Mets RHP Jenrry Mejia made his first AA start on Saturday afternoon as he works to come back from last year’s Tommy John Surgery (TJS). Mejia didn’t figure into the decision in the game, but he went the first three innings giving up one run on six hits, with three strikeouts. Darin Gorski made his first relief appearance of the year in relief of Mejia, who was on the hook for a loss until the eighth inning when the B-Mets bats finally woke up. In the inning they sent 10 men to the plate and threw a five-spot on six hits up on the board, to erase a 1-0 deficit.

If you were looking for positive signs for Mejia today, there were only two. One was his velocity. He was living low-to-mid 90’s, topping out at 95 mph. The other positive was that he only gave up the one run, which was a miracle.

He gave up two hits in each of his three innings of work. He gave up lead-off singles in each inning. The SeaDogs had four men LOB, and they were 1 for 8 with RISP. So it could have been much worse for Mejia and the B-Mets.

Although Mejia had a decent pitch ratio: 48 pitches, 33 for strikes, the real story is that he struggled with his command. He was one-oh, two-oh, two-one, on nearly every hitter, always working from behind in the count. To compound the situation there were always men on base so he was working from the stretch the entire time. And he couldn’t command his breaking ball and threw hardly any for strikes. That’s why he got hammered for the six hits, he was constantly forced to come in there with a cookie.

What I took away from this snapshot of Mejia, is that he still has a ways to go before he’s ready for the bright lights of NYC. He doesn’t look sharp, or like he is ready to contribute yet at Citifield either in the rotation or in the bullpen. To stick him in the big league pen soon, just because the guys we have there now suck, would be an unwise thing to do. It would be like repeating the mistakes already made.

No, Mejia needs more seasoning, and he will benefit immensely by being allowed to start at AA or AAA for the next three months or so. Just like the smart move for Harvey and Familia is to not even consider them for promotion before September, Mejia should be in the same “hands-off” category.

Remember: “Good Things Come To Those Who Wait“