Mets Minors Weekly Report: New Faces and Old Friends Shine

The Mets have fully committed to selling at the Trade Deadline, and have already made a splash by acquiring the highly-touted Luisangel Acuña in the Max Scherzer deal. There will surely be more prospects entering the Mets system as the deadline grows closer, but there are still plenty of developments to discuss among players already here, including monster weeks from Luke Voit and Dominic Hamel.

Triple-A Syracuse

The Syracuse Mets split their six-game series away at the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Syracuse enters the month of August with a 42-58 record.

Luke Voit hit homers in each of the first four games of the series, giving him six consecutive games with a long ball. He went 7-for-19 with nine RBI and eight runs scored—he also drew eight walks. Could he be dealt today before the MLB trade deadline?

Ronny Mauricio went 6-for-26 with six runs scored and a stolen base. He played left field in all six games and has a .293 batting average with an .835 OPS on the season. Mauricio could also see some major-league action following the Trade Deadline—perhaps during a September call-up.

Mike Vasil allowed two runs in four innings of work in his one start, lowering his Triple-A ERA to 6.59. Tylor Megill allowed two runs across six innings on the mound on Saturday, although his Triple-A ERA still sits at a bloated 8.67 mark.

Double-A Binghamton

The Rumble Ponies won five of six games away at the Reading Fightin Phils. Binghamton had one of their best series of the season and sit just one game below .500 with a 47-48 record.

Rowdey Jordan went 6-for-20 with two homers, one double, and two stolen bases. He has 11 homers and 23 steals on the year with an .800 OPS during a surprise breakout season.

Dominic Hamel was lights out in his start on Wednesday. He allowed one run on three hits across seven innings of work, striking out 11 batters and issuing two walks. It was the second time in his last four starts that Hamel recorded 11 strikeouts, and he has 110 strikeouts in 83 innings this season.

Tyler Stuart picked up his first Double-A win on Thursday, pitching five innings of three-run ball. His Double-A ERA sits at 3.00, and he has a 1.83 ERA through 17 starts this year.

Christian Scott allowed one run in six innings of work on Saturday, striking out seven batters. He has a 2.72 ERA through his first eight Double-A starts.

High-A Brooklyn

The Cyclones split their six-game series at home against the Wilmington Blue Rocks. Brooklyn has a 48-47 record on the year.

Alex Ramírez went 10-for-22 with one home run, one double, five RBI, and four runs scored. He was 0-for-2 on stolen base attempts and is still not hitting for much power, but he did raise his average to .248 and his OPS to .696.

Kevin Parada played in only the first three games of the series, going 3-for-11 at the plate. He landed on the IL with a right ankle sprain he suffered in Thursday’s game.

Blade Tidwell pitched five scoreless innings and struck out five batters in his start on Wednesday, lowering his season ERA to 3.09. He earned a promotion to Double-A this week and will make his Binghamton debut in their upcoming series.

Jordany Ventura picked up his first High-A win after allowing two runs across five innings in his start on Thursday. Cameron Foster racked up a career-high 12 strikeouts in his start on Saturday but was saddled with a tough-luck loss after allowing two runs across 6 2/3 innings of work.

Low-A St. Lucie

The St. Lucie Mets lost five of six games at home against the Bradenton Marauders. St. Lucie has a 33-62 record on the year.

Jett Williams went 5-for-19 with one homer, one triple, one double, and one stolen base. He earned a promotion to High-A Brooklyn this week after hitting .249 with an .832 OPS and 32 stolen bases this season with St. Lucie. His promotion clear the way for Nick Morabito to get promoted to St. Lucie, too.

Jacob Reimer went 6-for-20 with eight runs scored, recording at least one hit in five of the six games. He also earned a promotion to High-A Brooklyn after posting a .280 average and an .804 OPS with St. Lucie.

Layonel Ovalles allowed two runs in five innings of work on Tuesday. He has a 4.95 ERA through 17 appearances (14 starts) this season.

Florida Complex League Mets

The FCL Mets went 2-2 in their four games this week. Nick Morabito went 4-for-5 with a homer on Tuesday and ultimately earned a promotion to Low-A St. Lucie along with Diego Mosquera.

The two prospects acquired in the David Robertson trade made their Mets debuts on Monday and both had great games. Marco Vargas went 3-for-5 with one RBI, two runs scored, and one stolen base. Ronald Hernandez went 1-for-1 with three walks, one RBI, one run scored, and one stolen base.

Willy Fanas hit his third homer of the year on Thursday, while Jesus Baez posted a three-hit, three-RBI game on Monday.

Organizational Leaders

Batting

AVG – Ronny Mauricio (SYR) – .293

OPS – Ronny Mauricio – .835

HR – Luke Ritter (SYR) – 22

SB – Omar De Los Santos (BRK) – 34

Pitching

(Among qualified players)

ERA – Tyler Stuart (BNG) – 1.83

SO – Blade Tidwell (BNG) – 112

WHIP – Christian Scott (BNG) – 0.88

Players of the Week

Offense – Luke Voit, 1B Syracuse

Voit has outmatched Triple-A pitching from the moment he joined the Mets organization earlier this summer, and his performance this week depicted that perfectly. He swatted four homers as part of a stretch of six straight games with a long ball, and he reached base 15 times in the six games he played.

Voit has 13 homers in 36 games for Syracuse and has posted a 1.033 OPS in that time. He is just three years removed from leading the majors with 22 homers during the shortened 2020 season, but he has not found much success at the major league level since then. He will more than likely get some run as a DH option once the Mets complete their fire sale at this year’s Trade Deadline, as long as he isn’t dealt.

Honorable mentions go to Alex Ramírez for his 10-hit week, as well as to Jett Williams and Jacob Reimer for their strong weeks in advance of call-ups to Brooklyn.

Pitching – Dominic Hamel, P Binghamton

Hamel has struggled at times during the 2023 season, but he really seemed to turn a corner in July, and his last start of the month might have been his best showing all season. He struck out 11 batters across seven innings of one-run ball, marking the second time he recorded 11 strikeouts in a start this month. His strikeout rate is among the best in the Mets organization, although he has an underwhelming 4.77 ERA due in large part to a high walk rate and a .244 batting average against.

Hamel is considered one of the top pitching prospects in the Mets system and is an integral part of a Binghamton rotation that just got even better with the recent promotion of Blade Tidwell. The presence of other top arms will hopefully continue to positively affect the development of Hamel, who could see his strikeout rate increase even further with a bit more control on the mound.

Honorable mentions go to Tidwell for his scoreless outing and his promotion to Binghamton, as well as to Cameron Foster for his 12-strikeout outing.