Reese Havens

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay at the bottom of this page is news that Reese will not need surgery this off season.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Havens, apparently, had rib surgery this offseason. Hopefully that fixes what ailed him.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Reese gets a write-up in the Times. Nothing we don't already know, except if you didn't know the Times still considers batting average the primary indicator of offensive production.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Extended spring training for Reese, apparently. Not necessarily terrible news, not really great, either.

[Guest El Segundo Escupidor]

Taxing times for Havens

While the Mets are off to a strong start, the minor leaguers are getting set for their own opening day. One minor leaguer who will not be opening the season tomorrow is a familiar name to the infirmary list, Reese Havens. According to Adam Rubin�s Farm Report on ESPNNY: �Havens was unable to break camp with Binghamton and is not expected to join the Double-A team soon.� Mets Director of Minor League operations Adam Wogan describes the issue as tightness in Havens� troublesome oblique/rib area, not an injury. Wogan: �He�s just working himself back into baseball activity and rebuilding that core strength. It�s probably by all accounts more just scar tissue and more the result of the surgery and needing to build back up strength there.� I saw Havens working out early on in spring training, and he was soon shut down due to �normal soreness� as Wogan described to me. We all have to hope that Havens gets back on the field healthy sooner than later. He will play this season as a 24-year old, and while that is not old, he needs a full season in AA or AAA before he is ready for any big league time. I feel like this is getting to be way to redundant. Rubin also includes some notes on: Matt Den Dekker, Steven Matz, Justin Turner, and others.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Reese is swinging a bat, per Lynn Worthy: Binghamton sports guy.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

In his first game in almost a year, Reese goes 2-3 with a double and two walks while playing second for St. Lucie. He should be back in Bingo soon.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I saw this late last night and was about to run here, but I figured you more than deserved to share this small, small piece of sunshine.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Aw, thanks. Don't hold back on my account, though. It takes a village something something.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Reese up to AA. That's a Bingo!

Here's John Sickels:

**New York Mets prospect Reese Havens is back in action now, 3-for-11 with two doubles, two walks, and five strikeouts since being activated earlier this week for High-A St. Lucie. He was just moved up to Double-A Binghamton and should be in the lineup there tonight. Havens has played just 155 games after being drafted out of South Carolina in 2008, hampered by a cornucopia of physical ailments. In those 155 games, he's hit .262/.364/.466 with 26 homers, 31 doubles, 82 walks, and 138 strikeouts. His defense at shortstop was mediocre, but at second base his glove has been solid statistically (.982 fielding percentage in 32 games, above-average range factor). When healthy, he's been exactly the player scouts expected him to be coming out of college: a mediocre batting average combined with power, patience, and solid defense at second base. But can he stay healthy? Only time will tell.

That's one of the first assessments I've seen of Havens' defense at second. And it's positive. Good stuff.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Havens hits his first home run this season. So far, at AA, he's hitting .278 with a .350 OBP and .417 SLG in 39 PAs. For June, though, he's slashing .318/.348/.545//.893 in 23 PAs. Small sample size, natch, but it looks like he might be heating up after settling in.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Didn't update it, because it's annoying news, but Reese is hurt again. Back problems this time. He hasn't been great since getting to AA this year, either, only batting .250/.333/.405//.738 in 94 PAs. Most troubling thing: the strikeouts are starting to get out of control. In AA this year he has 25 Ks for a 27% strikeout rate. Hopefully he comes back soon so he can work on this.

[MFS62]

He's been on the field less than Rudy.

Later

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Reese is back, goes 3-5 with a double.

[Frayed Knot]

Reese's week gets him some love from BA's 'Prospect Hot List'

Why He's Here: .435/.536/.739 (10-for-23), 7 R, 4 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBIs, 5 BB, 3 SO, 1-for-1 SB

The Scoop: In an alternate universe, a healthy Reese Havens might already have claimed the Mets' second base job. ... But when he's healthy, as he's been lately, Havens still has the potential to be an above-average offensive second baseman. He draws some walks, has some pop in his bat and can hit for average. If healthy, he could be in the mix for the Mets' second base job in 2012, but the "if healthy" caveat applies more to him than almost anybody else.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Reese is going to the AFL again.

And I'm trying not to jinx it, but he's been healthy and crushing the ball. In August, he's hitting .366/.452/.620//1.072 and he's up to .298/.380/.468//.848 for the year.

