According to Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, the team has promoted their #2 top prospect Kevin Plawecki and their #22 top prospect Hansel Robles in the wake of the injuries to Travis d’Arnaud and Jerry Blevins during today’s game against the Marlins.
Kevin Plawecki, a Mets first round pick in 2012, was “very close to being major league ready, even before the injury.” stated Alderson. Plawecki is only 8-for-35 with zero home runs and six RBI’s this season at Triple-A Las Vegas, but has been outstanding for the majority of his minor league career up until this point.
He owns a .293/.368/.436 slash line over the span of three seasons since being drafted. Last year, between Double-A Binghamton and Vegas, Plawecki hit .309/.365/.460 in 101 games. He is a highly regarded prospect, and his call-up now makes sense more than ever.
Alderson had previously stated that Plawecki would be called on should d’Arnaud miss significant time. Well, it looks like that time has arrived.
Plawecki will take over as the Mets regular catcher according to Terry Collins
Congratulations, Kevin, looking forward to seeing you make your debut on Tuesday.
The player who will be taking Blevins’ spot in the bullpen is righty Hansel Robles. Robles has started much of his minor league career, but transitioned to a reliever last season. He had a very dominant playoff performance for the B-Mets last year, and continued that with a solid campaign in the Dominican Winter League. MLB.com has this to say about Robles…
“After a dominant season in the New York-Penn League in 2012, the Mets added Robles to the 40-man roster. He battled injuries and a drop in velocity in 2013 and was taken off the roster. He started the 2014 season in the Double-A rotation, but was moved to the bullpen in July. By the Eastern League playoffs, Robles was throwing a 94-97 mph fastball and an 89 mph slider. And he was throwing both for strikes, making him virtually unhittable.
That continued with a dominant turn in the Dominican Winter League and the Mets had to put him back on the 40-man roster or risk losing him in the Rule 5 Draft. His days as a starter now over, Robles profiles very well as a power-armed short reliever, one who is basically big league ready.”
Robles has appeared in five games for the 51’s so far in 2015, and hasn’t allowed a run over a span of 7.2 innings pitched. He’s also struck out ten batters and has a .207 BAA. Congratulations to you as well, Hansel! Let’s see what you got!
Thoughts:
I am excited to see Plawecki, no doubt, however I wish it weren’t under these circumstances. It sucks that d’Arnaud, who finally looked like had everything coming together for him both defensively and offensively, goes down with a fractured hand. Horrible.
Well, it’s good to have depth. And if nothing else, we get to see what Plawecki is capable of, in light of the situation. He’s a very talented player, and I think the Mets definitely made the right call promoting him. It was the right time.
As for Robles, I don’t know much about him, but I’ve heard his name thrown around over the years.
He really turned it on last season after being moved to the bullpen, and has looked go so far this year. I was expecting a lefty, but I guess the Mets are going to stick with what they got in Alex Torres and Sean Gilmartin.
Despite the bad news today, I still really have a good feeling about the Mets and this season. This team is resilient and I believe very capable of overcoming adversity. It’s just a different feeling with this group of guys. They’re all in, and I love it.
Things happen in baseball, it’s an unpredictable game, but you can’t cry over spilled milk. You have to roll with the punches and keep fighting. Like my dad always told me: “There’s no crying in baseball.”
Let’s Go Mets!
