Down on the Farm, @MetsProspectHub’s bimonthly look at what’s been happening in the farm system.
Summary: If you look up the word “bleh” in the dictionary – you wouldn’t find it. But if you did find it, there would be a picture representing what happened (didn’t happen) these last 2 weeks in the Mets farm system. As in nada, zippo, nothing. It makes writing an article about it very very difficult, that’s for sure. Absolutely nothing of any note, import, or anything happened. No great ground was gained or lost by any team, no nothing. Luckily there was the draft, right? Anyway, lets take a look at it all…
Las Vegas 51s
Pre-game June 1st: 34-22
Pre-game June 16th: 40-30
Record: 6-8
Games Played: 14
The Mets finally optioned d’Arnaud down on June 8th after a nightmarish 2 months in the majors. I won’t put in his triple slash here, but you all know how horrid it is, his ML OPS this season was .544. However, it’s been a different story since d’Arnaud joined the 51s, five multi hit games in his six starts, a .414 average, 1.485 OPS, two doubles, five homers, three walks in twenty-nine ABs. #PCL and #Vegas all you want, that’s an authority he just did not have in his major league career (all two-hundred and twenty-seven ABs of it so pipe down on all that he’s a bust talk, that’s just silly). And after #PCLing and #Vegasing all you want, keep in mind the alternative of him NOT hitting in Vegas would’ve been problematic.
Binghamton Mets
Pre-game June 1st: 30-24
Pre-game June 16th: 38-31
Record: 8-7
Games Played: 15
Catchers Gone Wild! Kevin Plawecki’s torrid May (.980 OPS) has continued into June, as over this fifteen game stretch, he played twelve and hit .378/.472/.533/1.005 with four doubles and a homer, while also drawing seven walks against four strikeouts in forty-five ABs. Simply outstanding numbers all around from Plawecki, who began the season as MPHs 10th prospect and certainly will be in the top 5 by season’s end. Plawecki would likely be close to a promotion to Vegas, but, of course, d’Arnaud’s ahead of him now. Which isn’t a bad thing, per se, as Plawecki has only 14 walks in 204 ABs this season.
St. Lucie Mets
Pre-game June 1st: 32-23
Pre-game June 16th: 38-29
Record: 6-6
Games Played: 12
Catchers Gone Wild! Camden Maron hit .379/.471/.552/1.022 in eight games (twenty-nine ABs). OK, just kidding, but Maron, 23, really did hit extremely well in this period. He’s a non prospect, though.
Dilson Herrera is the guy here, he hit .325/.413/.450/.863 in ten games, forty ABs, with three doubles and a triple along with four walks. Herrera’s had a terrific season in all facets of the game, and he’s firmly entrenched himself, in my opinion, in our top ten prospects. He should probably be joining Binghamton shortly.
Savannah Sand Gnats
Pre-game June 1st: 36-16
Pre-game June 16th: 44-22
Record: 8-6
Games Played: 14
The only pitcher in this article, Chris Flexen had one great start (seven innings of three hit, one run ball with ten strikeouts) and then two meh starts, but overall, his June’s been decent to date, which is a marked improvement over his April and May. Flexen, who turns 20 on July 1st, has a 1.69 era in 3 June starts, with seven walks and fifteen strikeouts in sixteen innings. #progress
And to wrap up this article, my top ten favorite draft picks, in no particular order:
OF Michael Conforto – this one’s another high floor medium/low ceiling pick, I usually am not a fan of these, and really am not a fan of this guy, either, but as the first pick, tenth overall, I felt I had to include a comment or two on him.
RHP Josh Prevost – senior sign, features a fastball into the mid 90s, sits low 90s, sinkerballer, reminds me a bit of Jacob deGrom.
LHP Brad Wieck – giant lefty (6’9/240) with mid 90s fastball. Reliever in all likelihood. Started in college, though.
ss Tristan Gray – thirty-seventh round pick, a shortstop, commited to Rice so probably not signing him, but he’d be a good get if we could
RHP Alex Durham – projectable super young righty out of high school.
RHP Erik Manoah – not as projectable as Durham, but with solid present velocity, and the makings of two at least average pitches. Signed for $300,000.
RHP Gabriel Llanes
of Raphael Ramirez
of Luke Bonfield
RHP/1b Keaton McKinney – 0.000000001% chance of us signing him away from Arkansas
ss Dale Burdick
