simultaneously learning yet another new position in left field, as well as to Luke Voit for also reaching base 15 times this week in addition to four extra-base hits.

Pitching – Blade Tidwell, P Brooklyn

The start of the season has been relatively disappointing for Tidwell, but at least for this one start, everything finally clicked. Tidwell looked untouchable in his start this week, allowing just three hits in seven innings of work.

A second-round pick in last year’s draft, Tidwell does not allow a ton of hard contact and has the ability to pick up strikeouts in droves. However, he has been bit by his command at times, issuing 35 walks in 45 2/3 innings of work this year. If he can limit the free passes, the hard contact he does give up will not be as impactful, and his numbers will undoubtedly start to trend in the right direction.

Honorable mentions go to Tyler Stuart for maintaining his minor league-leading 1.47 ERA, to Christian Scott for his impressive Double-A debut, and to Joey Lucchesi for earning International League Pitcher of the Week honors.