2010 New York Mets: A Complete Minor League Review
Whichever way you look at the 2010 season as a Mets fan, it's easy to be pessimistic. Empty seats at Citi Field, no hopes of postseason baseball, and a string of problems both on and off the field.
Still, there's more to baseball than just the Major Leagues, and even though there wasn't any silverware in the farm system, it doesn't mean that the season was a waste.
The Brooklyn Cyclones were dominant in the Short Season New York-Penn League despite coming up short in the championship series, James Fuller was recognized as the best pitcher in the South Atlantic League, and players like Ike Davis became household names within the organization.
There were also giant steps taken by rookies such as Josh Thole and Chris Carter and the future of the club will include studs like Jenrry Mejia and Fernando Martinez.
It's easy to look at the Mets and reel off the things they have done wrong, but let's also look at some of the things they have done right. It's not always pretty reading, but there are positives to note at all levels.
With Buffalo, Binghamton and Savannah signed up to stay with the New York Mets through 2012, there's definitely stability within the organization for the next two years at least, and even longer when you consider that St Lucie and Brooklyn are owned by the big league club.
Improvement is no sure thing, but there are plenty of things to be optimistic about, especially at the lower levels of the Minor League system.
Triple-A Buffalo Bisons, Grade: C
1 of 5
The Headline
Uncertain outlook as veterans steal playing time from prospects, still can't guide Bisons to a title.
The Lowdown
The Buffalo Bisons had a solid year in the International League, posting a 76-68 record and missing the playoffs by just three games. In all fairness, Columbus backed into the postseason by losing its last four regular season games, so the gap wasn't actually as close as it sounds.
Buffalo's home form (42-30) was second in the IL North only to powerhouse Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, but it really needed to be better against divisional opponents. The North division had some of the worst Triple-A teams in Rochester and Lehigh Valley, but Buffalo's 43-37 record just wasn't good enough. On the surface, the season was promising, but there is very little to actually look forward to when you see the roster.
The spine of the team is made up primarily of journeymen rather than prospects. The outlook could have been different had Ike Davis, Jenrry Mejia and Co. not been required at the Major League level, but I would much rather see them shining with the Mets than going unnoticed in the International League.
Hitting
Buffalo did pretty well with the bat as a team, right? They hit .273, good enough for third in the International League, and Justin Turner was fifth among all batters with a .316 clip over 101 games.
The name of the game in Buffalo, though, was power. The team finished second in home runs and third in slugging percentage, choosing the longball over manufacturing runs. The team finished 10th in walks and dead last in stolen bases, providing a pretty predictable, if not explosive, gameplan.
Seven different Mets had multi-homer years, led by journeyman Mike Hessman with 18. C'mon, the guy's 32 years old and he should be expected to hit, so I'm not that excited by his numbers.
The same goes for Valentino Pascucci. He is an overweight 31-year-old who has been around the minors for a decade. It's nice to see him doing well against the kids of the league, but seriously, he's not the answer to the Mets. File him alongside other 30-year-old Minor Leaguers (See: Jacobs, Mike; and Adams, Russ). Where are the prospects in all of this?
I am, however, hopeful for Lucas Duda. The 24-year-old left-handed outfielder earned his place at Triple-A with a strong showing in Binghamton, and even though he looked overmatched at times when he got to the Majors, there are a lot of things to like. The California native murders righties and he is very good ahead in the count, but he needs to be more selective and more patient. It's hard for a young slugger to go from Double-A to the Majors in four months, so expect further growth in 2011.
Ignoring guys like Josh Thole, Chris Carter, and Ike Davis, the other obvious prospect-type names in Buffalo this season were Fernando Martinez and Kirk Nieuwenhuis.
Martinez has never shone at the Major League level, but he hasn't really had the chance in 2010. Yes, he saw limited action in '09, but it's not the same. He has all the tools and he's probably a season away from being really ready, but it would have been nice to see him get more than 18 at-bats with the Mets this year. He is a stud and, unlike the Hessmans of the system, really does have promise.
Likewise, Niuwenhuis is still a little way away from being Big League material, but he's getting closer. He's only 23, and once he adapts to Triple-A we should have a better idea just how good he can be. He hit .289 with 16 homers in the Eastern League, but those numbers didn't translate too well at Buffalo. Give him a full season to hone his swing and take it from there. He has a lot of pop, plays centerfield well and runs the bases aggressively. If he can shorten up on his swing a little more, he will be well on his way.
