Back for year number two of Down on the Farm and the Mets made my job a little easier this year with all their budget cutting which saw the organization ridding themselves of the Kingsport Mets of the Appalachian League and the Gulf Coast League Mets of the GCL. Those clubs didn’t usually start their seasons until after the draft but at least we’re back this year with the Buffalo Bisons of the International League, the Binghamton Mets of the Eastern League, the St. Lucie Mets of the Florida State League, the Savannah Sand Gnats of the South Atlantic League, and in a few months the Brooklyn Cyclones of the New York-Penn League.
Buffalo Bisons (1-1)
-Buffalo got their season off to a 1-1 start with a series split with Pawtucket. The Bisons continue their season opening trip with four games at Rochester before returning home for their 25th home opener on Wednesday against the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees (who aren’t really in SWB this season, as they’ll be playing ‘home’ games in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Batavia, Allentown, Pa. and Pawtucket, R.I.).
-Buffalo will be an interesting team to watch this season especially with some of the Mets’ top pitching prospects at AAA with Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia, eventually Jenrry Mejia will also be back after Tommy John Surgery. In terms of the offensive players look for the infielders such as Jordany Valdespin, Zach Lutz, Josh Satin and Michael Fischer to be players I mention a lot this season since the rest of the players are just career minor leaguers or members of AAAA baseball.
Binghamton Mets (0-2)
-Binghamton was the one of the worst teams in Minor League Baseball last season and this season looks a little bit brighter with a lot of members from last season’s St. Lucie team getting the bump up to AA. Another bright note (and this is more of a personal thing), no more Wally Backman in Binghamton as he was promoted to Buffalo this season before he takes over the Mets this August when the big league club hits a long losing skid.
-Some players to watch this season include my #1 Mets prospect Zach Wheeler who was acquired in the Carlos Beltran trade last season. A few of my other favorites from last season are also on the pitching staff as lefty Darin Gorski and righty Greg Peavey have made the jump to AA. An old friend has returned as Kevin Mulvey (yes the one from the Johan trade) is back in Bing as is former first round pick Brad Holt. The outfield will be the group to keep an eye on this season, Juan Lagares, Matt Den Dekker and Pedro Zapata…need I say more as the top three outfield prospects are all on the same team.
St. Lucie Mets (1-1)
-St. Lucie lost in last season’s championship series to Daytona mostly because their team was depleted with the like of Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia moving up to AA in the middle of the season leaving the pitching staff depleted down the stretch and in the playoffs. This season they are off to a 1-1 start with a split on the road at Bradenton, today they finish up their series with their home opener againast the Marauders.
-This team also has a few pitchers that I liked last season, primarily from that pitching heavy Savannah team from a season ago including Gonzalez German who picked up the win in yesterday’s contest. Taylor Whitenton was also used yesterday as a reliever after making 22 starts in the South Atlantic League in 2011. Theres also a few field players who are at St. Lucie this season including top catching prospect Blake Forsythe, the infield has a few familiar faces including Wilmer Flores, Robbie Shields, Wilfredo Tovar and a 2011 draftee who played well at Brooklyn last year in Danny Muno. The outfield also looks to have a strong threesome with Darrell Ciciliani, Cesar Puello and Cory Vaughn.
Savannah Sand Gnats (1-1)
-Savannah is also 1-1 to start the season with Luis Rojas at the helm with new pitching coach in former Met Frank Viola. The opening two games featured matchups with the Augusta Green Jackets who are out of town for this weekend because some big event is going on in their hometown of Augusta, Georgia. Right now the Gnats are on par with the Jackets as both have score one-run wins against each other.
-Savannah seems to be a little bit of a melting pot this season as the Mets dismantled two other minor league affiliates, Savannah has a few players who spents time with Kingsport, Brooklyn and Savannah last year on their roster. Back for his second year on the team is Erik Goeddel, while Tyler Pill, T. J. Chism and Tyson Send all come from Brooklyn, another guy with high hopes from the big club is Domingo Tapia who skips the short season A ball level and comes to Savannah from Kingsport in 2011. The corner infield spots will be interesting this season with Sam Honeck at first and Aderlin Rodriguez at third. Four outfielders will vie for time as well, all of whom were drafted last season, Dustin Lawley, Greg Pron, Charley Thurber and Travis Taijeron.
See you next week when they’ll be more games and more numbers to talk about!
