7/9/14

Morning Report – July 9th – Dustin Martin, 2014 Draft Update, Jhoan Urena, Lucas Duda


                                                                                                                                            
Coming Later Today –      
                                                                                            
            10 00 am – Reese Kaplan -  Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?

             12 00 pm - Stephen Guilbert - Future Major Leaguers - Pt. St. Lucie

             2 00 pm -  Pitcher Of The Week - Dario Alvarez        
                                                                         
            6 00 pm – 2015 Draft Profile  - RHP  -  Kyle Cody  -  Kentucky - UPDATED 6-30-14


Rich MacLeod ‏@richmacleod 

I understand people have issues with Castro, but look around the league and show me the perfect player that's avail. There isn't one.


It was great to see Dustin Martin in the Reno lineup against Las Vegas. The 30-year old somewhat professional minor leaguer came out of the Mets system where he hit .315 (2006) for Brooklyn and then .287 (2007) for St. Lucie before he was traded in a three team deal that included the Mets getting 2B Luis Castillo. He resigned a minor league deal with the Mets in 2012, where he hit a combined .279 for Binghamton and Buffalo. It’s good to see him still around.



Yesterday's roster moves... RHP Greg Peavey (AA: 2.86... AAA: 12.21)was transferred back again from Las Vegas to Binghamton. He also was placed on the 'temporary inactive list'.  LHP Angel Cuan was activated and filled the slot left open after RHP Tyler Pill was transferred to Las Vegas. After two tries, he just can't seem to make the conversion to the PCL league.


Per Fangraphs - 

       Jenrry Mejia had the night off after a longer outing last night and the Mets said they would use Jeurys Familia in his place. Although there wasn’t a save situation, Familia was brought in for the final two outs in the ninth as Buddy Carlyle and Dana Eveland left the door ajar. Mejia’s hold on the job is still firm and tonight’s outing helped show Familia’s grasp as the main setup and backup closer is as well.



I love this story... Bobby Parnell came to town two days ago for some tests and he spent the last two games sitting in the pen. He offered as an explanation: "this is my home."  



2014 Draft Update –

            This is the first update of the Mets 2014 draft. My original comments (the ‘nameless’ draft) isn’t producing that much to write home about yet:

                                    (all stats through end of games – 7-7-14)

                        -there is no one from this draft player A-Savannah or above ball

            -9th round 1B Michael Katz (OF-1B) is producing the best numbers in Brooklyn (.291) followed by 30th round OF Tucker Tharp (.233), 6th round C Tyler Moore (.200), and 22nd round 2B William Fulmer (.214).

            -5th round pitcher Josh Prevost (4-G, 2.08) and 7th round Brad Wieck (5-G, 3.185) have impressed out of the Cyclones pen.

            -the Mets 4th round pick, 3B Eudor Garcia, is hitting .269 for Kingsport, while their other top pick, 3rd round SS Milton Ramos, is hitting only .147 for the GCL Mets.

It’s early and, yes, this is the intro to the ‘grind’, but (IMO) this was the strangest of all the Sandy-team drafts so far.

As you all know, I research the high school seniors and college juniors every day of the entire year and I am dumfounded how for the fourth year in a row the way Alderson and Company make their picks. I only had research or had heard of four players drafted in 2014 and two of them weren’t signed. They seem to approach this as a contest… what scout can pick the least known player from the smallest most remote school in the country.

I just don’t understand it. Why does everyone do the research and how come do the other clubs seem to respect it enough to use it as a primer going into the draft?

(Shaking head…)


Soto –

            Jhoan Urena ranks 3rd in NYP in AVG(.333), 5th in OBP(.402), & 7th in OPS(.902). He's the only player among the leaders younger than 20.

We’ve talked about the potential of Brooklyn Cyclones 3B Jhoan Urena. He homered again on Monday and at one point his batting average hit .342. This is a 19-year old who is beginning to make Mets officials re-evaluate the long term future of David Wright at third base. Yes, there is little pop here and he could easily disappear as he goes up the affiliate chain, but he already impressed as an 18-year old in 2013 with the GCL Mets (.299) and only Cole Frenzel stands in his way in Savannah. ETA: 2018



TTF on Lucas Duda

            Leave Duda at cleanup - Those of you who read my column know that I’ve been a Lucas Duda enthusiast ever since I rightly hopped off the Ike Davis bandwagon (yes, I must admit I was in the ‘I like Ike’ brigade for a his first season and a half). Duda has enormous natural power, a good eye at the plate and an ability to drive the ball to all fields. He’s among the National League’s leaders in hard-hit balls, and of late, he’s become more assertive at the plate and put more pressure on the folks trying to get him out. Duda is 13 for his last 42, and he’s the only Mets player with a season OPS over .800. He’s on pace for 24 home runs and 84 RBI, despite being buried in the order and stuck in ill-advised platoon situations for too much of the spring. As he continues to get more confident, his raw power will continue to emerge and his drives to left and left-center will force teams to abandon the shift. He’s a better option than a lot of teams have at cleanup, and in a more well crafted lineup, he’d have even more chances to produce runs. http://throughthefencebaseball.com/mets-need-figure-out-lineup/43376#DS1RkcHTyXZqcfpf.99

            Mack – I’m pleasantly surprised at Duda. I was an Ike Davis fan, but it looks like I might have been wrong here. I don’t expect Duda to ever lead the league in hitting, but his determination to get on base via walks has made his OBP impress me.