Pitching
The pitching wasn't quite as solid, posting a 4.40 ERA below the league average of 4.15. The team ranked second to last in saves (31) and only two teams with 70 or more wins gave up more home runs.
The Bisons did strike out a lot of hitters (1,063, second in the IL) and they surrendered the fewest walks, but when men did get on base they really were hurt by the longball and a lack of clutch pitching.
The obvious highlights of the Mets' staff at Triple-A was Dillon Gee and Pat Misch. Gee led the league in strikeouts (165) and starts (28) and his 13 victories finished one short of the lead. As with the other starters, though, his 23 homers allowed (second most of all pitchers) inflated his ERA to a horrid 4.96. Age is just about on his side, but he's not the sort of guy who you can even imagine making a No. 3 starter.
Misch,on the other hand, quietly posted an 11-4 record and a 3.23 ERA. Among his season highlights were two complete games and a WHIP of 1.15. Okay, that's nice, but he turned 29 this summer and he is 3-15 over the last five years at the Major League level. He's an average Triple-A arm, but nothing more than an average fifth starter in the Bigs.
So, if there's not too much to look forward to in Gee and Misch, then who? Michael O'Conner held down the back of the bullpen well, but he's over 30, and don't even get me started on the Chad Corderos of this world.
If I had to throw out one name, remember Jose De La Torre. He's a slender 24-year-old from Puerto Rico. At 5'9" he's not overpowering, but he is durable with good location and a nice offspeed pitch.
He posted a 2.05 ERA over 15 relief appearances in the Eastern League and he was 3-2 was a 2.98 ERA in 48.1 innings with the Bisons. He held hitters to a .203 average and had 58 strikeouts to 22 walks. Good times are ahead for Torre.
Double-A Binghamton Mets, Grade: C+
2 of 5
The Headline
B-Mets struggle, but don't be disheartened: there are a lot of positives on the horizon.
The Lowdown
The Binghamton Mets looked overmatched in the Eastern League in 2010. The team finished 10 games below .500 and failed to post a winning record at home (34-37), on the road (32-39), or against division rivals (34-40). The only other team that could make such a claim was the New Britain Rock Cats and they were awful the entire season.
Maybe more worrying is the fact that the B-Mets posted the worst attendance numbers in the entire league, averaging just 3,088 a game. Fans apparently didn't think there was anything worth going to see, and that's a shame, because some very promising young hitters came through Binghamton in 2010.
Hitting
Say what you want about the B-Mets' struggles in 2010, the problem didn't appear to be the hitting. Like at the Triple-A Bisons, the offense was led by a solid batting average and a ton of power.
Binghamton led the league in homers, doubles, and total bases, and it ranked second in runs scored and batting average.
First baseman Nick Evans slugged 17 homers and hit .294 before being promoted to Triple-A and former fifth-rounder Zach Lutz also hit 17 longballs, despite playing in just 61 games.
23-year-old Sean Ratliff continued to make strides in just his third season of professional baseball with 16 homers and a .317 average in 73 games after spending the first few months in the Florida State League, and Kirk Niewenhuis was swinging a hot bat before his call-up to Buffalo.
You won't find any of these players at the top of the league leaders, though. Only three members of the B-Mets played in 100 or more games, and while Lutz and Co. shone in half a season of Eastern League at-bats, they didn't get the 500 or so chances of a guy like Bowie Baysox's Joel Guzman who hit 33 roundtrippers.
Pitching
A team ERA of 4.99 pretty much tells the whole story here. The B-Mets hit more batters than any other club and gave up 122 home runs in 142 games. The team's 1.48 WHIP was last, only to the previously-mentioned Rock Cats.
Binghamton didn't have a 10-game winner in 2010 and only one starter had an ERA under 4.00. That's just not going to get it done.
Let's look at the positives, though.
Eastern League Mid-Season All-Star Josh Stinson was 9-3 with a 4.24 ERA in 32 games (14 starts) and the progression to Buffalo seemed pretty natural. There were a lot of encouraging signs in the 22-year-old's four starts at Triple-A that yielded two wins and a 2.57 ERA.
