Mets Minor League Blog Report 9-30-08
Toby Hyde
- Jerseys
- BA FSL Top 20
- AAA Pitchers
1. Jerseys
I thought having the Mets greats wear the Mets jerseys from their playing days at the Shea goodbye ceremony was an inspired sartorial choice.
2. BA FSL Top 20
No St. Lucie Mets made BA’s list of the league’s top 20 prospects. None deserved to. However, J.J. Cooper answered three questions about Mets prospects in his chat.
Q: Richard from
Ft. Lauderdale
asks:
Any thoughts on Ruben Tejada of the Port St.
Lucie Mets? 
A: J.J. Cooper: Tejada was given credit for hanging in there. A scout who saw him early in the year said he looked completely over his head and there was a lot of puzzlement over why the Mets would put an 18-year-old in position to fail like they did. Tejada still has some impressive tools, especially defensively, but it was hard to get much read on him at the plate when he was getting carved up by more experienced pitching. He did show a quick bat and gap-to-gap power, but he needs to get a chance to have some success to build on, which means a repeat trip to the Florida State League is in order.
Q: Lance from Memphis, TN
asks:
Were any Mets considered for the list?
A: J.J. Cooper: Dillon Gee and Dylan Owen are a pair of guys who know how to pitch with average stuff. Ruben Tejada is good defensively and has a quick bat, but he was way over his head in the FSL. Josh Thole can hit, but there are few who liked his work at catcher. Those were the highlights, but none of them were right on the edge of the Top 20.
Q: The Whale
from
NYC asks:
RH starters Dillon Gee (Mets) and Kenny Rodriguez
(Jays)
posted impressive seasons, and two of the best K/BB ratios among FSL
SP. How
close did those two come to making the list? Do either have the stuff
to
continue their success at higher (more age-appropriate) levels next
season? A:
J.J. Cooper: That's the concern with both of them. Gee looks like a potential No. 4 or No. 5 starter in the big leagues with average stuff and some feel for pitching. Rodriguez would have ranked below him if we had stretched the list deeper.
3. AAA Pitchers
Now that there are no more Mets games to watch in 2008, I’ll be resuming my look at the farm teams’ seasons and the guys who played for each team. We pick back up with the AAA moundsmen.
LHP Jon Niese – L/L – 6’4” 215 lbs – 7th Rd ’05 – b. 10/27/86
|
|
W-L |
ERA |
G/GS |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
HR |
BB |
SO |
|
AA |
6-7 |
3.04 |
22/22 |
124.1 |
118 |
53 |
42 |
5 |
44 |
113 |
|
AAA |
5-1 |
3.40 |
7/7 |
39.2 |
34 |
15 |
15 |
4 |
14 |
32 |
Niese had a very good season. His increased attention to his own physical conditioning paid big dividends.
At this point, Mets fans have seen Niese live a few times. They’ve seen the big curveball. They’ve seen the fringy 88-91 mph fastball that loses life as the game wears on. The changeup that at times was good – hey, Mike Cameron swung through it. Niese says he learned a cutter. Planning around young pitchers is tough, just ask the Yankees, or Mets fans about generation K, but the most likely scenario is that Niese will go to spring training in 09 with a chance to win a rotation job.
Eddie Kunz – R/R – 6’6” 265 – 2nd rd ’07 – 4/8/86
|
|
W-L |
ERA |
G/GS |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
HR |
BB |
SO |
|
AA |
1-4 |
2.79 |
44/0 |
48.1 |
39 |
19 |
15 |
0 |
25 |
43 |
|
AAA |
0-1 |
7.94 |
6/0 |
5.2 |
9 |
5 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
|
MLB |
0-0 |
13.50 |
4/0 |
2.2 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
Kunz did not acquit himself well in either AAA or the big leagues in 2008. However, he reached the big leagues with just 76.2 innings split between SSA Brooklyn, the Arizona Fall League, AA and AAA.
There are some things to like about Kunz. He’s big. He’s a great quote. Most importantly, he throws a nasty, nasty sinker at 94 or 95 mph from a low ¾ arm slot. It’s a plus MLB sinker. His slider can be tough on righties.
There are some things not to like about Kunz. With some violence in his delivery, scouts are concerned about whether he’ll ever have good command. Kunz low armslot is a liability against lefties against whom he doesn’t have a second offering. He is uncomfortable throwing his slider to lefties. In college, he used a changeup to lefties, but the Mets had him focus on his sinker/slider combo early in his professional career.
Kunz really is not far from helping in an MLB bullpen. His ceiling is up to him. If he can find a way to neutralize lefties – through the development of his slider, a return to his changeup, or the addition of a splitter – he could eventually grow into a closers role.
