We continue our affiliate reviews today with out beloved B-Mets in their first season of Wally ball.
Record – 65-76
Place in standings – 5th of 6 tams in Eastern League Eastern Division, 11.5 games out of first place and 8.5 games out of playoff spot.
Overview – Wally Backman lost his temper more than a few times this year, and who could blame him with the team the B-Mets had. The B-Mets had key contributors injured for long periods of time, including Sean Ratliff who would have been a key player but missed the entire season. It wasn’t until the second half of the year that the B-Mets depleted roster got a boost from some promoted players, but by then it was too late for Binghamton to move into contention in the Eastern League, although they got closer than anyone would have thought at the midway point in the year, which is a credit to Backman. With both A-ball teams in the Mets organization making the playoffs this year, the future for Binghamton is hopefully a little brighter.
Top pitcher: Collin McHugh – Just like Schwinden in Buffalo, McHugh’s season was completely unexpected, but he was great for the B-Mets in 16 starts and 2 relief appearances. Unlike Schwinden, McHugh got better as the season went on, pitching to a 1.08 ERA in August and then finishing the season in September with a complete game 5-hitter. In total he had an 8-2 record in AA with a 2.89 ERA and 100 strikeouts in 93 innings.
Top position player: Jordany Valdespin – Before his August promotion to Buffalo, Valdespin had a monster year for the B-Mets hitting .297/.341/.483 with 24 doubles and 15 homeruns. For much of the year he and Josh Satin were the lone bright spots on a bad team.
Biggest surprise: Juan Lagares – He did much of his work in St. Lucie but he ended the year in Binghamton and not only did he not lose a step after his promotion, his numbers were even better. Lagares has been in the organization for a while and has gotten lost in the shuffle over the years due to injuries, but this season certainly has him back on the radar.
Biggest disappointment: Robert Carson – There were some real good candidates for this distinction (Brad Holt, Eric Niesen, Eric Campbell, etc), but Carson had a truly horrible year. As a big lefty with a lot of potential with his fastball and slider so much more was expected from him. He still has potential and could even be protected in the rule 5 Draft this year, but a 4-11 record, ERA over 5, and a WHIP at 1.63 is not what the Mets wanted out of him.
3 comments
Anonymous
9/20/2011-4:05pm at 4:05 pm (UTC -4)
Jordany Valdespin……”Monster season”???…..Really?
And….I guess all of us who were so hot for Wally to get the Met job were
proven wrong. Wally ball apparently isn’t all we thought without good players.
Bryan
9/20/2011-5:17pm at 5:17 pm (UTC -4)
You don’t think 15 homers and 24 doubles with a near .300 average from a middle infielder is impressive? You’d be hard pressed to find any position player in the system that had a better year than Valdespin.
As for Wally, there’s really only so much a manager can do without good players. When they just got a few reinforcements in the second half of the season they were much better. There’s no way the Mets can be displeased with the job Wally did this year.
Anonymous
9/21/2011-12:24am at 12:24 am (UTC -4)
So Wally is with the big club for the next 9 games. Just for kicks Terry should get himself run from a game and hand the lineup card to Wally to finish managing the game.