[smg58]

He needs work. 53 strikeouts in 188 AA at bats is not good, regardless of his other numbers.

[Edgy MD]

Frayed Knot wrote: Reese's week gets him some love from BA's 'Prospect Hot List' Why He's Here: .435/.536/.739 (10-for-23), 7 R, 4 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBIs, 5 BB, 3 SO, 1-for-1 SB The Scoop: In an alternate universe, a healthy Reese Havens might already have claimed the Mets' second base job. ... But when he's healthy, as he's been lately, Havens still has the potential to be an above-average offensive second baseman. He draws some walks, has some pop in his bat and can hit for average. If healthy, he could be in the mix for the Mets' second base job in 2012, but the "if healthy" caveat applies more to him than almost anybody else.

The implied exception in that "almost" being Fernando Martinez.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

smg58 wrote: He needs work. 53 strikeouts in 188 AA at bats is not good, regardless of his other numbers.

Yeah, the strikeouts are concerning, but that's 37 Ks in his first 130 PAs this season and 16 in his last 82. He's gone from a 28% K rate down to 19%. It a smallish sample size, but it's a big improvement over that time.

He'll probably always have Uggla-ish K numbers and BB numbers (and, perhaps, defense), but if he can also put up Uggla-ish power numbers or better-than-Uggla-ish batting averages, he'll be a heckuva player.

[Frayed Knot]

As a college SS said to have the glove for that spot just not the range, I suspect that even if Havens never turns into a plus defender at 2B that he wouldn't fall to Uggla-liscious levels of suckdom.

[Guest themetfairy]

He had a good game in Trenton on Saturday night. Here he is after hitting a home run -

[nymr83]

themetfairy wrote: He had a good game in Trenton on Saturday night. Here he is after hitting a home run -

BE CAREFUL, SLUGGER! Given your past propensity for injuries, please toss the bat further away from home plate after spanking a homerun, it looks to be far too close to your path to the dugout and we don't want you stepping on it and spending all of July in rehab.

[Guest themetfairy]

Here's a better shot of Reese at the plate -

[Frayed Knot]

^ Y'know, in all this time talking about this guy I don't think it ever occurred to me that he hits left-handed. For some reason I just assumed the opposite.
^
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Anyway, John Sickels mentions RH in a column today --
New York Mets 2B prospect Reese Havens went 2-for-5 with a homer yesterday for Double-A Binghamton.
His overall season line of .204/.337/.340 is disappointing, although he's shown signs of life lately and is hitting .314/.455/.514 in his last 10 games, with nine walks and nine strikeouts. Havens continues to show good plate discipline and more power than most middle infielders, but constant injuries have dimmed his star and he's now 25 years old. That said, the skills that made him a first round pick are still there despite his health issues, and if you are looking for a guy who could have a "come out of nowhere, hey we forgot about this guy but he's still good" surprise season in the next year or two, Havens is a good candidate.



FK -- Take a look at the walk rates via his 'slash line' stats. Even in this, his worst season as a pro, they're still monsters, nearly double what would be ML averages for both his season as a whole and his recent 10-day span. 65-70 points between BA and OBA is about normal, Havens is at 133 for the season and 141 more recently. Those are league-leading kind of rates, slightly north of what Joey Votto is putting up this year for instance and much of his walks are at least semi-intentional. Havens career rate, while not this good is still over 100, something that would put him up among the league leaders in most years.
His power is nice too. Now we just have to hope that his April & May this season were just a fluke. Well, that and that whole 'stay healthy' thing.

[Frayed Knot]

Havens was quietly bumped-up to AAA Vegas about a 100 ABs ago and is doing ... well, about what he was doing in AA: taking his walks but not a whole helluva lot else.

AA - 325 ABs - .215/.340/.351
AAA - 97 ABs - .237/.312/.330

[nymr83]

Eh. Murphy gives us better (is Havens some kind of defensive whiz?) of course it would be nice if Havens can become better injury-insurance than Turner/Tejada at 2nd.

[G-Fafif]

Reese has retired (and such a young man).

[Edgy MD]

Crap. I rooted for him 'til the end.

[smg58]

It's a shame. I wish him luck, and I hope he has a good plan B.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

He coulda been a great one, I tellsya. So sad.

(talking about vanished threadstarter Vince Coleman Firecracker, of course, not Havens).