The minor league season is now over a month old with three of the four Mets full season affiliates still sporting a winning record. The Mets farm system has a .516 winning percentage which ranks 13th. Offense has been a struggle as a whole though, they have the fewest homers and hits in the minors.

Week in Review

The Triple-A Syracuse Mets sit in second place in the division with a 19-14 record despite going 3-5 so far in the month of May. They have the lowest scoring offensive in the International League at 4.52 runs per game, but have held opponents to a league low 4.18 runs per game. Their bullpen has pitched well with righties Corey Taylor (1.84), Paul Sewald (2.57), and Tim Peterson (2.61) leading the way. Swingman Casey Coleman has a 3.29 ERA in 27.1 innings. Outfielder Carlos Gomez is hitting .390 with three home runs in his last ten games.

Binghamton is tied for first place in the Eastern Division at 19-10 with the Trenton Thunder after taking three straight games from the Western Division leading 23-9 Harrisburg Senators. That sweep included a combined no-hitter by righties Harol Gonzalez and Ryder Ryan on Wednesday night. Lefty starter Anthony Kay is second in the league with his 1.47 ERA and righty reliever Joseph Zanghi is tied for fifth among relievers with his 0.57 ERA. The Rumble Ponies’ offense has been led by outfielder Barrett Barnes (.978 OPS) and Braxton Lee (.835 OPS).

The St. Lucie Mets have gone 5-2 to start May to improve their overall record to 18-14 on the season, fourth in the South Division of the Florida State League. Right-hander Tommy Wilson started in two of those wins and didn’t allow a run in either (13 scoreless). In his start on May 1, he threw seven no-hit scoreless innings. Infielder Luis Carpio is 9-for-22 in the month of May and has a team-best .847 OPS for the season.

It’s been a season-long struggle for the Columbia Fireflies to find any type of consistency on offense (league-worst 2,91 R/Game) or on the mound (second highest ERA at 4.48). The Mets Class-A affiliate finds themselves in last place with a 9-23 record. The good news prospect wise is the 29 strikeout-to-walk ratio from 18-year-old Simeon Woods-Richardson, lefty Thomas Szapucki threw two scoreless innings on Monday, Dedniel Nunez (recently promoted to St. Lucie) has come out of nowhere to post 33-to-3 strikeout to walk ratio, and 20-year-old Bryce Hutchinson has pitched well (3.20 ERA/1.12 WHIP) in a variety of roles. Young infielders Ronny Mauricio, Mark Vientos, and Shervyen Newton have all had their struggles at the plate.

Stephen Villines/Photo by Ed Delany, MMO

News and Buzz

Infielders Ruben Tejada and Gavin Cecchini continue to get reps in extended spring games. Tejada signed late meaning he had no spring training and Cecchini has been dealing with a quad injury.

Right-hander Colin Holderman made his 2019 debut with five innings of one-run ball on Sunday for the Fireflies. The former ninth round pick missed the entire 2018 following Tommy John Surgery.

The Mets have released right-hander pitcher Chase Ingram according to my colleague Jacob Resnick. Ingram has not pitched since the 2017 season following TJS.

MLB.com has outfielder Alexander Ramirez ranked as their No. 26 international prospect for the upcoming signing period and the Mets as the favorites to land him.

Cuban outfielder Gerson Molina made his pro debut this week for the Columbia Fireflies. The Mets gave the 23-year-old a $175,00 bonus last August. He’s started his career by going 4-for-10 with two doubles and three RBI.

Sidearmer Steve Villines was recently promoted to Triple-A Syracuse. With three scoreless innings to being his Triple-A career, he’s up to 15.2 innings this season without allowing an earned run.

Stats That Stick Out

Binghamton third baseman Will Toffey has 25 walks this year, that ties him for seventh among 908 minor leagues.

Syracuse Mets outfielder Tim Tebow has a -4 wRC+, that ranks him 908th out of 908 qualified hitters at FanGraphs.

Recently promoted Dedniel Nunez has a fantastic 32.0 K-BB%, that ranks him eighth among 389 minor league pitchers.

Photo by Ed Delany, MMO

Talking With a Prospect

Right-hander Bryce Hutchinson was the Mets 12th round pick in the 2017 draft from DeLand High School in Florida. After two stints with the Gulf Coast League Mets, the 6’6” former two-way player is getting his first taste of full season ball with the Columbia Fireflies.

