Gnat Gnights in 2013

[Edgy MD]

You may not know who is first place in the South Atlantic League, but you might guess if I give you a hint.

It rhymes with "banana"!

Yessireebobandcarolandtedandalice, the Savannah Sand Gnats moved into sole possession of the Sally League Southern Division last night (and their record tops any team's in the Northern Division also) with a 5-3 victory over the Kannapolis Intimidators (named for Dale Earnhardt), elevating them to a lofty 17-9. Gabriel Ynoa walks away with the win, continuing his gruesome excellence from last year in Brooklyn.

Ynoa (3-2, with a 3.49 ERA in 28.1 innings, walking 6 and striking out 27) is joined by members of the back half of Brooklyn's devastating 2012 rotation. While the best starters jumped to St. Lucie, he and Rainy Lara (3-1, 1.88 in 24 innings, with three walks and 24 strikeouts) and Luis Cessa (2-1, 2.70, 23.1, 2/22) are continuing their act with similarly crippling results in Savannah. What's more, they're joined by Matthew Bowman, who has been moved from relief in 2012 into a starting role, with Harvelous results (4-0, 2.64, 30.2, 4/26) and a finally healthy Steven Matz (1-0, 1.96, 18.1, 6/21).

While Bret Mitchell has three saves, six different guys have collected at least one, which is how it should be! Forget the campaign for Wally Backman. Make Savannah's Luis Rojas the new Mets manager, and tell him to bring pitching coach Frank Viola along with him.

The offense is led by... well, who needs offense? But the following three players are under investigation, having shown traces of awesome in their urine samples on a nightly basis.

Player�	POS�	G�	AB�	R�	H�	2B�	3B�	HR�	RBI�	TB�	BB�	SO�	SB�	CS�	AVG�	OBP�	SLG�	OPS�	E�
Kevin Plawecki	C	25	96	15	39	16	0	4	22	67	7	13	0	0	.406	.464	.698	1.162	0
Jayce Boyd	1B	26	100	19	38	10	0	2	25	54	16	11	0	2	.380	.466	.540	1.006	2
Brandon Nimmo	CF	23	90	22	29	1	3	1	11	39	12	24	2	1	.322	.421	.433	.854	0

I don't know about youse, but I don't remember Plawecki cracking the top ten on any list o' top Met prospects. Helluva good month, kid.



Ynoa, Lara, Cessa, Bowman, Matz, Plawecki, Boyd, Nimmo.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I think Plawecki was one of those high picks who caused a lot of head scratching from the wags.

Not a very strong start at Brooklyn IIRC, but maybe he's getting it together now. Jayce Boyd also didn't hit great at Brooklyn but he's really improved.

[Edgy MD]

Jayce is also one handsome-assed ballplayer. My word.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: I don't know about youse, but I don't remember Plawecki cracking the top ten on any list o' top Met prospects. Helluva good month, kid..

Main thing that's keeping Plawecki from getting major prospects raves is that he's doing it as a 22 y/o in Low-A ball coming off middle of the pack stats in short-season ball.
Not sure how he rates glove-wise as a catcher* but if he keeps hitting like he is [.416/.470/.733 -- 22 of his 42 hits for XBs] you'd like to see him bumped up to PSL by mid-season at the latest.


* caught 19 games so far this year, DH'd in 7

[Edgy MD]

Plawecki celebrated this thread by going nuts on Saturday. In a 9-2 victory over Hickory (the Dickory Docks?), Kevin went 3-5 with a double, a homer, and four RBI, raising his line to the numbers you see in the post above.

I'm not sure what kind of catcher he is, but if it can be measured at all in the performance of his staff, he's gettin' it done.

My rainchild Rainy Lara on Saturday: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO.

[Edgy MD]

Nimmo and Plawecki celebrate as Savannah clinches the division for the first half.

[Lefty Specialist]

Sparkling cider, attaboy. Save the champagne for the bigs.