Buffalo Bisons (4-6)
Week in Review: Buffalo is off to a metiocre start splitting a four-game set with Rochester before dropping two of three to Scranton-Wilkes Barre before losing the opening game of their two-game set to Pawtucket yesterday afternoon. After this weekend the Bisons play four games at home before heading back out on the road for three games in Syracuse.
Pitchers: Jeurys Familia is off to a pretty good individual start over his first two times on the hill with a 3.72 ERA in just under 10 innings of work. On the other hand there’s Matt Harvey who’s been struggling with a 5.79 ERA in his first two starts. Out of the bullpen, Danny Herrera has looked good allowing one run over six innings, while both Josh Egbert and Justin Hampson have yet to allow a run just through the first 10 games.
Hitters: Veteran Bobby Scales who came over from the Cubs organization is currently leading the team in hitting with a .458 batting average, with Zach Lutz as the only other hitter above .300 with his .324 average. Lutz is also second on the team with two home runs while Val Pascucci is leading the way with four, while only hitting .259. Prospect Jordany Valdespin is 12-for-44 thus far in his first go-around at AAA while playing some outfield with the departure of Kirk Niewenhuis to the Mets.
Binghamton Mets (3-4)
Week in Review: The B-Mets salvaged the last game of their opening series against Akron, split a rain-shortened two-game set with Erie and have lost two of the first three games against Portland. They wrap up their four game set today before a trip to New Hampshire and a return home for another four-game set with Portland.
Pitchers: As everyone has heard by now, Zack Wheeler had a nice bounce back start against Portland on Friday, allowing one run on five hits over six innings. Two guys that I personally have been high on, Darin Gorski and Gregory Peavey have been solid through their first run through the rotation, Gorski pitched yesterday and allowed two runs on four hits before being pulled after four innings in the B-Mets 5-3 loss to Portland.
Hitters: Only one guy is hitting above .300 in the early going and that was 3B/DH Jefry Marte. The outfield trio of Den Dekker, Lagares and Zapata are a combined 21-for-92 thus far, but they’re professionals and will pick it up eventually. Eric Campbell is second on the team with five RBI, two behind the team lead that is held by Marte as well.
St. Lucie Mets (7-2)
Week in Review: Well what do you know? They’re doing it again…Already off to a torrid 7-2 start the St. Lucie Mets are sitting pretty in first place just as they did the entire first half last season en route to their playoff berth. They just finished up taking 2-of-3 from the Palm Beach Cardinals yesterday after sweeping the Charlotte Stone Crabs earlier in the week. This week they alternate stadiums and play at Charlotte for the next three before hosting Palm Beach for three at Digital Domain Park.
Pitchers: Chase Huchingson is picking right up where he left off in Savannah last season with an impressive 12 2/3 innings pitched while allowing only six hits and no runs. Gonzalez Germen and Cory Mazzoni are off to identical starts, both pitching 11 innings each with a 1.64 ERA through their first two starts. Jeffrey Kaplan who had 12 saves last season in St. Lucie picked up his first in yesterday’s game at Palm Beach.
Hitters: Darrell Cecilliani is 8-for-18 to lead the team in hitting at a .444 clip with four RBI. The offense is really spreading the wealth thus far in the young season as five different players have at least four RBI, with Wilmer Flores leading the team with five. Danny Muno who swiped nine bags in half a season in Brooklyn last year already has four through the first nine games of the season.
Savannah Sand Gnats (6-4)
Week in Review: Despite the 6-4 record, the last two wins from Savannah have been most impressive as they have shut down their opponents in both games while scoring 14 runs in the set. So whatever pitching coach Frank Viola is telling his team…it’s working. The Sand Gnats wrap up their four-game set with Augusta this afternoon before the next stop on the road trip that sees them travel to Rome. The team returns home on Thursday to open up a four-game homestand against Hickory.
Pitchers: As mentioned the pitchers have shut down Augusta over the last two games. In Friday’s 10-0 win, four pitchers combined on a four hitter led by starter Alex Panteliodis who allowed a pair of hits over the first five innings of work. In yesterday’s game Domingo Tapia started and went seven strong allowing only three hits while Marcos Camarena finished the game pitching two hitless innings. Seven hits in 18 innings? Not too shabby.
Hitters: Surprise, surprise. Remember those outfielders I told you about last week? Well at least two of them are hitting as Travis Taijeron has a .344 average with one homer and four RBI, while Charley Thurber is hitting .333 in 12 at-bats so far as a reserve player. Aderlin Rodriguez is off to the hottest starts offensively, at least in terms of RBI, amongst every Met minor leaguer with 10 during the first week and a half of the season, Rodriguez also is leading the team with two homeruns, but is only hitting .220 so far this season.
