Gulf Coast League
- The GCL Mets defeated the GCL Astros 9-2 Wednesday in a game that was called with 1 out in the top of the 9th due to rain. It was 2009 draftee ZeErika Hall’s best game as a pro. Hall finished 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored and 1 driven in. The leftfielder singled and scored in the 5th inning, hit his 1st double of the season and scored in the 7th, and got his RBI on a 9th inning single. C Nelfi Zapata was 0 for 2 at the plate before being replaced in the 4th inning, but his average is still a crisp .382 in 11 games this season. RF Kurt Steinhauer was 0 for 4 with a walk. In the 7th he reached 2B on an error and stole 3B but was stranded, it was his 2nd steal on the season. For more see the box score and recap.
Appalachian League
- The Kingsport Mets defeated the Elizabethton Twins 10-7 Wednesday. The K-Mets scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 8th to come from behind for the win. Class of ’09 member 3B Joseph Bonfe drove in the 1st of those 5 8th inning runs with his 6th double of the season. He finished 2 for 4 with a walk, 2 runs scored and 2 driven in. He is hitting .367 in 15 games this season. 2B Ryan Mollica drove in the final 2 runs of that inning, and the game, with a single. He wound up going 2 for 3 with a walk, 2 runs scored and those 2 driven in. CF Ronald Harris went 1 for 4 with a walk and a run scored. Rounding out the class, LF John Semel finished 1 for 3 with 2 walks, 1 run scored and 1 driven in. See the box score and recap for more information.
New York-Penn League
- It took 12 innings, but the Brooklyn Cyclones 10 game winning streak is over. The Aberdeen IronBirds defeated the Cyclones in Brooklyn 5-4. 2009 draftee Wesley Wrenn made the 2nd start of his professional career and pitched very well. The latest entry in Wes’ weekly diary is out. He allowed 1 run over 6 innings on 7 hits and no walks, recording 3 strikeouts. LF Alex Gregory doubled leading off the 9th inning and scored the game tying run. He finished the game 2 for 5 and is batting .298 in 13 games this season. 1B Sam Honeck had 3 singles in 5 at bats and in 18 games this season is batting .319. See the game story, box score and recap for more.
- According to Toby Hyde’s fine Mets Minor League Blog, Mets 2009 3rd round pick (#103 overall) SS Robert Shields has signed with the organization.
South Atlantic League
- The Lexington Legends defeated the Savannah Sand Gnats 7-3 Wednesday. 2009 draftee John Church pitched a 1-2-3 8th inning, recording 1 strikeout. See the box score and recap for more.
UPDATE:Â In addition to signing Shields, who officially will report to Brooklyn, the Mets have also announced the signings of CF Jeffrey Greene (16th round, pick 494), 3B Josh Dunn (25th, 764) and Hicksville High School’s C Camden Maron (34th, 1034), all of whom will report to the GCL Mets.
20 comments
CaseStreet
7/9/2009-11:27am at 11:27 am (UTC -4)
Nice writeup by Wren.
GravediggerHebner
7/9/2009-11:52am at 11:52 am (UTC -4)
Yes, I agree. I was pleased to discover that he’s keeping that diary, and it is quite a bonus to see that he’s an interesting guy and a good communicator. Quite a coup for the brooklyn baseball blog to get him and I’m happy to send a few hits their way.
wannybackstra
7/9/2009-11:41am at 11:41 am (UTC -4)
Great news re: Shields.
In other news, Marte went 2-4 in the leadoff spot again. Maybe this will get him going.
Scott Moviel got his rear end destroyed at St. Lucie with an unlubricated jackhammer.
Brad Holt, who has struggled at AA since returning from his injury, gave up 3 runs on 3 hits in 5 innings but did walk only 1 and struck out 10. His 8 something ERA is mostly the product of sharing Moviel’s jackhammer in his first start after his injury. Mike Antonini appears to be pitching in relief now at AA, which is not a good sign unless they’re just trying to limit his innings. His results suggest the former, rather than the latter.
trs86
7/9/2009-11:56am at 11:56 am (UTC -4)
I don’t know but 3 runs 3 hits 5 innings and 10 K’s with only 1 walk is good enough for now.
GravediggerHebner
7/9/2009-11:58am at 11:58 am (UTC -4)
Wanny if you see this please help me out: In an effort to periodically write some updates about the Mets Top 10 prospects, I need to first determine who they are. I googled that phrase last night and found widely varied lists of the top 10 from many different parties, some of them dated December of last year, some with no date at all. The most recent one I found came from “Beat The Bushes” (I think that’s the name) which is the NY Post minor league blog. I respect Toby Hyde’s opinion at Mets Minor League Blog, and I found John Sickels has a list as well. I value your opinion as to which source I should use to base future Top 10 related posts on so please share what source for that info you trust/respect. Thanks in advance, Grave.
wannybackstra
7/9/2009-12:11pm at 12:11 pm (UTC -4)
Just my opinion… but I believe that BaseballAmerica’s is the most respected (or perhaps the most widely known) among major league types so it might be the closest reflection of what major league teams think. BA is an established publication and has various reporters who speak regularly with team scouts.
Sickels is also well known and I have always found his lists to be as credible as any others.
