St. Lucie and the Guys on the Diamond

[Frayed Knot]

All-purpose thread for tracking the High-A [u:0593b4b84e]St. Lucie Mets[/u:0593b4b84e] in the Florida State League

[Frayed Knot]

6/13: Mets third baseman Shawn Bowman, who established himself as a prospect last season by hitting .255-18-66 at low Class A Capital City, is recovering from a miserable start at high Class A St. Lucie that saw his batting average sitting at just .145 on May 26th. A 2002 12th-round pick out of a Canadian high school, Bowman has come alive of late, going 16-for-36 with five home runs in his last 10 games, raising to .209/.277/.381 in 215 at-bats.

* Mets RHP (2004 1st round pick) Philip Humber picked up his first professional win on Saturday, allowing one unearned run on four hits over seven innings in St. Lucie’s 6-1 win against Jupiter on Saturday.

[metirish]

It's the All- Star break for the Florida State League this weekend.I had this team at the other place, great to see Humber get his first win.

The West won the 44th All-Star game Saturday beating the East 6-4.

St. Lucie Mets first baseman Brett Harper hit a 3 run homer to cut the lead to 5-4, Harper also finshed second in the home run derby,the Lakeland Tigers had 7 players start for the West.

[metirish]

St. Lucie Mets stay on winning roll


DAYTONA BEACH � The St. Lucie Mets continued their mid-season roll Thursday, defeating the Daytona Cubs 3-1 at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.
The Mets have won 14 of their last 18, including 2-0 in the second half.

Brett Harper hit his 19th home run in the first inning. Shawn Bowman added a solo shot, his 11th, in the second.

The Cubs closed to within 2-1 before Harper added an RBI single in the eighth.

Ivan Maldonado (2-2) got the win in relief.

Henry Owens pitched two scoreless innings of relief for his first save.

ON DECK: The Mets and Cubs continue their series at 7:05 p.m. today at Daytona Beach.


The Junior Mets are torrid at home...

METS WIN 12TH STRAIGHT AT HOME


The red hot St. Lucie Mets clinched their four straight series sweep at home shutting out the Jupiter Hammerheads 6-0 for their twelfth win in a row at Tradition Field.
Mets starter Evan Maclane dominated the Hammerheads throwing eight and one-third innings while striking out 10 and giving up only one walk. The Hammerheads could only scatter six hits all of which were singles. This outing comes on the heels of a complete game four hit performance against the Daytona Cubs back on June 15th.

Lasto Milledge led the Mets offensively going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Corey Ragsdale, Blake Whealy, Kevin Rios and Yunir Garcia each ripped doubles off Hammerhead pitching.

The Mets head to Daytona for a three game series before heading home on Sunday to take on the Palm Beach Cardinals. Sunday is $2 admission with a coupon from local Burger Kings. It is also Hospitality night with live entertainment immediately following the game.


Player stats..

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/gen/stats/tptemplates/507.html?cid=507&t=t_ibp

[Guest Edgy DC]

Ragsdale and Whealy seem both below their level. Corey Ragsdale spent pretty much the full season at St. Lucie last year before moving up to Norfolk for six games during the Mets middle-infield crunch at the end of the season. Whealy munched on Low-A pitching over a full season of Capital City, and was perhaps due to head to Bingo.

But, it seems more and more so, Low A is really B, and it's becoming a rather extraordinary thing to skip from Low A to AA.

[Guest SI Metman]

Humber for St Lucie tonight:

7 IP 3 H 1 ER 0BB 10K, Won

Shawn Bowman hit his 12th, Brett Harper hit his 20th, Mets win 6-3.

[metirish]

WOW..Humber has his big game..showing his stuff,Harper has some great pop in his bat...

[Frayed Knot]

LHP Brian Walker (24) - a fourth-round pick of the Mets in 2001 out of Miami who spent the last two seasons in low Class A and was 3-1, 4.80 in 30 innings this year at high-A St. Lucie - was one of 5 minor league players suspended for 15 days following a first offense of MLB's performance enhancing drug program.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Never trust a pitcher called "Walker."

[Frayed Knot]

Righthander Philip Humber, the Mets' first-round pick in 2004, enjoyed the best start of his career Friday night, striking out 10 over seven innings while allowing one run on three hits for high Class A St. Lucie. Humber has won his last two starts, and is now 2-5, 5.09 in 58 innings.

