The deadline to add players to the 40-man roster and protect them from the Rule 5 draft was yesterday. One of the interesting names for the Mets that wasn’t protected is infielder Phillip Evans, coming off winning the Eastern League batting title for the Double-A Binghamton Mets.
Evans, 24, slashed .335/.374/.485 with 30 doubles, eight home runs and 39 RBI for the B-Mets in his breakout season.
He only ended up getting 419 plate appearances in the regular season so he decided to head to the Puerto Rican Winter League to play for the Criollos de Caguas.
The Criollos de Caguas lost on Friday night to the Cangrejeros de Santurce by a 2-1 score. Evans went 2 for 4 with his first winter ball homer. He played third base and batted third in the lineup. He’s now slashing .333/.418/.521 with four doubles and seven walks compared to five strikeouts.
The only other Mets minor league position player to participate in winter ball action on Friday was catcher Xorge Carrillo in the Mexican League. Carrillo, 27, went 2 for 2 with a double, walk, RBI, and a run scored for the Aguilas de Mexicali.
Another player that wasn’t protected from the Rule 5 draft yesterday was reliever Paul Sewald. Sewald, 26, pitched a scoreless ninth inning on Friday for the Naranjeros de Hermosillo to pick up his 11th save. The right-hander has a 3.50 ERA and 0.83 WHIP in 18 innings. In that span he has struck out 14 and has yet to walk a batter.
Young right-hander Nabil Crismatt made his third start in the Puerto Rican League for the Gigantes de Carolina. Crismatt, 21, went five innings allowing four earned runs on eight hits, walked nobody and struck out four. He’s now 0-3 with a 4.15 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in 17.1 innings.