Baseball Prospectus, which takes more of a statistical approach than BA (I’m talking to a degree here…) is also very good.
GravediggerHebner
7/9/2009-12:17pm at 12:17 pm (UTC -4)
Excellent. I’ll take a close look at those 3 and make a determination of which list to ultimately use from among them. I appreciate your input, thanks again.
wannybackstra
7/9/2009-12:16pm at 12:16 pm (UTC -4)
BA has a daily prospect update e-mail in which it provides stats from the various day for players from all organizations. It won’t typically follow the same player every day but will provide some good nuggets.
Today’s e-mail had Holt’s line, Moviel’s, Antonini’s and Parnell. Yesterday, it had Scott Shaw’s among others (Kunz, I believe).
The hitters that you will often see in there are Havens, Davis, Thole, F-Mart and occasionally Puello (his season just started), Eric Campbell and a few others.
GravediggerHebner
7/9/2009-12:43pm at 12:43 pm (UTC -4)
Thanks for the e-mail tip, I just signed up for it. As far as finding BA’s Mets Top 10 prospects, either I’m just terrible at searching their site for it, or I have to pay for the info because I can’t find a list anywhere and when I search for “Mets top 10 prospects” or “Mets prospects” within their site I get a list from 2007 with Mike Pelfrey, Deolis Guerra and Alay Soler on it.
CaseStreet
7/9/2009-12:56pm at 12:56 pm (UTC -4)
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-top-10-prospects/2009/
GravediggerHebner
7/9/2009-1:09pm at 1:09 pm (UTC -4)
Thank you. I don’t understand why entering those above phrases gets me the 2007 list via their own sites’ search engine. Some mysteries are best left unsolved.
Future posts will be based on this list. Not tomorrow, but sometime in the next 7 days I’ll put something together and then it will recur periodically.
CaseStreet
7/9/2009-1:42pm at 1:42 pm (UTC -4)
sweet!
stickguy
7/9/2009-12:37pm at 12:37 pm (UTC -4)
I guess this is a year late, but nice to see Ike Davis coming to life. Huge improvement over that dismal start from last year.
If he keeps hitting at this pace (and with power), he could see AAA by later this season, and can actually be put into the mix of top prospects on the team, and even considered to fill the 1B hole (maybe splitting time with someone like evans) next year (assuming they get the required big bat for the OF).
Also points out how iffy al lthose system rankings are. Every year guys bust out or flame out, and it is hard to predict who they will be.
GravediggerHebner
7/9/2009-12:45pm at 12:45 pm (UTC -4)
I’m hoping it was just a slow transition to wood for Ike and that now he can relax and let the talent show.
CaseStreet
7/9/2009-12:37pm at 12:37 pm (UTC -4)
from NY futurestars.com
Lance Broadway 9 IP, 7 H, ER, 2/4 BB/K, 5.68 era, W (2-5), 114:72,42, 10:13:4
wannybackstra
7/9/2009-3:34pm at 3:34 pm (UTC -4)
Since there’s no need to track Nick Evans or Bobby Parnell, I would suggest substituting them from among the group of Ike Davis, Brant Rustich, Ruben Tejada, Cesar Puello, Francisco Pena (out of curiosity more than anything else), Scott Moviel, Scott Shaw or Robert Carson. There are others of the Jenrry Mejia mold (prospects no one’s ever heard of until all of a sudden the NY Post starts talking about him) but I am not certain who those other high-end no hype guys are.
And I think it is safe to assume that Eddie Kunz doesn’t belong on the top 10 list.
wannybackstra
7/9/2009-3:36pm at 3:36 pm (UTC -4)
I might also add Shawn Bowman, who is of the age where he’s getting close to make or break, Eric Campbell, Mike Antonini or Adam Bostick (whom I surprised is not on the Mets right now in place of Pat Misch).
GravediggerHebner
7/9/2009-3:48pm at 3:48 pm (UTC -4)
Kunz’ presence did confound me, I guess draft position has an impact?
Shaw was on the NY Post top 10 list that I read the other day which intrigued me.
I’ll probably insert Davis specifically because 1B is a ? for the Mets going forward.
I was fortunate enough to see Mejia pitch at Brooklyn on my annual trip there last year so I’m excited to “cover” him.
Thanks again for all the input Wanny, I really do appreciate it. Anything else ever comes to mind please don’t hesitate to share, anytime I’m actually excited to learn about something I want to take advantage of that and in this case I am.
wannybackstra
7/9/2009-5:43pm at 5:43 pm (UTC -4)
No problem. Thanks for doing this!
Here’s an encouraging bit from Keith Law (who, at least, worked in the talent department of a major league team):
Max (NC)
How much better is the Phillies’ farm system than the Mets, if at all?
Keith Law (2:15 PM)
More top-heavy. Marginally better overall. Why does everyone kill the Mets’ system? Mejia, Flores, Holt, Martinez, and while I didn’t love Ike Davis, he’s performing well so far. That’s a pretty solid top five. Phillies’ system is better, though.
wannybackstra
7/9/2009-6:11pm at 6:11 pm (UTC -4)
Last thought was that the injured Dillon Gee may warrant monitoring as a guy who might be close to contributing on the big team.
(out of sight, out of mind)