Adopted - Danny Muno

[Methead]

Now that my nest is empty I've decided to adopt another.

Going with Danny Muno, partly because my kid likes Yo Gabba Gabba, and partly because he's a polished college player at a position of need for the organization.

Drafted in the 8th round in 2011, he went straight to Brooklyn where he batted .355 and got on base at a .466 clip. Showed some pop, with 23 doubles in 59 games. His Cape League numbers seemed to indicate trouble with wood bats, but his Brooklyn numbers say otherwise. We'll see if he can repeat that success this year.

He's a little guy who bats at the top of the order. I know David Eckstein was annoying, but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to have a guy like that on our side.

[Benjamin Grimm]

What position does he play?

[Methead]

Heh, I guess I did leave that info out. He played mostly SS at Brooklyn last year, but spent a little time at 3B too.

I'm not sure why he's not mentioned as a potential candidate for 2B.

[Methead]

Through 100 at-bats with St. Lucie:

29 hits (9 doubles, a triple, and 2 homers)
15 RBI
13 R
10 BB, 17 K
5 SB, 1 CS

.360 OBP
.460 SLG

Only batting .211 against lefties thus far, but .371 with RISP.

[Methead]

This happened close to a month ago... 50 game PED suspension.

Do you take drugs, Danny?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7947793/two-minor-leaguers-daniel-muno-luis-rojas-get-50-game-suspensions

[Methead]

Muno has tallied 220 AB through 63 games at AA Binghamton playing most of his games at 2B and filling in at SS once in a while. Overall, um... unimpressive.

.227/.361/.350
3 HR
38 RBI

Although, he's batting .327 this month (after a .179 month of May), so maybe he had some trouble getting acclimated to AA pitching.

[Guest themetfairy]

We saw Danny hit a 3-run homer last week when the B-Mets were in Trenton -

[Guest themetfairy]

Danny is in Major League camp -

[fimg=450:1rxjrhu2]http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2641/13023538243_3d22076297_b.jpg[/fimg:1rxjrhu2]

[ashie62]

He filled out... I have seen him compared to David Eckstein..

[Edgy MD]

I saw it in the first post of the thread.

He's a fair-skinned infielder under six feet with fringey talent. Sure, but aren't they all compared to Eckstein?

But, you know, part of the punishment for your first PED offense is that you forfeit any and all rights to the label "scrappy."

[ashie62]

Not sure why but I like Muno...

[Methead]

Oh, hi there! My first adoptee to make it to the majors!

I have not been doing a good job at all keeping up with this guy's progress through the system, but he always seemed to show decent pop and some versatility in the field, so I'm sure he'll be of some use. And he's 26, so he's practically retired by now.

If nothing else, his presence on the bench ensures the Mets won't have to play a catcher at 3B, so that's nice.

I say he pinch-hits late in a game and pokes one into the seats in his first AB. Why not?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Seat of the pitcher's pants, anyway. Congrats.

[Methead]

Released. Goodnight, sweet prince.

[Methead]

So, after a few minor league contracts over the past couple years, my boy Danny now has a full-time gig in the Atlantic League with the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, batting .255/.438/.382 with 16K/15BB over 55AB. Former Met farmhand Cory Vaughn is on the team too but his numbers are much worse.

They visit the Bridgeport Bluefish on 5/21 and I'll be at the game, should be fun.

[Methead]

So, unfortunately Muno didn't get to play today. But Cory Vaughn did, and displayed reliable warning-track power, driving two balls to pretty much the exact same spot out there.

The Bluefish, led by former big leaguers Sean Burroughs and Alberto Callaspo, prevailed 7-6 on a bases loaded sac fly in the 9th (off of former terrible Mets pitcher Robert Carson). And, my son ran the bases and got a bunch of autographs so it turned out to be a pretty great day.

[Frayed Knot]

Sean Burroughs ... Holy Shit!! Haven't heard or thought about that name in years.

From son of ML'er, to Little League hero, to 1st Round (9th overall - 1998) draft pick, to top prospect at BA, to ... well, not much.
Had his best season in 2004 (3.2 WAR) but then pretty much fell off the cliff after that, getting only about 150 ML ABs since the 2005 season.

Looking him up now after seeing his name mentioned it turns out that, while he didn't play anywhere from 2008-2010, he's continued to play virtually uninterrupted since that three-year hiatus ended.
Now 36 y/o and having last poked his head into the majors with a 17 AB stint with the 2012 Twins, he's played in affiliated minor leagues (though not since 2013), three different times in the
Venezuelan Winter League, and in independent leagues every year for the last four.
Gotta admire that kind of stick-to-it-ness.



P.S. though I remember his dad Jeff (1974 AL MVP) from the Texas Rangers, he actually started with the Washington Senators and a quick check shows that maybe only Toby Harrah out-lasted him as
the last active player to have worn a Washington baseball uni until the move of the Expos created the current brand.

[Methead]

Burroughs is old and slow but he can still hit. Everything is on the ground, but still... he's batting a cool .400 at this point after a 3/5 day today, having raised that average from .360 over the past 9 games or so. He's a DH without the pop, essentially.

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, lack of pop was always his problem.
Had some decent OBPs in the two full seasons he played, but ultimately 12 HRs across 1,600+ ML ABs from a corner infielder without speed just isn't going to cut it.
I'm sure it was one of those cases where the scouts told themselves that that one missing ingredient was going to start appearing as he aged, particularly considering his size (6' 1" - 195) and
his genes (pops hit 240 in a much lower HR-era). But sometimes it just never does. It didn't with Alex Ochoa either.
Maybe he was one of those guys who would have been better off going to college and seeing what kind of player he was against better competition, but of course that's hindsight and nobody
seemed to be thinking that back when he was being tabbed as a Top-10 prospect in baseball three years running (2000-2002).

I can't remember if that three-year gap he had was caused by injuries initially or whether he just took a break before deciding he wanted to try again.

[Methead]

Yeah, I guess nagging injuries and lack of performance were to blame at first, but I didn't realize he took several years off after that, kicking around Vegas getting wasted. It's a pretty crazy story and I'll be rooting for him from here on out.

[Edgy MD]

I bet he ends up with a 25-year managing career.

[Methead]

So I thought Muno was just getting the day off on Sunday, but it turns out he recently signed with the Mariners, who assigned him to AAA Tacoma. Good for him.