Let's Call Up Jeff McNeil

[Centerfield]

Was good for a 1.029 OPS in AA over 214 AB's. Mixed in 14 HR's.

Since being called up to AAA, his OPS has improved to 1.056. Has hit 2 more HR's.

Plays 2B.

He's older (26) and is kind of a late bloomer compared to his earlier years, but ya know, what the hell else do we have to lose?

Would be nice to see what this kid can do. Would have been nice to give Cecchini and TJ Rivera some AB's too, but they've been out longer than expected.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I agree. Let's call him up. I wouldn't advocate the same for Alonso; I'd rather not start his service clock ticking in this waste of a year, but McNeil isn't in the same category of prospects.

[Centerfield]

Agreed. Plus I'd like to give Dom Smith a steady string of AB's and see what he can realistically do in the big leagues. No rush on Alonso unless we suddenly find ourselves back in the pennant race.

[Guest 41Forever]

Does McNeil play other positions -- might he be able to fill the role Reyes is in now?

[Edgy MD]

He also plays third and has experience enough faking it at shortstop and in the outfield.

[smg58]

My guess is that we will see McNeil when Cabrera is traded. He might make a nice platoon with Rivera or Cecchini next year, even if he's not good enough to start full-time. I don't know if Rivera is taking any longer to come back than expected -- the recovery time for TJS is smaller for hitters, but it's still not that small and at any rate what's the rush. But Cecchini is yet another comically frustrating injury for this team.

[Lefty Specialist]

We're kind of in 'throw it against the wall and see what sticks' mode right now.

[Centerfield]

Lefty Specialist wrote: We're kind of in 'throw it against the wall and see what sticks' mode right now.

You rang?

[Vic Sage]

Vic sage, two weeks ago:

With Lugo continuing to pitch well in the rotation, i do think Vargas is the odd man out once Thor gets back, regardless of his contract. But there is no reason to think he'll be any more effective in the pen. He'll likely just sit there and only get used in blowouts and as an extra spot starter, not as a "situational lefty" to make up for Blevins. Meanwhile, we should release Reyes and Bautista, and send Guillorme down, and bring up McNeil, Kelly and an OFer (Borenstein, Kazmarski, denDekker or Brentz). as for the bullpen, Its time for Drew Smith to join Tim Peterson in Flushing, while Robles is staked on a field of ant hills.

Welcome, abordick, y'all!

[Vic Sage]

After we trade Cabrera, Familia and Blevins (presumably for prospects and suspects), and Syndy and Vargas get back from DL:

lineup
cf-Nimmo*
2b-McNeil / Kelly#
rf-Conforto*
1b-Flores / Smith*
Lf-D.Smith*/ Bautista
3b-Frazier
c-Mesoraco / Plawecki
P-xxx
ss-Rosario

bench
c-Plawecki
of-Bautista
of-Kaczmarski*
If/Of-Kelly#
ss/If-Reyes#

rotation:
DeGrom
Syndegaard (dl)
Matz*
Wheeler
Vargas* (dl)

bullpen:
Gsellman
Lugo
Peterson
Swarsak
Rhame
Smith
Krol* (?)

DL:
sp-Syndegaard
sp-Vargas*
rp-Ramos
c-d'Arnaud
Lf-Cespedes
Cf-Lagares
Rf/1b-Bruce*
2b-Rivera
ss-Cecchini
3b-Wright

Our DL team is way better than our current roster.

[smg58]

Vic Sage wrote: Our DL team is way better than our current roster.

Our last two seasons in a nutshell.

[MFS62]

2-4 last night, a triple and a homer. He's hitting .397.

Later

[MFS62]

Went 4-6 with a home run and 4 RBI.
Now hitting .410.

Later

[RealityChuck]

After we trade Cabrera, Familia and Blevins (presumably for prospects and suspects), and Syndy and Vargas get back from DL: DL: sp-Syndegaard sp-Vargas* rp-Ramos c-d'Arnaud Lf-Cespedes Cf-Lagares Rf/1b-Bruce* 2b-Rivera ss-Cecchini 3b-Wright Our DL team is way better than our current roster.

You left off Montero. . . .

[Centerfield]

This is just silly. Reyes has 19 PA in the last 5 games.

What the hell.

