Edgy MD

Born in 1999 in Kankakee, IL, the year the city was rated (by somebody) as "America's Worst Place to Live," in response to which David Letterman (or The Late Show) donated a pair of gazebos.

.328 / .387 / .612 // .999 To say Julio is coming back down to Earth is technically true. But "Earth," in this case, means the peak of Everest. And if he's not performing all the time at peak level, it's only because, like Will Hunting doing higher-level math at MIT, he's just bored with the idea that the game is supposed to be so damned challenging. Friday night against the DSL Giants, he went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBI. It was his third three-hit game in his brief career. He's struck out eight times in 76 trips to the plate. And again, that's only because he sometimes gets bored.

He's 17, and that means I'll likely be dead before he makes it to the majors, if he makes it to the majors, and he's a catcher, so that means he'll have to find a way to insert himself into a role that is more likely to be dominated by Francisco Álvarez and Kevin Pareda. But I've developed a rooting interest in Julio, because all great Mets are named Julio, and in his first eight games with the DSL OrangeMets (as opposed to the BlueMets), he's gone .462 / .500 / .962 // 1.462 in 29 plate appearances. Of his 12 hits, four have been doubles and three have been homers. In other words, that ".962" isn't an OPS. It's a slugging percentage. That's the way you do it! And yeah, it's a small sample size. But you know what else is small? YOUR FACE!

“Slowly, he’s opening everybody’s eyes as one of the better outfield prospects in our organization.” — Mets Farm Director Kevin Howard “We had a great talk in spring training about his injury history. When he was healthy enough to play in the past, he did a lot of things right. He didn’t chase, he didn’t swing and miss in the zone. A lot of the metrics that you look at you go man, he’s got a lot of things going. Really work on the approach. Then, just understanding how good he can be. I think he’s done a good job of building as he has gone up.” — Rumble Ponies Hitting Coach Darin Everson “He’s had an incredibly hot start, but it’s not just the hot start. His at-bats look more controlled. He’s just a really tough, pesky out. He’s got a knack for the barrel, and he doesn’t swing and miss, which is typically the trait that you see out of guys that do get up to the big leagues and have success.” — Also Mets Farm Director Kevin Howard “He’s great on defense. He’s great on the bases. He’s just a really good player that doesn’t start to stand out until you start watching him play every day. So he’s been the biggest pleasant surprise at the upper levels.” — That again is Kevin Howard, speaking of me I blasted this homer the other day, which I stood and watched to see if I could hit some poor kid in a pool. [TWEET] [/TWEET]

... and I'm batting .297 / .441 / .514 // .955 in 51 games at AA. And I'm 5'6". That on-base percentage, again, is .441.

I hope some day he's a Vermillionairre.

There are probably dozens of useful comps out there, depending on which criteria you favor. Chris Davis, Paul Goldschmidt, José Abreu ... .

Ryan Howard's precipitous decline was accelerated by having to regularly face Pedro Feliciano. And Jon Niese, for that matter.

Or, hopefully, he gets offered a late scholarship to take the place of Jett or some other draftee who "committed" to a school but took the money instead.

Somehow managed to appear in five different seasons for Arkansas.

I look forward to him joining Vida Blue and Kevin Brown on the All-Color Team.

Goosemountains does it for me. A lot of minor leaguers get permanently put on the bullpen track after UCL surgery, but I wonder if there is data supporting that. Even in general, I'm not sure how much the smaller workload pays off, health-wise, versus the greater and more regular rest between appearances that starters have.

He's still somebody to love.

Yeah, he's looking sweeter than Marty Balin's ass, this guy. Good pick. Best part is that the 2.38 ERA is actually the highest of his career. As a 17-year-old with the DSL Mets 2, he notched a 1.86 ERA in 29 innings. He returned to DSL2 as an 18-year-old, improving to a 1.69 figure in 32 innings. They bumped him up to at the end of the season to start at DSL1 (the same division but a higher standard of play), and he dropped to 1.42 in 25 1/3 innings. He gets to skip the Gulf Coast League and it doesn't matter because you see above how he killed it in the Appy League. His WHIPs are so low, I won't publish them, because they'd freak you out as if logic and proportion have fallen slowly dead.