Bobby Parnell – R/R – 6’4” 200 lbs – 9th rd ’05 – b 9/8/84
|
|
W-L |
ERA |
G/GS |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
HR |
BB |
SO |
|
AA |
10-6 |
4.30 |
24/24 |
127.2 |
126 |
66 |
61 |
14 |
57 |
91 |
|
AAA |
2-2 |
6.64 |
5/4 |
20.1 |
25 |
16 |
15 |
0 |
9 |
23 |
|
MLB |
0-0 |
5.40 |
6/0 |
5.0 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
Parnell didn’t exactly dominate AA or AAA as a starter, but the Mets, short on arms, brought up the young flamethrower and tossed him in the bullpen. And it looks like that’s where his future lies. Parnell can hit 95 mph, giving him plus velocity, his only plus offering. Neither his changup nor his slider was an average big league pitch when I saw him live in New Britain in his final AA start. The velocity alone isn’t enough to be a successful MLB reliever, but it’s a good start.
LHP Adam Bostick – L/L – 6’1” 233 lbs – Acquired in trade w/ FLA w/ Jason Vargas for H. Owens & M Lindstrom – b. 3/17/83
|
|
W-L |
ERA |
G/GS |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
HR |
BB |
SO |
|
AAA |
2-2 |
6.04 |
11/10 |
44.2 |
48 |
30 |
30 |
6 |
20 |
30 |
Bostick’s season was cut short by micro-fracture surgery on his knee in May. In April, he was 2-1 in April with a 3.86 ERA but was 0-1 with a 10.67 ERA in May. The primary difference was that in May batters hit .354 against him versus .223 in April.
RHP Brian Stokes – R/R – 6’1” 210 lbs – trade for cash w/ TB 11/07 –9/7/79
|
|
W-L |
ERA |
G/GS |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
HR |
BB |
SO |
|
AAA |
10-6 |
4.41 |
23/22 |
130.2 |
124 |
74 |
64 |
7 |
48 |
97 |
|
MLB |
1-0 |
3.51 |
24/1 |
33.1 |
35 |
13 |
13 |
5 |
8 |
26 |
Pulled off the Tampa Bay Rays scrap heap by the Mets, Stokes provided some effective innings for the New York bullpen, after serving as a starter in New Orleans. Note, however, that he was more than a little homer prone in the bigs.
Stokes is now 29. He’s no building block, of a franchise or a bullpen, but he served as a nice cheap piece in 2008. Stokes is unlikely to improve upon his 2008 work moving forward.
Brandon Knight – L/R – 6’0” 195 lbs – MiLB FA ’08 – b. 10/1/75
|
|
W-L |
ERA |
G/GS |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
HR |
BB |
SO |
|
AAA |
5-1 |
2.28 |
12/5 |
43.1 |
28 |
12 |
11 |
5 |
12 |
55 |
|
MLB |
1-1 |
5.25 |
4/2 |
12.0 |
14 |
7 |
7 |
0 |
7 |
10 |
First Major league appearance sine 2002? First MLB start? First MLB win? Pitching your team to a spot in the medal round at the Olympics. Winning bronze in Beijing? Yeah, it was a pretty good 2008 for Brandon Knight. And remember, he almost quit playing for coaching.
Could he recapture the magic as a 33-year old to become a swingman again in 2009?
Carlos Muniz – R/R – 6’1” 190 – -- 13th rd ’03 LBSU – b. 3/12/81
|
|
W-L |
ERA |
G/GS |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
HR |
BB |
SO |
|
AAA |
2-4 |
3.93 |
33/0 |
36.2 |
30 |
16 |
16 |
5 |
14 |
31 |
|
MLB |
1-1 |
5.40 |
18/0 |
23.1 |
24 |
14 |
14 |
4 |
7 |
16 |
Muniz didn’t allow a run for the first month of the season, until his 12th appearance as a Zephyr. During this span, I was lucky enough to run into a few of Muniz’s friends in the parking lot before a Mets-Dodgers game in LA. Muniz is a middle reliever, if that, but nothing more.
Willie Collazo – L/L – 5’9” 170 – signed as MiLB FA 3/1/06 – b. 11/7/79
|
|
W-L |
ERA |
G/GS |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
HR |
BB |
SO |
|
AAA |
4-9 |
4.05 |
37/16 |
135.2 |
134 |
66 |
61 |
18 |
35 |
71 |
Collazo is a short lefty with a short fastball whose best pitch is a changeup. He’s fearless and will attack both lefties and righties with his heater, his change or his slider. If the Mets did not see fit to give Collazo a look in 2008, do you see it happening some other time?