Find the latest stats and news across the Mets minor leagues in the Minors Weekly Report below.

Jefferson Rojas. Photo Credit: Binghamton Rumble Ponies

Triple-A

The Syracuse Mets went 4-2 against the St. Paul Saints in their penultimate series of the International League regular season. The Mets are now 38-30 in the second half of the season and 76-67 overall.

To make the playoffs and finish second in the International League in the second half, Syracuse would need to gain a game on Scranton/Wilkes-Barre across the final six games. They’re currently a half-game behind the RailRiders. (Rochester finished first in the first half, so no need to catch them.) They’ll have top prospect Jefferson Rojas joining them for the final series of the year.

MJ Melendez continued his scorching Triple-A success, going 8-for-21 this week with a double, four home runs, 10 RBIs and six walks. Melendez now has a .979 OPS in 70 games with Syracuse.

Billy Amick also displayed his power, going 7-for-27 with two doubles and three home runs. Amick now has eight home runs and an .866 OPS in Syracuse, and an .867 OPS overall.

Ryan Clifford has not had a good season, but he had a good week, going 4-for-11 with two doubles, a triple and a home run. Clifford also added a walk and improved his OPS to .630.

Jonathan Santucci tossed five solid innings, allowing a run on five hits and no walks with six strikeouts. Santucci lowered his Triple-A ERA to 5.28. He was recently named the Mets’ Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

Jack Wenninger allowed two runs in five innings, doing so on six hits, two walks and seven strikeouts. Wenninger now has a 4.21 ERA this season.

Gabe Davis. (Photo Credits: Binghamton Rumble Ponies)

Double-A

The Binghamton Rumble Ponies went 1-4 in their final series of the season against the Portland Sea Dogs, cancelling the final game due to weather. The Rumble Ponies finished 34-34 in the second half of the season, going 61-76 overall.

Corey Collins only went 3-for-15, but he recorded a double and two home runs. Collins also added three RBIs, raising his Double-A OPS to .902.

Marco Vargas led the team with seven hits in 18 at-bats, recording two doubles, a triple and three stolen bases. Vargas finished the season strong, ending with a .770 OPS in 53 Double-A games.

Gabe Davis allowed just one run in his start of 4 1/3 innings. He gave up four hits and a walk with three strikeouts. Davis now has a 2.53 ERA in six appearances with Double-A Binghamton.

Bryce Conley pitched twice out of the bullpen, combining to throw 4 2/3 scoreless innings. He allowed just a hit and two walks with seven strikeouts, lowering his ERA to 5.81.

Organizational Leaders

Batting

• AVG – Yonny Hernández (SYR) – .305
• OPS – MJ Melendez (SYR) – .979
• HR – Billy Amick (BNG/SYR) – 38
• SB – Mitch Voit (BRK/BNG) – 45

Pitching (min. 10 innings)

• ERA – Justin Armbruester (STL/BRK/BNG) – .108
• SO – Jonathan Santucci (BNG/SYR) – 157
• WHIP – Justin Armbruester (STL/BRK/BNG) – 0.880

Players of the Week

Offense – MJ Melendez, OF Syracuse

MJ Melendez has done nothing but rake in Triple-A, now up to 22 home runs and an OPS near 1.000 in 70 games. He showed flashes of his offensive ability with the major league squad earlier in the year, but not enough to stick around. At the very least, he’s solid depth and a veteran presence in the Syracuse lineup.

Pitching – Jonathan Santucci, P Syracuse

Jonathan Santucci has struggled in seven total starts since his promotion to Triple-A, but he’s had a good season overall with a 3.99 ERA between Double-A and Triple-A. The 23-year-old is one of the Mets’ top pitching prospects and could be a factor on the major league squad as soon as next season.

Upcoming Schedule – September 15-20

• Triple-A Syracuse: vs. Lehigh Valley

The post Minors Weekly Report: Rumble Ponies Come Up Short of Playoffs appeared first on Metsmerized.

Justin Verlander. Photo via Ed Delaney, MMO

The New York Mets took on the Miami Marlins Sunday afternoon in the team’s last game of spring training. At Clover Park in Port St. Lucie, Florida, the Mets tied for the second day in a row as each team scored three runs. The Mets end spring training 10-14 with a few ties. Now, the real baseball starts.