Mark Cohoon also showed promise in his limited time at Double-A after dominating the South Atlantic League's hitters. It was pointless to leave him at Savannah where he was 7-1 with a 1.30 ERA and three shutouts in 13 starts, and there are more things for southpaw Cohoon to build on in 2011, whether he stays at Double-A or not.
Manny Alvarez was also strong with eight saves and a 2.87 ERA and John Lujan was pretty sharp in his 20 relief appearances before he, too, rode the bus up to Buffalo for the first time.
Class-A Advanced St Lucie Mets, Grade: C-
3 of 5
The Headline
Pitchers rocked in weak-hitting league, bats slump in second half.
The Lowdown
What is not to like about the Florida State League? Year-round sunshine, two truly separate halves to the season and a complete lack of hitting. Well, two out of three isn't bad.
Unfortunately for the St. Lucie Mets, they didn't really embrace the opportunities on offer in 2010. The team was a little off the pace in the first half of the season (33-35) but its home form took a nosedive after the break (14-25) leading to the side posting a 29-41 record and a 62-76 mark overall.
Yes, Charlotte and Bradenton (and I suppose Palm Beach) make the South a difficult division, but the Mets will be disappointed with a lack of pitching that plagued its season.
Hitting
Only four players hit above .300 in 2010 and only one guy hit 20 or more home runs. That's how dominant pitchers were this year.
Two names that I do want to highlight, though, are Stefan Welch and Richard Lucas.
Australian Welch, a 6'3" southpaw, hit .256 with eight triples and eight homers, and he was selected as a Mid-Season All-Star after batting .296 in the first half of the year. He led the team in RBIs (68, a career high), hits (127) and extra-base hits (45) and provided a solid presence at first base the entire season.
Lucas, a 21-year-old from Jacksonville, Fla., hit 11 homers in his first year at High A ball, but the problem with the former fourth-round Draft pick was that he struck out at an alarming rate and that will need to be rectified if he is to amount to anything at Double-A or higher.
I haven't seen enough of him to tell you what is wrong with his swing, but a .212 average and 149 Ks in 129 games screams a need for improvement.
While I'm at it, I'll actually mention a third guy, Jordany Valdespin. The shortstop hit .289 with six homers and 33 RBIs in 65 games before being promoted to Binghamton. Keep an eye on the 22-year-old in the Arizona Fall League this winter, because he might be making an impact at Double-A next season.
Pitching
Don't be mistaken, pitching killed St Lucie. In a league dominated by young arms like Matt Moore, Joseph Cruz and Austin Hyatt, the Mets had a team ERA of 4.42. The FSL average was 3.62.
Robert Carson won seven games and posted a 4.17 ERA and Eric Beaulac was 5-5 with a 3.68 ERA. Carson, though, struggled when he was promoted, and it didn't look like he had the skills to succeed at Binghamton. New York native Beaulac also earned his promotion to Double-A, but two starts and six innings really doesn't tell you much about what future he has.
He turns 24 this winter and has progressed nicely through the Appalachian, New York-Penn and South Atlantic Leagues. He's probably not going to rock Major League hitters any time ever, but the 2008 ninth-rounder certainly has skills.
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Class-A Savannah Sand Gnats, Grade B+
4 of 5
The Headline
Second-half slump overshadows solid efforts of Flores, Fuller.
The Lowdown
If the Savannah Sand Gnats could have kept up its first-half form the entire year, there's no doubt that they would have been walking away from the South Atlantic Division with silverware in 2010.
The Gnats posted a league-high 42 wins in the first half of the season, but a disappointing 33-36 record to end the year saw them finish sixth in the seven-team SAL South. Savannah won eight of its final 10 games to take some momentum into the playoffs, but it was swept by Greenville in the first round.
For all the promising signs at the start of the year, and despite winning the first half Sally South crown, the Sand Gnats on average drew fewer than 2,000 fans to their games, worst of all 14 clubs.
Hitting
Wilmer Flores earned a promotion to the Florida State League midway through the season after a solid first half of the year that saw him bat .278 with seven homers and 44 RBIs.
