Mets Minors Weekly Report: Pitching Dominates Across Organization

With April wrapping up, Syracuse, Binghamton, and Brooklyn enter May on a high note after winning their respective series this past week. Only St. Lucie drew a series loss, though all but one of their four losses was by two or fewer runs.

The story of the season in the minor leagues has been pitching, and that was the case again this week. The Mets saw dominant pitching performances at all levels this week, most of which came from the Mets’ top pitching prospects.

Let’s dive into all of the best and most notable showings from this past week from the Mets minor league teams.

Christian Scott, Photo by James Farrance

Triple-A Syracuse

The Syracuse Mets and Columbus Clippers completed a six-game series this past week. The Mets took an early 2-0 series lead but it quickly evened when Columbus won the next two games. The final two games of the series came on a doubleheader Sunday, and it was a Mets sweep to secure a 4-2 series victory.

Luisangel Acuña had a productive week, which was much needed considering his .563 season OPS entering the series with Columbus. Acuña played in all six games and recorded six hits including a double, a triple, and a home run. He also recorded three RBIs, walked twice, and stole a base. His OPS on the year is still just .652, but it’s a considerable improvement from where he stood a week ago.

Rylan Bannon also had a solid week against Columbus, raising his season OPS to .876. Bannon went just 3-for-15 in five games but two of his hits were home runs, and he also walked four times to get on base a total of seven times.

Christian Scott made two fantastic starts against Columbus this week. In those two starts, he pitched 11 innings and gave up three runs while striking out 10 batters. Despite the three earned runs, he allowed just two hits and three walks over his two appearances. He now sports an impressive 3.20 ERA—over a run and a half below league average—as he looks more and more ready for the major leagues.

Dom Hamel was named the International Pitcher of the Week for his performance, as he pitched 5 1/3 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. In those 5 1/3 innings, he allowed just one hit and two walks. Hamel’s ERA is now 4.42, though his ERA in his last three outings is a much better 2.30.

Joey Lucchesi also continues to be very impressive, as he threw five innings of one-run ball in his lone start of the week. Lucchesi sports a season ERA of 2.42.

Photo Credit: Mike Watters-USA TODAY Sports

Double-A Binghamton

The Rumble Ponies started out their season with a three-game series against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Binghamton dropped that series 2-1. This week, the teams matched up for a six-game series and the Rumble Ponies got their revenge. They dropped the first game of the series but rattled off four straight wins before losing the series finale, giving them a 4-2 series win.

Alex Ramírez continued his torrid start to the season with a week that saw him go 8-for-24 with four doubles, five walks, five RBIs, and six stolen bases. His week raised his batting average up to .324 and his season OPS up to .859. Ramírez continues to look like one of the more pleasant surprises in the Mets’ system this year.

Rowdey Jordan had a solid week, switching it up between second and third base throughout the series. In six games, he recorded eight hits, including two doubles and a home run. He also recorded four RBIs, five runs, and three stolen bases. He hasn’t had the most impressive start to the year, but his OPS is now raised to .732.

Matt Rudick had perhaps the best week of any Rumble Ponies position player. In five games, he went 8-for-22 with two home runs and seven RBIs. He also walked three times and scored six runs. His big week gave a massive boost to his OPS, raising it from .499 to .759.

Tyler Stuart had far and away his best performance of the year in his start against New Hampshire this week. The tall righty threw six innings, allowing one run and striking out 12. He allowed just four hits and one walk in the effort. That performance lowered his season ERA to 3.45.

Blade Tidwell also had a fantastic start against New Hampshire, but he unfortunately drew a loss as he was unable to receive much run support. Tidwell threw for 6 2/3 innings in the series finale, allowing one run on two hits while striking out nine. Despite receiving the loss, it was arguably his best appearance of the year. 21 1/3 innings in, he has an outstanding 1.69 ERA.

Two relievers who did great in two appearances each this week were Wilkin Ramos and Trey McLoughlin. Both have had fantastic starts to the season, and each threw 2 2/3 scoreless innings this past week. Ramos has yet to allow a run this year through 9 2/3 innings, and he also has four saves and a win to his name. McLoughlin has allowed two runs to come across this season, but his 2.57 ERA is nothing to be ashamed about.

Ryan Clifford, Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

High-A Brooklyn

Like Syracuse and Binghamton, the Brooklyn Cyclones also won their series 4-2 this past week. They grabbed the first two games from the Wilmington Blue Rocks before dropping game three. The Cyclones then won two more in a row before losing the final game of the series.

Ryan Clifford cooled down with the bat in this series, recording just two hits in 13 at-bats, but it was still a productive week in that he was able to draw eight walks. That’s compared to just four strikeouts. Even with a .154 batting average on the week, his on-base percentage was a whopping .476. For the season, Clifford has a .222 average and a .430 on-base percentage. He hasn’t hit much, but he continues to find his way on base.