The first score of Sunday’s game came in the third inning. Starling Marte lined a two-out double to left field, Brandon Nimmo – who singled earlier in the inning – came all the around to score from first base. The Mets led 1-0 after three innings.

The Marlins responded right away in the next frame. They got five hits and three runs off Justin Verlander. Verlander, for the second time in the game, was also struck by a comebacker. Each time, he brushed it off and remained in the game. Miami led 3-1 headed to the bottom of the fourth inning.

After a Pete Alonso single, he was moved to third base and brought home via a Mark Canha sacrifice fly. New York trailed 3-2 after four innings.

The Mets were able to the tie the game up in the next inning. Starling Marte hit another two-out double and was brought home the very next at-bat via a Francisco Lindor double.

Justin Verlander‘s day ended after five tumultuous innings. It was a bizarre start that featured the 40-year-old getting struck twice by balls hit right at his lower body. He once again struggled with his command as he walked four and only threw a strike 57.8 percent of the time. All in all, he went five innings and allowed three runs thanks to eight hits. His spring training ERA stands at 3.00.

The Mets’ bullpen behind Verlander was fantastic. Four relievers combined for four hitless innings. Stephen Nogosek two strikeouts), Tommy Hunter (two strikeouts), Dennis Santana, and Grant Hartwig all contributed one inning a piece.

As for the Mets’ bats, the game stayed at three runs a piece as the New York offense mustered eight hits. Marte was the only Met with multiple knocks.

Starling Marte. Photo by Ed Delaney, MMO

Player of the Game: Starling Marte

Marte had himself a very nice day and directly factored into two of the Mets’ three runs. He went 3-for-3 with two doubles. One of which scored a run and due to the other he scored a run himself.

Marte ends spring with a terrific slash line of .344/.361/.535 which is good for a .924 OPS. He certainly looks ready to go.

On Deck

As mentioned above, Sunday’s game was the last game of spring training. Next up, the Mets will open the 2023 regular season in Miami against the Marlins at 4:10 PM ET on Thursday. The projected pitching matchup for the season opener is Max Scherzer versus Sandy Alcántara.

The post Mets End Spring Training With A 3-3 Tie Against Miami appeared first on Metsmerized.

Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Good morning, Mets fans!

Mets manager Buck Showalter announced on Thursday that catcher and Mets top prospect Francisco Álvarez will catch the back end of today’s game vs. Washington. Álvarez is in competition with his fellow teammates Ronny Mauricio, Brett Baty and Mark Vientos, to try and seal a spot on the major league roster.

Buck Showalter says that Francisco Álvarez will catch the back end of tomorrow's game: pic.twitter.com/KJuUNTjR60

— SNY (@SNYtv) March 2, 2023

Now onto the morning briefing!

Latest Mets News

According to Tim Healey of Newsday, Buck Showalter noted that pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and current team Puerto Rico and Washington Nationals bullpen coach Ricky Bones spoke about not using Mets closer Edwin Díaz on back-to-back nights. “They know what we’re thinking now,” Showalter said. Diaz himself confirmed that he will not pitch on back-to-back days on the Foul Territory podcast.

Former Mets third baseman David Wright says he will return to Citi Field on August 10 to emcee the NYPD vs. FDNY charity game. This will be the first time Wright will be at the stadium since his last major league game in 2018.

Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports that SNY’s opening weekend netted an audience of 169,000 viewers, making it the highest viewership over a two-game span in Mets spring training history. The games ranked second and fourth all-time out of 179 spring broadcasts.

Anne Hayes of Syracuse.com reports that Mets outfielder Khalil Lee failed to appear in court. Lee’s reason for not appearing in court is because he is currently at spring training with the Mets in Florida. After the news of the incident surfaced, the Mets designated Lee for assignment, removing him off the 40-man roster but still extended him an invite to spring training. Lee was arraigned on February 2nd after an arrest warrant last summer that accused him of a domestic incident against his partner.

Latest MLB News

Major League Baseball has tapped FanDuel as their official North American sports betting partner. According to Boardroom.TV, FanDuel will gain the rights to use MLB branding in its products, platforms, and marketing campaigns, and will additionally be able to stream MLB.TV’s Free Game of the Day through its sportsbook app and FanDuel+

Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com writes about Toronto Blue Jays outfielder George Springer helped Sanchez’s son deal with his stuttering, as Springer grew up the same way, along with being a positive influence on all their lives.

