Mets Minors Weekly Report: Syracuse Continues High-Flying Start

Ronny Mauricio. Photo by Serena Spencer

Three of the teams in the Mets’ system earned at least a split in their respective series this week, with the Syracuse Mets still grabbing all the headlines. Here are some updates from the last week around the system.

Triple-A Syracuse

The Syracuse Mets won four of six games away at the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. The team improved to a 10-5 record, tied for second-best in the International League.

Ronny Mauricio continues to be scorching hot at the plate. He went 8-for-23, clobbered three homers, and collected two steals. He had perhaps his best game of the season on Friday, going 4-for-5 with four extra-base hits (three doubles and a home run). Mauricio is tied for the second-most home runs in the International League with six, and his 1.192 OPS is seventh among qualified players.

Not to be outdone, Mark Vientos also had himself a monster series. Vientos went 8-for-24 and also hit three homers while racking up eight RBI. He’s up to five homers on the season, and his season OPS sits at 1.109.

Brett Baty only played in four of the Syracuse Mets’ six games this week, earning a call-up to the major league roster over the weekend. He was sensational in those four games, going 8-for-17 with three homers and 10 RBI. Baty has been teeing off on Triple-A pitching to start the year, and he will look to continue that success in the majors.

Joey Lucchesi was the standout starter this week, firing 6 2/3 scoreless innings and striking out six batters. He allowed just two hits and issued one walk, lowering his season ERA to 2.30.

Grant Hartwig had two more scoreless outings and has yet to allow a run through seven innings this season. Tommy Hunter also pitched two scoreless outings after being demoted from the major league roster earlier in the week. Dylan Bundy, recently added to the Triple-A roster, got rocked in his first start on Sunday.

Double-A Binghamton

The Rumble Ponies won three games this week, splitting their six-game home series against the Somerset Patriots. Their record for the year sits at 3-6.

JT Schwartz, one of MMO’s prospects to watch this year, helped lead the charge on offense, going 5-for-20 with three doubles and six RBI. Matt Rudick also chipped in, going 3-for-10 in his three games with two RBI and two runs scored.

Mike Vasil looked strong on the mound across two starts. He pitched four innings in the first one, allowing two runs and racking up eight strikeouts. He was even better in the second start, firing off two perfect innings and striking out five of the six batters he faced.

Dominic Hamel picked up a tough-luck loss in his lone start, allowing just one run on two hits in four innings of work. He did issue four walks, but the outing dropped his season ERA to an impressive 1.23 mark.

Hunter Parsons was sensational out of the bullpen, pitching four hitless innings across two outings and recording seven strikeouts. Sammy Tavarez was also solid in picking up both his first win and his first save of the season.

High-A Brooklyn

The Cyclones dropped five of six games away at the Winston-Salem Dash. After winning their opening series, the Cyclones’ record is now 3-6.

Alex Ramírez was 7-for-20 and hit his first homer of the season, collecting five RBIs and scoring four runs. Kevin Parada caught four of the games and went 4-for-17, drawing five walks and scoring seven runs. On the flip side, he’s allowed a ton of stolen bases from behind the dish. That will be something to keep an eye on moving forward.

Stanley Consuegra had himself quite the week, going 9-for-24 with three homers, two doubles, and 10 RBIs. Omar De Los Santos went 5-for-20 and collected three more steals, getting him up to six on the year.

Tyler Stuart went four strong innings in his one start, allowing just one run and striking out seven. Blade Tidwell gave up four runs in 4 1/3 innings in his first start, but he allowed just one hit and struck out four batters across two innings in his second start.

Low-A St. Lucie

The St. Lucie Mets improved to 3-6 on the season, splitting their six-game series away at the Jupiter Hammerheads.

Jett Williams went 4-for-14 with his first two extra-base hits of the season, a double and a triple. He scored four runs and collected three RBI, and perhaps most impressively drew eight walks in his five games.

Layonel Ovalles was superb in his one start, allowing one run on just two hits across five innings and striking out five. Douglas Orellana looked equally sharp in relief of Ovalles, firing off four scoreless innings with four strikeouts to secure his first save of the year.

Javier Atencio picked up a loss in his lone start, allowing three runs across 3 2/3 innings. Jordany Ventura issued four walks in his start, but he racked up six strikeouts in 3 1/3 scoreless innings.

Organizational Leaders

Batting

AVG – Brett Baty (SYR) – .400 (10-for-28)

OPS – Brett Baty – 1.386

HR – Ronny Mauricio (SYR) – 6

SB – Omar De Los Santos (BRK) – 6

Pitching

Will start tracking next week once pitchers get more innings under their belt.

Players of the Week

Offense – Ronny Mauricio, SS Syracuse

Who else was it going to be? Mauricio has been on an otherworldly tear to begin the 2023 season, and this week solidified just how impressive he can be when firing on all cylinders. He is hitting everything thrown his way so far and making quite the splash at just 22 years old.

Mauricio’s lack of ability to draw walks consistently is still glaring, as he only drew one walk this past week and has reached base via a walk just four times all season. That sort of free-swinging approach at the plate can be extremely hit-or-miss at the major league level (pun fully intended), but he has yet to develop a more patient approach across five seasons in the minors. On the plus side, when things are clicking for him, he has the skill to be this outstanding at the dish.

Honorable mentions go to Brett Baty and Stanley Consuegra, who each also hit three homers this week.

Pitching – Mike Vasil, P Binghamton

Vasil is our No. 2 pitching prospect, and he showed exactly why this week with two strong appearances on the mound to open his season. Vasil struck out 13 batters in six innings and allowed just three baserunners. With continued performances such as these, the 23-year-old Vasil is off to a great start in continuing the success he found during an impressive 2022 campaign.

Joey Lucchesi deserves some love too for his scoreless start for the Syracuse Mets. He could be an interesting piece for the major league team as he continues to rehab from Tommy John surgery.