[A Boy Named Seo]

The Jeff gets the call-up.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Sherman says Ty is going down. Jose Reyes not dead yet. The Jeff, BTW, is at .342 / .411 / .617 (1.028) with 19 homers in 384 PA across AA and AAA. Lets see what ya got, sonny.

[tweet:29j32vtc]

[/tweet:29j32vtc]

[Centerfield]

This is good.

Now we have a good bat off the bench for when Reyes needs a blow.

[seawolf17]

Centerfield wrote: This is good. Now we have a good bat off the bench for when Reyes needs a blow.

Guarantee he gets two ABs this week to Reyes's twelve, and then they waive him to make room for Vargas or something.

[G-Fafif]

McNeil to wear No. 68, because Mets don't care, do they?

[Ceetar]

G-Fafif wrote: McNeil to wear No. 68, because Mets don't care, do they?

it's 86 backwards. We finished in first in '86, and the opposite of that is..apparenly Jeff McNeil.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

They should give him Jeff McKnight's old number.

[Centerfield]

Was he the unusually popular Met?

[seawolf17]

Mets Willets Point wrote: They should give him Jeff McKnight's old number.

Or, better, *all* of his old numbers, rotating every game.

[Guest Mets Willets Point]

seawolf17 wrote: Mets Willets Point wrote: They should give him Jeff McKnight's old number. Or, better, *all* of his old numbers, rotating every game.

*ding!*

[Centerfield]

So what do we know about Jeff McNeil so far?

Well first off, he's been exactly what we needed. A guy who hits for average, gets on base and knows how to beat a shift.

.321/.385/.463. All of this good for a nice .848 OPS. Seems ok with the glove. Not really sure what the metrics say, but he seems to have decent footspeed out there. Fast enough to get 4 steals.

Good splits. No dropoff against lefties, and that kinda seems to be the case throughout his minor league career (though injuries have hampered getting a nice sample size there).

The one thing that hasn't transferred so far is his power. Never had any to speak of before this year, but he broke out in Binghamton and LV to hit 19 HR's before his call up. He's hit 2 here, but also seen a bunch of balls die at the track. I don't know. I think the jury is still out on that.

He hit .311 for his entire minor league career, so I guess that's a good sign. Last year, the analytics guys projected great things for Nimmo. I wonder what they have to say about McNeil.

[Ceetar]

They don't shift him a lot. 21 times or 14.6% his wOBA is a little lower in shifts, .323 to .375 without.

He pulls 27.6 % of his balls, and also goes oppo the same amount.

Sprint speed is 27.5 ft/sec that's 248th, 35th among 2B and 39th for his age. rank: 60.9%

He misses a lot when the ball is down in the zone, particularly away, and that's generally where they're pitching him. He's also not good up and away but still in the zone. He seems to be doing most of his damage on balls middle, middle away, middle down. So basically if they get it off the plate he'll swing and miss but if it stays in the zone he smacks it. 21% of the pitches he sees are off the plate down and away. he swings at 41% of them. He swings at roughly everything in the zone except for a few of the down and away pitches.

I don't know how those stack up to average or whatever. Most of the projection systems had him striking out more, with a lower BABIP which would've put him around average in terms of hitting. He's probably not 36% better than average, but if he's gonna continue to make that good contact and not strike out the BABIP is probably not that lucky and he can continue to be pretty good. But It's only 150PA.

[smg58]

The Fielding Bible has him at -1 runs saved, which is basically average and a significant upgrade at the position for us.

Considering the power came at a hitter-friendly AA park and an extremely hitter-friendly AAA park, I'm not concerned by his power numbers here. I think those will improve some over time, but I'll take what I'm getting.

I'd like see him walk more, but if his OBP continues to hang around .385 I will take what I'm getting with that too.

I LOVE the way he hits left-handed pitching.

Even if you don't factor in how far under the radar he was at the start of the season, there is a lot to like and almost nothing to dislike.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

yes, like his LH pitcher hitting and his 2-strike hitting ranks as historically great according to EH*.

*Eyewitness hitting

[Edgy MD]

He and Urena were both genuine prospects two or three years ago. Like, if they weren't listed among the top 10 third base prospects in baseball, they were just outside of it. Both their careers went sideways shortly after, but this isn't completely out of the blue. Guys just disappear quickly from prospect lists when an injury gives them a shortened or shitty season or two.

Some for good reason. But some find their way back.