[Frayed Knot]

After hitting just .216 in April, Mets outfielder Lastings Milledge has been one of the more productive players in the Florida State League, batting .351 in his last 40 games with 37 runs scored, increasing his season averages to .304/.390/.430 in 207 at-bats. His problems on the basepaths continue however, as the 2003 first-round pick has been successful on only 15 of 27 stolen base attempts.

[Frayed Knot]

Mets righthander Gaby Hernandez continues to roll in his first full season. Promoted to the Florida State League two weeks ago, the 19-year-old fired six shutout innings in high Class A St. Lucie’s 4-2 win over Vero Beach last night, allowing four hits and no walks, while striking out four. A 2004 third-round pick out of high school in Miami, Hernandez began the year at low Class A Hagerstown, where he went 6-1, 2.43 in 18 starts.

[metirish]

I was looking at the roster a while ago and Ivan Maldonado Oquendo caught my eye,any relation to Jose Oquendo?

Question, from bottom(R) to top(AAA) how do the Mets minor league affilates progress, I thought for some reason that Hagerstown was above St.Lucie in the pecking order.

[Frayed Knot]

From top to bottom:

AAA:- Norfolk - International League
AA: Binghamton - Eastern League
(high) A: Port St Lucie - Florida State League
(low) A: Hagerstown - South Atlantic League (Sally)
Short-season: Brooklyn - NY/Penn League
Rookie: Kingsport - Appalachian League
Rookie: Gulf Coast Mets - Gulf Coast League


The top 4 are full season, the lower 3 are 'short' season, or about June-August.

[smg58]

I'm not sure what the difference is in level between the rookie level (Gulf Coast and Kingsport) and short-season level (the Cyclones). I guess it has something to do with the draft, but I'll defer to somebody who knows more. The Hagerstown Suns are low A and the St. Lucie Mets are high A.

Gaby is making Humber's situation a lot easier to deal with. You win some, you lose some, I guess.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Brooklyn has a handful of guys in their first professional year, but most typically only a handful. The top guy in the draft usually holds out and misses most of his first half season, and the lower draft picks that sign quickly will get Kingsport and Gulf Coast assingments. Rookies in Brooklyn (Brookies) will typically be guys drafted in rounds 2-6 or the top (but older) international signees.

The more typical Cyclone played the previous year in Kingsport or Gulf Coast and has spent the first half of this season in extended spring training or riding the pine in Hagerstown.

I always thought that extended spring training was a dozen sad sacks and rehabbers --- too few to even scrimmage with --- who got caught in a numbers game and were waiting for injuries to open up a spot for them somwhere in the system. But the Mets had 80 guys assigned to extended spring training this year. Eighty!

Take Young Edgar Alfonzo. He's in his fourth straight year of short season A Ball.

[Frayed Knot]

]I'm not sure what the difference is in level between the rookie level (Gulf Coast and Kingsport) and short-season level (the Cyclones).

Not much. The NY/Penn league is just considered a partial step higher up on the pecking order. Since all are short-season leagues which get filled largely by draft picks fresh off the June cattle call, you'll stick most of them into the Kingsport & GCL teams and the slightly more advanced types (higher level HS players plus some college & Juco picks) to Brooklyn.
Those lowest level teams (and the Mets are the only org w/two teams on that level) are not only HS picks but also a good chunk of the Latin ballplayers who are often signed young so they're teaching them how to live away from home and play well with the other children as much as they are drilling them in baseball skills. They also work w/the Latin kids to learn some rudimentry English so they can talk to the coaches and order from a menu and don't ruin their careers by having their first Spanglish phrase be: "Dos Big Macs por favor"

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Which was how Edgardo Alfonzo got through his first few months in the US. His incentive to learn English was menu-driven, IIRC.

[Frayed Knot]

Baseball America's [u:85e1109ddc]Florida State League[/u:85e1109ddc] top-20 is out, featuring Lastings Milledge at #3, and (perhaps a sympathy pick) Philip Humber at #20

JJ Cooper - who's the guy who has covered the Mets for BA the last few years - will be hosting an on-line Q&A for FSL inquiries at 2 PM.

[Frayed Knot]

Q: Thom from Ann Arbor, MI asks:
Does the fact that Philip Humber makes this list after a subpar year ending in surgery mean that there is a consensus that he can still be an impact starter?