He talked to me about the differences between rookie ball and full season, “In rookie ball it’s so much easier to get away with mistakes and comeback in counts with mediocre sinkers or off speed just to set up some better counts for yourself, you can’t do that here or it gets smashed. Hitters don’t miss there pitches.”

Hutchinson has pitched in 10 games this year including one start, two games finished, and has thrown anywhere from four pitches to 62 in a game. He’s confident in his ability to pitch in any role, “I love to compete, it’s just how I was raised by my parents. Our pitching coach Royce Ring knows that i don’t care what role I have or what I’m doing I’m going to go in there and compete. Obviously being a starter is what I always have done but learning the bullpen has been a good time also…I’m very OCD when it comes to the days that I pitch, from what I eat to how much water I drink, to what I do throwing. So getting use to never knowing when your going in is definitely different.”

So far, so good for Hutchinson as he’s posted a 3.20 ERA in 19.2 and has a 60% groundball rate. He talked about his skills as a hitter, “I miss hitting everyday, I try and make bets and deals with every coach to just get a round of 5 during the BP but for some reason I always lose. I’m not going to toot my own horn but, I would out hit our entire pitching staff in BP but when we get into an actual game where the pitcher is throwing over 90 then I’m the worst hitter on the team.”

The recently turned 20-year-old has high expectations for himself, “My goal for this year is to have the lowest ERA on the team, finish in St. Lucie, and set myself up for a big league Spring Training invite spring of 2020. Some people think I’m crazy but if I were to tell you my goals before spring training you would have thought I was crazy then to. Pitching wise Royce has been helping me everyday on getting over my frontside and not being as rotational in my delivery. It should help with consistency in the strike zone and give my velo a little jump which I’ve already seen in the game , now it’s just about repeating the delivery and competing every time I get on the mound.”

That’s A Spicy Mets’ Prospect

Rumble Ponies’ lefty Anthony Kay has allowed only two earned runs in his last 23.2 innings (four starts). In that span, he’s held hitters to a .138/.242/.200 slash line with 25 strikeouts.

St. Lucie Mets starter Tommy Wilson has thrown 13 scoreless inning over his last two starts. On May 1, he threw seven no-hit scoreless innings with a career-high nine strikeouts.

Braxton Lee, a minor league Rule 5 pick by the Mets, has slashed .371/.421/.400 with 10 RBI in nine May games.

Video of The Week

Organizational Leaders

AVG: Adeiny Hechavarria (SYR) .348, Barrett Barnes (BNG) .333, Luis Carpio (STL) .333, Braxton Lee (BNG) .329, Blake Tiberi (STL) .291

OPS: Barnes .978, Travis Taijeron (SYR) .916, Carpio .847, Lee .835, Hechavarria .828, Will Toffey (BNG) .783

HR: Taijeron 8, Carlos Gomez (SYR) 4, Danny Espinosa (SYR) 4, Brian Sharp (COL) 4

RBI: Espinosa 23, Quinn Brodey (STL) 21, Taijeron 18, Lee 17, Hechavarria 17, Barnes 16

R: Toffey 21, Sam Haggerty (BNG) 21, Espinosa 19, Brodey 18, Gregor Blanco (SYR) 18

SB: Rajai Davis (SYR) 12, Haggerty 9, Dilson Herrera (SYR) 8, Blanco 6

Starter ERA: Anthony Kay (BNG) 1.47, Tommy Wilson (STL) 2.48, Tony Dibrell (STL) 2.61, Michael Gibbons (BNG) 2.78

Starter WHIP: Dedniel Nunez (COL/STL) 0.76, Harol Gonzalez (BNG) 0.88, Kay 0.93, Dibrell 1.07

Reliever ERA: Steven Villines (BNG/SYR) 0.00, Joe Zanghi (BNG) 0.57, Stephen Nogosek (BNG) 0.64, Andrew Mitchell (COL) 1.35

Reliever WHIP: Tim Peterson (SYR) 0.73, Briam Campusano (STL) 0.83, Ezequiel Zabaleta (COL) 0.93

K/9: Chris Flexen (SYR) 14.7, Ryley Gilliam (STL/BNG) 14.6, Matt Blackham (BNG) 14.2), Mitchell 14.2

SO/W: Zabaleta 18.0, Nunez 9.25, Billy Oxford (COL) 7.50, Simeon Woods-Richardson (COL) 7.25

Saves: Arquimedes Caminero (SYR) 7, Blake Taylor (STL) 6, Zabaleta 3, Villines 3