Photo by @KristinBasnett

Week In Review

The Triple-A Syracuse Mes have gone just 4-10 in June to drop their record to 32-34, putting them in third place. Two bright spots for the Mets have been recently added infielders, Arismendy Alcantara and Ruben Tejada. Alcantara has a 1.023 OPS in 73 plate appearances and Tejada’s at .918 through 88 plate appearances.

Binghamton has had its own recent struggles, going 3-8 in June, dropping them to 33-27 on the season and fourth place in the division. Their best pitcher, Anthony Kay, was recently promoted to Syracuse as were their two best relievers in Stephen Nogosek and Ryley Gilliam. Starter Luc Rennie was recently called up and threw five no-hit innings in his Binghamton debut.

The All-Star break comes at a good time for the St. Lucie Mets as they’ve won just two of their last seven games. Right-handed starter Tony Dibrell was added to the Florida State League All-Star roster on Thursday. He joins catcher Nick Meyer and infielder Manny Rodriguez. Left-handed reliever Blake Taylor was selected, but received a recent promotion to Binghamton.

Columbia overall performance has certainly been a disappointment (24-39), though they’ve been better in June at 4-5. Still reasons to get excited about this team from a prospect standpoint with Thomas Szapucki back pitching well (hitting 96 mph on fastball), Ronny Mauricio swinging well (.364 in last 10 games), and Simeon Woods Richardson with two straight five-inning scoreless outings.

News and Buzz

Anthony Kay was recently promoted to Syracuse and added to Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects. The lefty will make his Triple-A debut tonight against Gwinnett. He was also named BA’s mid-season Player of the Year in the Mets system.

The Brooklyn Cyclones start their season tonight and our own Jacob Resnick has you covered with roster and other action. This roster could certainly change once the Mets finish signing draft picks.

Speaking of draft picks, our own Christopher Soto has everything right here in a tracker. First rounder Brett Baty is expected to sign soon which will give us a better indication of whether or not they will have the available bonus money to offer third rounder Matthew Allan.

Both Baseball America and FanGraphs recently updated their top prospects list. Most notable piece is that FanGraphs is the first publication to have Ronny Mauricio (No. 39) higher than Andres Gimenez (No. 49).

Stats That Stick Out

DSL catcher Endy Rodriguez has a .370 ISO through nine games, that ranks seventh in the league. Ronny Rincones, 17, has allowed only one hit in 8.2 innings to start his pro career in the DSL.

Ronny Mauricio’s 27.1 line drive percentage ranks fourth in the South Atlantic League.

St. Lucie Mets right-handed reliever Marcel Renteria leads all Mets’ minor league pitchers with a 17.3 swinging strike percentage though his 6.99 ERA is the third highest.

Talking With A Draftee

The Mets drafted Cal State Bakersfield catcher Jake Ortega with their 28th round pick of the 2019 draft, he talked to me about finding out he was drafted:

“Finding out that I was drafted was just a lot of excitement and relief knowing that I was going to be able to continue my baseball career at the next level. I got the call from the Mets in the round before letting me know that they were going to take me.”

The 22-year-old slashed .333/.421/.410 with 20 walks and 20 strikeouts in 51 games during his senior year. He discussed the moment he was drafted and Mets scouting him:

“I was in front of the TV watching every pick with my family and friends. I had phone next to me just waiting to hear from teams. I got a call at the end of round 3 with the possibility of being taken within the next few rounds. But prior to the draft it was the same kind of interest level and talks that I had with other teams.”

He’s an athletic catcher that also has experience all over the infield and some in the outfield as well. He prides himself on his defense, which he talked about with me:

“I am usually very involved with every pitcher. I’ll catch their flat grounds and bullpens to see certain pitches and if they are working on anything mechanically. Like to communicate with them to after every inning we catch and even post game to talk about what worked and what wasn’t and how we can work on certain things moving forward.”

That’s A Spicy Mets Prospect

Simeon Woods Richardson has thrown back-to-back games for Columbia in which he went five scoreless innings and struck out eight batters. He threw a combined 140 pitches in those outings with 31 swinging strikes.

Lefty Thomas Szapucki has made two appearances in June, he has 4.1 scoreless innings with only two hits allowed in that span. Also has five strikeouts. He’s still working his way back from Tommy John surgery and threw a season-high 40 pitches in his last outing.

St. Lucie Mets infielder Carlos Cortes is slashing .280/.373/.492 with five homers, 25 RBI, 17 BB/20 K in his last 34 games.

Binghamton reliever Matt Blackham has allowed only three runs on seven hits in his last 15 innings (1.80 ERA). He struck out 22 batters during that save and was 3-for-3 in save opportunities.

Video of the Week

Organizational Leaders

AVG: Luis Guillorme (SYR) .305, Arismendy Alcantara (SYR/BNG) .300, Braxton Lee (SYR/BNG) .292, Ronny Mauricio (COL) .288
OPS: Travis Taijeron (SYR) .905, Dilson Herrera (SYR) .856, Alcantara .848, Danny Espinosa (SYR) .833, Guillorme .825
HR: Taijeron 14, Herrera 12, Espinosa 11, Carlos Cortes (STL) 7
RBI: Taijeron 42, Espinosa 42, Quinn Brodey (STL) 41, Cortes 39, Patrick Mazeika (BNG) 32
SB: Rajai Davis (SYR) 16, Sam Haggerty (BNG) 14, Andres Gimenez (BNG) 10, Alcantara 9
Starter ERA: Anthony Kay (BNG) 1.49, Tony Dibrell (STL) 2.82, Harol Gonzalez (BNG) 3.27, Chris Flexen (SYR) 3.46
Starter FIP: Kay 2.71, Kevin Smith (STL) 2.88, Dedniel Nunez (COL/STL) 3.19, David Peterson (BNG) 3.22
Starter WHIP: Kay 0.92, Nunez 1.02, Gonzalez 1.04, Willy Taveras (COL) 1.19, Luc Rennie (STL/BNG) 1.22
Reliever ERA: Stephen Nogosek (BNG/SYR) 0.59, Andrew Mitchell (COL/STL) 1.30, Ezequiel Zabaleta (COL/STL) 1.83
Reliever FIP: Mitchell 1.48, Ryley Gilliam (BNG/SYR) 1.61, Matt Blackham (BNG) 2.34, Nogosek 2.84
Reliever WHIP: Tim Peterson (SYR) 0.55, Briam Campusano (COL) 0.83, Zabaleta 0.90, Adonis Uceta (BNG) 0.92
K/9: Blackham 14.0, Mitchell 14.0, Gilliam 13.5, SWR, 11.9, Flexen 11.7, Nunez 11.3
SO/W: Peterson 9.00, SWR 6.67, Gilliam 5.33, Nunez 5.23, Zabaleta 5.00, Mitchell 4.78
Saves: Arquimedes Caminero (SYR) 8, Zabaleta 7, Blake Taylor (STL/BNG) 7, Blackham 5