Mets Minors Weekly Report: Luke Ritter Continues Power Surge

Despite a woeful week from the major league club, the Mets had a lot to be happy about as far as minor league performances were concerned. Here are the biggest updates across the organization, including another outstanding week from Luke Ritter and a transformative outing from Dominic Hamel.

Triple-A Syracuse

The Syracuse Mets dropped three of five games at home against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. The Mets currently sit with a 24-38 record.

Ronny Mauricio had a rough week, going 2-for-16 with no extra-base hits and missing Sunday’s game due to an ankle injury that he suffered last week. Mauricio has cooled off significantly since his hot start, and his season OPS has dropped to .884, although he is still sporting an impressive .320 average.

DJ Stewart had a strong series, going 6-for-17 with three home runs, two doubles, six RBI, and five runs scored. Stewart is up to 13 homers this season, tying Mark Vientos for the team lead.

Joey Lucchesi continues to excel at the Triple-A level, allowing two runs over seven innings and striking out nine batters in his lone start of the week. He picked up his fourth win of the year, and his 2.72 ERA is tops in the Syracuse rotation.

David Peterson recorded just two outs in his start, allowing four runs (2 ER) on two hits and issuing three walks all in the first inning on Saturday. His ERA spiked to 4.68.

Double-A Binghamton

The Rumble Ponies won five of six games away at the Reading Fightin Phils. After putting together their best series of the season, the team has a 28-28 record and plenty of positive momentum.

Luke Ritter showed out again this week, going 9-for-24 with five home runs, one triple, one double, 12 RBI, and 11 runs scored. Ritter, who was named the Easter League Player of the Week earlier today, saved his best for last, launching three home runs in his first three ABs on Sunday to give him 14 home runs on the year and 11 in his last 15 games.

Ritter was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse on Monday.

Rowdey Jordan entered the series with three home runs this year but managed to hit four homers in this series, including two in Sunday’s game. José Peroza added two long balls, and Matt Rudick also left the yard once in what was a breakout week for an offense that had struggled mightily out of the gates.

Mike Vasil had his second poor start in his last three outings, allowing five runs on eight hits across five innings and only striking out three batters. Despite the rough stretch, Vasil still leads all qualified Double-A pitchers with a 0.84 WHIP, and he earned himself a promotion to Syracuse where he will slot into the rotation in their upcoming series.

Dominic Hamel had easily his best start of the year on Saturday, allowing one run in six innings and racking up nine strikeouts. Luis Moreno was also solid in his start on Friday, allowing one run on seven hits across seven innings and striking out seven batters.

High-A Brooklyn

The Cyclones lost four of six games at home against the Greenville Drive. Brooklyn has a 24-32 record.

Kevin Parada has been on a tear, and he continued his hot stretch this week by going 7-for-19 with a home run, three RBI, and three runs scored. Parada is hitting .327 over his last 13 games and had two three-hit games this series, pushing his season average up to a .255 mark.

Alex Ramírez went 3-for-19 with one home run, three RBI, three runs scored, and two stolen bases. The power hasn’t really been there this season for Ramírez, who is sporting a .719 OPS.

Blade Tidwell had his second double-digit strikeout game of the season on Sunday, racking up 10 punchouts across four innings of two-run ball. He did also walk four batters, and his ERA sits at 4.89 through 10 starts.

Tyler Stuart was masterful in his start on Saturday, allowing one run across five innings and striking out nine batters. His 1.47 ERA not only leads the Mets’ system but is also the lowest ERA among all qualified minor league pitchers this season. If it’s promotion season, the 23-year-old could earn one to Binghamton soon.

Low-A St. Lucie

The St. Lucie Mets split their six-game series at home against the Daytona Tortugas. St. Lucie has not lost a series since mid-May, but they still find themselves in the basement of the Florida State League with a 19-37 record.

Jett Williams had a rough series, going 1-for-18 with one triple and one stolen base. He does continue to reach base even when he’s not hitting, drawing four walks in the five games he played, but his season average is down to .193 with a .682 OPS.

The top of the lineup otherwise had a strong showing, with Wilfredo Lara and Junior Tilien each hitting two homers in the series. Tilien hit both of his home runs on Saturday, while Lara’s seven long balls this season lead the team.

Douglas Orellana had a strong showing in his start on Friday, allowing just one hit in six scoreless innings and striking out seven batters. Layonel Ovalles was also solid on the mound in the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader, pitching four scoreless innings and striking out four.

Stephen Ridings made two rehab appearances during the series, allowing one run across two innings. The 6’8” right-hander should be a candidate for Triple-A or the MLB roster once he is fully healthy.

Florida Complex League Mets

The FCL Mets kicked off their season this week, going 3-3 in their first six games. All of the Mets’ top prospects to watch for in this lineup got off to slow starts.

Jesus Baez went 4-for-21 with one double and two stolen bases. Simon Juan went 3-for-18 with two doubles and one stolen base. Willy Fanas went 2-for-20 with one double and one stolen base.

Organizational Leaders

Batting

AVG – Ronny Mauricio (SYR) – .320

OPS – Luke Ritter (BNG) – .957

HR – Luke Ritter – 14

SB – Omar De Los Santos (BRK) – 21

Pitching

(Among qualified players)

ERA – Tyler Stuart (BRK) – 1.47

SO – Dominic Hamel (BNG) – 63

WHIP – Mike Vasil – 0.84

Players of the Week

Offense – Luke Ritter, INF Binghamton

Ritter earned the top spot in this section last week with his four-homer series, and he somehow outdid that this week with five home runs in six games. He has been on an otherworldly tear, morphing into a prodigious power hitter seemingly overnight.

Ritter has rightfully earned a promotion earlier today to Triple-A, where he started the 2023 season. The 26-year-old utility infielder will have to show that even a fraction of his recent home-run-hitting prowess is legit before he can be considered anything more than an intriguing minor league depth piece. It’s still wildly impressive just how good he has been at the plate over the last few weeks.

Honorable mentions go to Rowdey Jordan for his four-homer week, DJ Stewart for his three-homer week, and Kevin Parada for stringing together strong performances throughout the week.

Pitching – Dominic Hamel, P Binghamton

It’s been tough sledding for Hamel so far in the 2023 season, but he offered a glimpse of hope for the organization with his start this week, striking out nine batters across six innings of one-run ball. He looked far more like the pitcher he was last season, when he posted a 3.25 ERA and racked up 145 strikeouts across 119 innings.

Hamel’s walk rate is actually down, and his strikeout rate is up compared to last season, but he is giving up a lot more hard contact and is really getting stung by the long ball (1.29 HR/9 in 2023 compared to 0.38 HR/9 in 2022). If Hamel can do a better job of keeping the ball in the yard, his strikeout stuff should be enough for the great outings like this one to start piling up again.

Honorable mentions go to Tyler Stuart for maintaining his stellar season ERA which leads all of the minors, as well as to Joey Lucchesi for yet another great start for Syracuse.