Nick Lorusso played in just four games against Wilmington, but he made the most of his playing time. The corner infielder went 5-for-15 with a double and six RBIs. He also struck out just once and recorded two runs. Lorusso remains the most productive Brooklyn batter, with an OPS that sits at .859.

Drake Osborn also had a productive week at the plate, going 5-for-14 with two doubles in five games. Osborn walked three times and drove in a run. The catcher has just 36 at-bats on the year, but as of now has a 1.083 OPS.

Even though he wasn’t productive at the plate in this series, Nolan McLean is still worth mentioning for his pitching performance. McLean went just 1-for-10 with two RBIs in three games this series, but as a pitcher, he started two games and combined for eight scoreless innings.

In those two games, he allowed three hits and struck out eight batters. He now has a .946 OPS and a 3.86 ERA on the year.

Brandon Sproat and Jordan Geber each had a start of five innings allowing no runs in this series. In Sproat’s outing, he allowed just two hits and a walk and struck out five. Geber allowed just one hit and struck out four. Both have pitched extremely well this season, as Sproat has a 1.23 ERA and Geber has a 2.25 ERA.

Dakota Hawkins and Justin Lawson were the best relievers for the Cyclones in this series. Hawkins made two appearances and threw four combined scoreless innings. He now has a 2.31 ERA on the year. Lawson made just one appearance but recorded a save with three perfect innings in which he struck out four batters. Lawson still has not allowed a run this year in nine innings.

Nick Morabito. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Low-A St. Lucie

St. Lucie was the only Mets affiliate to lose their series this week, falling 4-2 to the Daytona Tortugas. Both pitching staffs were great as each team recorded two shutouts in the series. The only two games in the series where both teams scored, St. Lucie lost both by just one run.

Nick Morabito has been St. Lucie’s best hitter on the young season. Morabito hit in each of the five games he played, including two three-hit games. He currently carries a six-game hitting streak. Against the Tortugas, Morabito went 9-for-17 and walked twice. Through 65 at-bats this year, Morabito is slashing .385/.500/.523/1.023. He’ll turn 21 next week, and if he keeps performing like this, he should be in Brooklyn soon.

Christopher Suero also hit in all five games he played in this week and holds a seven-game hitting streak. Against Daytona, Suero went 7-for-20 with four doubles and four RBIs. He also walked twice, struck out twice, and scored three runs. He now holds an impressive .918 OPS on the season.

Jonah Tong had yet another brilliant performance this week. Tong pitched six innings against the Tortugas, allowing just two hits and striking out nine. His outing kept his scoreless streak to the start the season alive at 18 2/3 innings. He has also allowed just 13 baserunners and struck out an astounding 36 batters. His next challenge at High-A awaits him.

Jack Wenninger also had a brilliant performance against Daytona, throwing six innings and allowing just one hit while striking out 10 batters. He made another appearance in the series, though it was much less successful. In 1 1/3 innings, he allowed four earned runs to score in what was a walk-off loss in Sunday’s game. His ERA is 4.19 on the year, but it was at 2.50 before his poor outing.

Organizational Leaders

Batting

AVG – Nick Morabito (STL) – .385

OPS – Ben Gamel (SYR) – 1.030

HR – Ben Gamel (SYR), Rylan Bannon (SYR), Luke Ritter (SYR), Trayce Thompson (SYR), Mark Vientos (SYR) – 5

SB – Omar De Los Santos (BRK) – 13

Pitching

(Among Qualified Players)

ERA – Jonah Tong (STL) – 0.00

SO – Christian Scott (SYR), Jonah Tong (STL) – 36

WHIP – Jonah Tong (STL) – 0.64

Players of the Week

Offense – Matt Rudick, OF Binghamton

You could make the case for Nick Morabito here, but his lack of extra-base hits and RBIs limits him. Because of that, we’re going to go with Matt Rudick. An unlikely player of the week, Rudick entered this week with just a .499 OPS, but he raised it .260 points in just five games. Eight hits, two home runs, seven RBIs, three walks, and six runs in a five-game stretch is impressive for anybody, and especially so for Rudick.

Rudick will hope that this serves as a turning point in his season. Last year in Binghamton, Rudick had an .862 OPS in 61 games so he’s better than how he was performing to start the year.

In addition to Rudick and Morabito, Luisangel Acuña and Alex Ramírez are deserving of some love for their weeks. Acuña would love to turn his season around, while Ramírez would love to continue producing at the level he has been.

Pitching – Nolan McLean, P/DH Brooklyn

You could make the case for a number of pitchers here: Christian Scott, Dom Hamel, Tyler Stuart, Blade Tidwell, Brandon Sproat, Jonah Tong. They all pitched extremely well. But we’re going to go with McLean here because he made two separate appearances, each of which were scoreless. It’s important to note these appearances followed a brutal one last week in which he gave up six runs in 2 2/3 innings.

With his two starts, McLean lowered his season ERA from 9.00 to 3.86. Even more impressive is his .174 average and .495 OPS against. He’s been extremely effective on the mound even with his one rough outing.