Shawn Spradling of the WBC Central podcast tweets that Baseball United, a league based in Dubai, will be the first ever professional baseball league in the Middle East and South Asia. The ownership group features former major leaguers, such as Barry Larkin, Mariano Rivera and Adrian Beltre. The inaugural franchises for Baseball United will be announced after the conclusion of the World Baseball Classic.

Juan Toribio of MLB.com talks about pitcher Noah Syndergaard and his quest to regain his velocity, how he can potentially throw hard again and whether he will even need to try and do so or not.

Latest on MMO

Ronny Mauricio Continues Torrid Spring Start

On This Date in Mets History

Birthdays: Dilson Herrera (29), Jorge Julio (44), Jack DiLauro (80)

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Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Mets fans, an all-new episode is here!

Mike and I recap the disappointing Wildcard series against the San Diego Padres, discuss what lead to the Amazin’s abrupt postseason exit, how should the front office handle this crucial offseason, and much more!

With so many key players from the 2022 team set to become free agents, how important will this winter be for the future of the Steve Cohen led Mets? Mike believes it could impact the franchise for years, and possibly decades to come:

“It’s a lot to think about in a week’s span, the Mets went from potentially winning the division to now being out of the postseason with this massive offseason looming…this is the type offseason that people could be talking about decades from now, that’s how important it is. Not only do you have Edwin Diaz, Brandon Nimmo, and Jacob deGrom set to hit the open market, but then you have Chris Bassitt who is also a very good starting pitcher, as well as Carlos Carrasco, Taijuan Walker, Seth Lugo, Adam Ottavino, and Trevor Williams just to name a few…that’s a SIGNIFICANT amount of guys that you have to replace just to try and get back to that 101 win mark, which is going to be a lot of money. I know that Cohen is going to spend and I don’t doubt that, but I believe the Mets are roughly at $160 million payroll (assuming deGrom opts out) and it will add up quickly.”

Watch and subscribe to the MMO YouTube channel here.

The post MMO Weekly Episode 22: Season Comes To An Abrupt End appeared first on Metsmerized.

Good morning, Mets fans!

The Seattle Mariners Friday ended their 21 year postseason drought thanks to a pinch-hit, walk-off home run off the bat of Cal Raleigh. The magical moment clinched the club a spot in the playoffs as a Wild Card team, marking the first time they will be in the Postseason since 2001.

The Mets didn’t have the same magic Friday night, as they fell to the Braves 5-2.  Jacob deGrom surrendered three solo home runs to Austin Riley, Matt Olson, and Dansby Swanson. The Mets made a push in the ninth, as they had the bases loaded with two out. However, after long battle with Kenley Jansen, Tyler Naquin struck out to end the game. Chris Bello wrote a further recap of the loss.

Latest Mets News

Tim Healey of Newsday reported that Francisco Álvarez was on his way to Miami following the minor league season when he received the call that he was being promoted.

Latest MLB News

Matt Monagan of MLB reported that team Pakistan has three pitchers that are 16 years old in the World Baseball Classic.

Justin Toscano of AJC reported that Spencer Strider has not yet begun throwing.

The Braves announced that they signed Charlie Morton to a one-year, $20 million contract for the 2023 season, with a $20 million club option for 2024.

The Rays earned their way back into the playoffs.

Latest on MMO

Michael Mayer wrote on the roster moves made Friday.

Christian De Block wrote a series preview on the Mets series in Atlanta.

John Sheridan wrote that the promotion of Francisco Álvarez means that they have seen enough of Darin Ruf.

Michael Mayer examined how the Mets-Braves series will impact the division race.

On This Date in Mets History

1973: The Mets win the National East Division on the final day of the season.

2016: The Mets clinch the top spot in the National League Wild Card race, slated to take on the Giants in a one-game playoff. It marked back-to-back seasons in the playoffs for the Mets, and the last time they would get there until 2022.

2017: Oh what a difference a year makes, as Terry Collins officially resigned as Mets manager. Over seven seasons as Mets manager, Collins lead the team to a World Series and a Wild Card, and 551-583 record.

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