On Friday, I had a question asking me what I thought the starting rotation would look like for the St. Lucie Mets this season. I quickly realized that I couldn’t do it without figuring out the rotations in Savannah and Binghamton first. It ended up being one of those wicked logic problems, but when I was finally finished I felt confident that I came up with a fair representation of how things may shake out in 2013 to start the season.
In some instances I had to promote a pitcher two levels instead of just one, but that’s because I was very confident that would be the case anyway. There were many pitchers that stayed right where they ended their seasons last year. You can’t win them all. Many pitchers still I left off completely because I saw them moving into bullpen roles or swing-man positions.
I didn’t bother extending this to include the GCL or Kingsport because at that stage of the game it’s a complete crapshoot. I went with six-man rotations because the Mets leaned toward that philosophy last season. Paul DePodesta said it was good way to have the pitchers go deeper into games without having them reach their innings limits.
Anyway, here goes…
Las Vegas 51’s (Triple-A)
- Zack Wheeler
- Collin McHugh
- Mark Cohoon
- Darin Gorski
- Aaron Laffey
- Chris Schwinden
Dylan Owen is the odd man out here. I project Jeremy Hefner, Jenrry Mejia and Jeurys Familia all having roles with the parent team out of spring training. One of them will be the fifth starter with the other two working out of the bullpen. If one of them do start the season in Vegas, look for Schwinden to get bounced.
Binghamton Mets (Double-A)
- Cory Mazzoni
- Rafael Montero
- Tyler Pill
- Erik Goeddel
- Gonzalez Germen
- Chase Huchingson/Angel Cuan
I didn’t see a way to fit Greg Peavey in AAA or AA, he could be heading to the pen. Mazzoni will easily front this rotation, but Montero and Pill make the jump from St. Lucie and both are worth keeping an eye on. Goeddel could also start off in Bingo simply because of the numbers crunch in St. Lucie. Huchingson and Cuan both need good showings after mediocre results in Lucie where they each made over 20 starts, or else they could end up in the bullpen.
St. Lucie Mets (High-A)
- Michael Fulmer
- Noah Syndergaard
- Logan Verrett
- Luis Mateo
- Jake deGrom
- Domingo Tapia
Get your tongues back in your mouth. This rotation is absolutely scintillating and the Mets have a lot riding on all six arms. It’s an important year for all of them. I have Mateo skipping right past Savannah and going from Low-A to High-A. Fulmer should have been promoted to Lucie last season along with Montero, but now gets his shot against some advanced hitters. Syndergaard will make his Mets pro debut and along with Verrett could move quickly to Bingo if Hooch, Cuan or Germen drop the ball.
Savannah Sand Gnats (Single-A)
- Hansel Robles
- Gabriel Ynoa
- Rainy Lara
- Julian Hilario
- Luis Cessa
- Marcos Camarena
Congratulations to the Brooklyn Cyclones Class of 2012… Well all, but Camarena. I was THIS CLOSE to putting Robles in St. Lucie along with Luis Mateo, but there was only room for one and I felt Mateo was the more polished of the two. That’s not a knock on Robles who instantly becomes the ace in Savannah and I’m betting he won’t be there too long.
Brooklyn Cyclones (Low-A SS)
- Steven Matz
- Robert Gsellman
- Miller Diaz
- John Gant
- Matthew Bowman
- Bret Mitchell (if healthy) / Logan Taylor
This group was the most difficult to assess and has the most likelihood of being totally wrong, but if Matz is healthy I’m certain he’ll get the bump from Kingsport. Gsellman and Diaz are no-brainers to make the squad, but I’m afraid Matthew Koch, Perseo Reyes and Chris Flexen will get left behind. They’re both still young and really should have been in the GCL anyway in 2012 if we had a GCL. Matt Bowman didn’t get enough PT at Brooklyn last season and will most likely repeat. I like that one, good sleeper.
Those young Mets arms always get me so excited.
I hope you enjoyed this. If you love the Mets minors and think you can do pieces like this and would like to give it a try, shoot me an email at [email protected]. We’re starting to round out our minor league team for the 2013 season and are looking for talent. Our goal at Metsmerized is to always provide our readers with a wide range of original Mets content that you can’t get anywhere else!
