Adopted: Justin Dunn

[G-Fafif]

Meet the youngster I'll be taking under my wing for the duration of his development, Justin Dunn. 2016 first-round pick. RHP. My veritable neighbor (one town over). Reformed MFY fan, now talking up how much he enjoyed his trips to Shea and Citi. BC Eagle. Brooklyn Cyclone currently.

Strong Island represent!

“A lot of people think Long Island can’t play baseball, but look at the track record. You have Marcus [stroman] and then you have Steven Matz, and they’re doing pretty well in the league,” Dunn said. “You have guys like Keith Osik that have played, and other guys. This is something that should be known, that Long Island can play. I’m just happy to have my little part of it.”

Keith Osik? That's his go-to Long Island position player? Not Carl Yastrzemski? Even Frank Catalanotto? I find that extremely charming.

[Frayed Knot]

You know the guy is young, but you figure that maybe a grandparent could have told him about some guy named Biggio.

[MFS62]

The guy's a pitcher. He could have mentioned (I hate myself for this) Whitey Ford, the "Lake Success success".

Later

[Benjamin Grimm]

He kind of dissed his likely future pitching coach, Frank Viola.

[Edgy MD]

Paul Gibson! Center Moriches, bitches!

[G-Fafif]

Two scoreless innings of relief in his professional debut, a career born on the same date as the US of A.

[G-Fafif]

Dunn has his first professional win.

[G-Fafif]

The Times has Dunn a profile on the Freeport Phenom, who couldn't be happier to be here (and in Brooklyn).

"I wasn’t really looking for one team; I was just looking for an organization that was going to give me a shot,” Dunn said. “And I had hoped that the Mets would be one of the teams, because you see what they do with their pitching staff, and you can’t ask for anything else.”

The plan right now?

Right now, Dunn’s innings are being limited — he is scheduled to pitch two innings every six days and will make his third appearance on Saturday against the Lowell Spinners. Through four innings of work, Dunn has given up two hits and no runs, has walked two and has struck out three. He wants to tighten up his command but is otherwise happy. “Ball’s coming out well, everything feels well coming out of my hand, and I feel strong and I feel healthy, so that’s always great, and that’s all you can ask for,” he said.

[G-Fafif]

Keith Law, which the Obama administration never implemented despite hysterical warnings to the contrary, ranks Long Island's own Justin Dunn as his No. 84 overall prospect in baseball.

Certainly sounds impressive.

[G-Fafif]

Long Island's new favorite son (screw you, Matz) is starting the year a St. Lucie Met.

[Edgy MD]

That's leapfrogging Columbia.

While we at Roster Central anticipated that, it's still a pretty notable feat.

[G-Fafif]

Good kid doing a good thing in the fight against ALS.

[G-Fafif]

Justin's year at St. Lucie: 20 appearances, 16 starts, WHIP 1.563, ERA 5.00. Will turn 22 later this month.

[Benjamin Grimm]

That ERA of 5 suggests he'd fit in well with the rest of the Mets big-league rotation.

[G-Fafif]

Amazin' Avenue ranks Dunn the No. 8 prospect in the system, though the writeup isn't particularly enthusiastic.

[G-Fafif]

Prospect guru Keith Law not overwhelmed by Justin's progress, as relayed by Abbey Mastracco of the Star-Ledger.

"Justin Dunn I think is the most glaring example of the guy who's stuff is still pretty good, at least in terms of the quality of his pitches, but was so successful in college and then comes in to pro ball his first full season this year and they probably pushed him too far into high right away, just speaking in hindsight," Law said Wednesday, on his annual top-100 conference call. "But also there were a lot of issues with his feel to pitch, his lack of command, with lack of life on the fastball." Dunn was converted to a starter his junior year at Boston College, and was then sent to low-A Brooklyn where he put up a 1.50 ERA in 11 games (eight starts). Perhaps those good numbers masked the problems, but Law is surprised that no one on the player development side recognized the issues. "You almost look and you say, 'Nobody caught that?' Nobody on the player development side looked and said, 'Hey wait a minute, here are two things we are going to have to work on in instructional league last year and spring training this yer, but we're sending you out to High-A this year,'" Law said. Law calls him "an athlete with a tremendous arm," but he's not very advanced when it comes to his feel for pitching.

[G-Fafif]

MLB's Prospect Pipeline ranks Justin their No. 3 Mets comer, behind Andres Giminez and David Peterson.

Scouting grades: Fastball: 60 | Slider: 55 | Curveball: 50 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 45 | Overall: 50 Dunn spent most of his time at Boston College as a reliever, albeit one with multiple pitches. A move to the rotation during his junior season greatly improved his Draft stock, landing him in the first round where the Mets nabbed him with the No. 19 pick in the 2016 Draft. After a solid summer debut, the Mets sent Dunn straight to the Class A Advanced Florida State League for his first full season and he struggled a bit there, finishing the final month of the season on the disabled list. Pure stuff-wise, Dunn was just fine with St. Lucie. His fastball was consistently in the 93-95 mph range and he was able to reach back for more on occasion. His slider can serve as a true out pitch, flashing plus with good late bite. As a reliever, he hadn't worked on his changeup much, and it's behind the other two pitches, but he does show feel for it. He'll need it to get lefties out, something he struggled with last year. Dunn is athletic and repeats his delivery fairly well, but he had command and control issues throughout 2017. A certain learning curve was to be expected, given Dunn's lack of starting experience, though being shut down at the end of his first season didn't help quiet detractors who worried about his size and durability. He still has the stuff to start and has the chance to wipe the slate clean. If starting doesn't work out, he certainly should impact the back end of a big league bullpen.

[G-Fafif]

Justin's pitching lights-out at PSL and continues to be from Long Island.

[G-Fafif]

Third in the FSL in strikeouts, top 10 in ERA as of a couple of days ago.

[G-Fafif]

The kid from Freeport will now be the kid in Binghamton, having just been bumped up to Double-A.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

He Dunn good

[G-Fafif]

Whale of a Rumble Pony debut for Justin vs Trenton: 7 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 4 BB, 9 SO

[G-Fafif]

Justin ranked No. 4 on Baseball America's most recent Hot Sheet.

[G-Fafif]

New MLB Pipeline rankings place Justin Dunn as MLB's No. 100 prospect overall, No. 4 among Mets. Others from the organization to get noticed: Andres Giminez at No. 60, Peter Alonso at No. 65 and this year's top Mets draft choice Jarred Kelenic at No. 69.

[G-Fafif]

The Freeport Flash is named Sterling Organizational Pitcher of the Year.

Edited September 12, 2018 by Guest

[Frayed Knot]

And a well-spoken young lad he is.

[G-Fafif]

End-of-season MLB Pipeline prospect rankings raise Justin Dunn to No. 89 overall, fourth among Mets.

[Edgy MD]

Dunnie is a tough call for the rotation or the bullpen. He didn't up his stock to anything like first-round level until he moved to the rotation in college, but his blistering first half followed by a weak second half this season brought back concerns about his durability.

[smg58]

A live arm that hasn't yet translated into big-time results. Not unlike Jake DeGrom at this stage, or Bobby Parnell. While we'd all love the former, the latter was pretty good for a while too.

He's exhibit A for why I'm glad the AAA team is in Syracuse and not Las Vegas. (Exhibit B was Franklin Kilome, alas.)

[Edgy MD]

About 92% of that award was earned in the first half of the year, though. What do you think? Is this guy bound for the rotation or the pen?

On the one hand, it was his conversion to starter in college that launched him from dark horse into first-round status. On the other hand, his poor second half brings back questions about his durability.