Still a teenager when the 2010 season began, shortstop Flores hit .313 with runners on base and he put together a pair of 10-game hitting streaks. Even more impressive was that Flores hit .508 against left-handed pitchers (32-for-63) when he moved up a level.
Also strong in 2010 was centerfielder Pedro Zapata (.288, 45 RBI, 27 steals) and rightfielder Cesar Puello (.292, 34 RBI, 45 steals).
Savannah had the green light on its baserunners all year, and while there wasn't a lot of power, the speed was there to burn.
Puello has been a high average leadoff man at all three levels (Gulf Coast League, Appy League, and South Atlantic League) and assuming he continues to rack up the hits, there's no reason to think he won't continue to run, too. He doesn't walk too much and he needs to utilize the whole field more, but think of him as a very young Michael Bourn.
20-year-old Alonzo Harris is also starting to come into his own. In his first full season of Sally baseball he continued to steal bases while showing the occasional pop. His batting average took a hit, as expected, after coming from the Appalachian League the year before and the 39th-round pick from 2007 looks like a pretty good Minor Leaguer, but probably not much more.
Pitching
On the mound the team was led by an excellent James Fuller. The Southern Connecticut State product went 8-3 with a 1.93 ERA over 19 starts, holding opponents to a .229 average and just one home run in 107.1 innings.
He was the Southern Atlantic League's Most Outstanding Pitcher and he was named to both the Mid-Season and Post-Season All-Star teams. Among his season highlights was six innings of two-hit shutout ball in his Savannah debut and eight solid innings of one-run baseball in his second start.
Fuller surrendered two earned runs or fewer in 16 of his 19 starts, relying on a solid fastball and excellent location. He walked just 29 batters compared to 99 strikeouts and he was every bit the ace of the staff and he has a bright future ahead of him.
Mark Cohoon was equally as dominant in his time at Savannah, going 7-1 with a 1.30 ERA in 13 starts before his promotion to Double-A Binghamton and John Church should be pleased with his campaign with a 7-2 record and 2.64 ERA.
Short-Season Brooklyn Cyclones, Class A-
5 of 5
The Headline
Cyclones are the cream of the Short Season crop, the brightest star in the Mets' farm system.
The Lowdown
If the Mets are looking long-term to solve their big league problems, some of the answers may be in the Short-Season New York-Penn League.
The Brooklyn Cyclones were outright dominant in 2010, winning a league-best 51 games and topping the attendance charts yet again with more than one-quarter of a million fans venturing sdown to Coney Island. The team went 30-8 at home, never losing back-to-back games at MCU Park all year, and its 21-16 road record was also top in the league.
The Cyclones sent eight youngsters to the All-Star Game in Staten Island—more than any other team in the league, and the most All-Star representatives in one year in franchise history—and they won the McNamara Division at a canter over the Hudson Valley Renegades. For all the regular season accolades, the Cyclones' bats fell silent against the Tri-City ValleyCats in the finals.
Hitting
As a team, the Cyclones were pretty dominant with the bat. They led the league with a .283 team average and 64 homers, and they had several individuals at the front of the charge.
Darrell Ceciliani led the league in hitting (.351) runs scored (56) and triples (12) and Corey Vaughn led the league with a .557 slugging percentage and was second in home runs (14) and RBI (56).
Everywhere you look, Cyclones were hitting. Rylan Sandoval was tearing up the league to the tune of a .330 average until he was sidelined with a wrist injury, Jeff Flagg had 31 extra-base hits and 52 RBI, Joe Bonfe hit .326 over 72 games, Centeno hit .371 in 32 games, J.B. Brown hit .429 over a 12-game hitting streak...the list goes on and on.
Pitching
From dominant hitting, here's some dominant pitching.
Southpaw Chris Hilliard went 9-1 and led the league in victories, 20-year-old Dominican Yohan Almonte went 8-4 with a 1.91 ERA, a league-best 0.93 WHIP and a complete game shutout in his penultimate start against Connecticut and the equally-slender Angel Cuan was 5-1 with an ERA a lick above 2.00 in 14 starts.
At the end of the game, 6'3" closer Ryan Fraser picked up a dozen saves, held opponents to a .155 average (second among all relievers) and posted a 1.44 ERA in 26 appearances and Johan Figuereo was 5-1 with eight saves and a 2.40 ERA in 24 outings in relief.
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