            I’ve said before that this team has much bigger problems right now than first base. Duda and Eric Campbell have don’t a great job here.

10 comments:

Tom Brennan said...

Hey Mack

I'd written a while back (around end of May) about Duda needing to be more aggressive early in counts. That he was essentially his own worst enemy. He has been almost spectacular since - June 1 forward, approximately .300/.400/.600. Spanning 125 at bats. If he gets more aggressive in his one remaining area of struggle - late and close ballgame situations - the sleeping giant may just yet turn into the Incredible Hulk at the plate. IMO. Like a high 90's pitcher who does not seem to do well until they convince him to just trust his stuff.

What do you think of Matt Oberste, Mack? He is a stunning 23 for 40 in his last 10 games. With power. To me, guys who get occasionally hot may hit .400 over 10 games, not .600. Is this guy a true future top prospect? Two weeks ago, he was in the middle of the pack.

I looked at the line up's averages - the whole line up seems to be hitting now. Wonder if this is the verge of an offense-led Met run. It's been the missing leg of the stool most of the season. Maybe the leg has been repaired.

Anonymous said...

Duda's history in the minors drove his coaches nuts. at each level, he would start with low average and low power, but taking tons of walks. they have constantly screamed at him to get the bat off his shoulder and pulverize some fastballs. at each level, he kind of took him time by starting with plate discipline and eventually started to show the power and all-field hitting, while maintaining high OBP. the other thing about Duda in the minors was DEFINITELY a confidence thing; once he gained confidence at a higher level, he was capable of going on tears. let us hope that progression continues a this level, it is flashing a bit right now.

Unknown said...

Thomas - Oberste is 23 tearing up low A ball, as a college hitter, he should be putting up these numbers - in fairness he didn't get regular ABs early in the season, so maybe this is just him finally getting a chance - we can hope, but I would temper my enthusiasm at this point

Mack Ade said...

Re: Duda - then I guess it was you.

Re: Oberste - nice stats for A ball but 2 years too early to analyze,,, and he's too old for that level

TP said...

Mack,
Nice column as usual. When the Mets face RHP, Grandy should be leading off and Duda should be hitting cleanup each and every game. It is looking more and more like Alderson made the right choice in retaining Duda over Davis, but we need to see how Duda now handles the cleanup role and if he can show improvement in the "close and late" ABs, in which he has been dreadful up to this point in 2014. The Dude establishing himself as a legit middle of the lineup bat will be quite helpful to the franchise. I know it is tempting to use Grandy in the middle of the order, especially given his improvement since April, but they have no better alternative, and I think he looks comfortable in the role, and may even have a better mental approach when leading off. Also, I would llike to see Captain Kirk get more starts vs. RHP. This should come mostly at the expense of EYjr, but he can also give Lagares a day of rest weekly vs. a tough RHP. The sample size is small, but Kirk looks improved and if he can keep down the Ks, his altheticism makes him a great candidate for a 4th OF.

Mack Ade said...

That you TP

I'm going to answer this on Friday's Morning Report

Steve from Norfolk said...

Thomas,

I've been looking at the good hitting lately as the law of averages making a correction. No one hit up to their potential or what their past stats showd they could do. Hopefully the good results at the plate will continue as players continue to raise their stats to at least their career averages for a season.

Tom Brennan said...

Hey Steve from Norfolk
I hear you...might just be high tide and low tide and the sea will level off where expected. However, I was in full Jason Bay mode on Grandy in March and April, and he has really come around. He is truly Grandy-man, because the Grandy-man can. Wright's power has up-ticked. Duda I think is evolving from a very mediocre hitter to a possibly dangerous one. Tejada has shocked me totally - I thought he would stay locked at .210. d'Arnaud is hitting. The Chris Young damage is contained - can no longer make out if you don't get up. Lagares is back, Murph is Murph. Even EY Jr has really not hit badly since his 1 for 16 start (.250 since). I have a feeling it will continue.

Steve from Norfolk said...

Thomas,
My optimism is coming back, too. Can't help but love these guys. The one big difference I see between this team and the teams of the past two or three years is that these guys just never give up. They are on a roll - not making near as many dumb mistakes as they were a month ago. They are showing some fight!

Tom Brennan said...

I agree Steve. Which is why I cannot jump on the who to get rid of right now bandwagon (and I was on it myself before this series started), because the team (now that it is hitting) may have a real run in it, and if so, good, meaningful games fill seats - or they could duplicate the Yankee series by beating Atlanta the first 2, and then losing the next 2. Then it would be an opportunity lost and very close to time to start to make deals, IMO.