A: JJ Cooper: Consensus is a little strong, as you can find baseball people who think differently about almost everything, but yes, baseball people I talked to thought that Humber, post-surgery, still has a chance to be a solid starter. He showed plus stuff at times before being shut down, and with the success rate of pitchers returning from Tommy John, there is plenty of reason to think he'll regain his stuff after the surgery.



Q: Mike from Winston Salem asks:
I know Brett Harper was repeating the league at age 24, but did he finally show enough that he should be considered a legitimate first base prospect for the Mets?

A: JJ Cooper: Harper's raw power compared favorably with about anybody in the league, and he did a good job of converting that into production with an approach that had him looking to punish bad pitches. But there are some concerns about his grip and rip approach, and his bat will have to earn him a major league job, as his baserunning and defense are both below average.



Q: Mike from Chico, CA asks:
Lastings Milledge questions: When will we see him in New York? What position will he play and where will he end up hitting in the lineup? Can you give us a good comp for him?

A: JJ Cooper: When depends a lot on the Mets decisions at the big league level over the offseason and next season. As far as where he plays, he projects as a big league CF, but with Beltran in CF, he could handle a corner spot. He has enough arm to handle RF. Where he hits? Right now he seems to be more of a No. 5-6 hitter than a leadoff hitter to me, but more than anyone else in the league, Milledge seemed to be a guy who even the projections aren't really solid yet. He could be a speed and batting average guy, as he has the bat speed and the legs to do that, but some observers believed he could also bulk up to be a middle of the order power hitter if he wanted to do that. Sorry, like John Manuel and Jim Callis, I try to avoid giving comps unless a scout gives them to me.



Q: DG Siegel from Paris, France asks:
After their time in the Sally league in 2004, the Mets were very high on Jamar Hill and Shawn Bowman, yet both players seems to have fallen back this year. Is there any hope for either?

A: JJ Cooper: Bowman came out of the 2005 season looking better than Hill. In Bowman's case, he still showed great defense and solid power, although he has to start showing better ability to make contact.



Q: Kevin from Las Vegas asks:
How do you justify Humber. From what I've heard the guy is 89-92, straight fastball, average curve. He definitely didn't put up the numbers. What gives?

A: JJ Cooper: The reports we have had Humber at 91-94 mph with a plus curve, although his velo did seem to drop off at times before he was shut down (which seems to be because of the bone chips). He was a high No. 1 pick in 2004 for a reason. When healthy, he has shown elite stuff.



And maybe the most fun in these chats is listening to MFY fans complaining about BA's "anti-Yankee Bias". It's been an ongoing theme in each of the chats I've read so far, ... like:

Q: Bryan from Setauket, NY asks:
Yankee fans wouldnt have to question BA's bias if it didn't exist. Once Tyler [Clippard, NYY pitcher] puts up the same numbers next year all of a sudden you'll mention his increased velocity and magically he'll be on "BA's radar again"

A: JJ Cooper: In some weird way I'm enjoying this. Clippard's lack of a ranking is a sign that we have it out for Yankees fans, again, I'll ask the question, why is that the case any more than we have it out for Brewers fans by leaving Carlos Villanueva off, or that we're snubbing Cardinals fans by leaving Chris Lambert off. It's a top 20 list, which by its very nature means that major league prospects will be left off of the list. But as usual, accusations of bias most interestingly come from people who are admittedly biased themselves (hence no Yankees fans pleading for Lambert to make the list). No one has ever said that Clippard isn't on our radar, and you haven't seen one comment where i said that Clippard couldn't be a major leaguer. But I can promise you this, if you talk to scouts or GMs, none of them would trade Humber for Clippard right now, and I don't think that any rational Yankees fan would disagree with that.



Q: Adam from Florida asks:
Why was Andy Wilson left off of the list. He lead the league in homeruns, played a new position this year, and was promoted to AAA. Not to mention the fact that he is now in the Arizona Fall League representing the Mets. Could this be due to the fact that he was a Free Agent signee?

A: JJ Cooper: Wilson came a little bit out of nowhere to actually get some consideration thanks to a monster year. He has some athletic ability and plus power, but as a 24-year-old in high Class A who is still trying to find a position, he had too many question marks to crack the top 20. Observers did like his approach at the plate, as he hit the ball to all fields in addition to showing power.