Brian Moritz, who does a superb job covering the B-Mets, writes about Salvador Aguilar and his scheduled MRI on his elbow.
Update 3:30 PM: Aguilar has been placed on the DL after being diagnosed with a tear in his right ulnar collateral ligament. Aguilar (10-3, 3.14) was enjoying his best year as a professional, sitting tenth in the Eastern League with that 3.14 ERA. In 111.2 IP, he had struck out 77 and walked 38 in 2008.
Would you trade Fernando Martinez straight up for Jason Bay? I’m not suggesting this deal is on the table and I don’t think either side would do it. But would you?
At age 29, Bay is hitting .284/.377/.523 with 23 doubles and 22 HR. He’s a career .281/.375/.516 hitter. He’s signed for 2009 at $7.5 million dollars.
At age 19, Martinez has hit .292/.332/.420 in 61 games at AA.
The Mets officially opened their $8 million baseball academy in Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday.
“Our new academy will help us attract, sign and foster the development of the best baseball talent in the Dominican Republic and Latin America,” General Manager Omar Minaya said.
Binghamton (AA – Eastern League)
Connecticut Defenders 7, @ Binghamton Mets 6
Shawn Bowman made his double-A debut in style Tuesday, going 2-4 with a homer and three RBI.
Coming off a big 2004 in Capital City, some might have expected Bowman to call NYSEG stadium home in 2006, or at least, sometime before July 29, 2008. However, Bowman, who’s missed most of the last three years with a back problem, (I wrote about this two weeks ago) is fine with arriving in Binghamton in 2008, pointing out that “Sh*t happens. You can’t really predict the future.”
His night got off to a rocky start. In the second inning, with a runner on second after a Jose Coronado throwing error, Eddy Martinez-Esteve hit a ball right to the shortstop. With the runner crossing in front of him, Coronado whipped the ball to Bowman who was waiting at the third base bag for the throw. However, the ball scooted right by Bowman, allowing the runner to score to put the Defenders up 2-0. After the game, Bowman was honest, “I didn’t really see it,” he said, “either it got lost in the signs or the clouds or it was the combination of that and me trying to catch and tag too quick. It was my fault, I missed it.”
Later, he more than made up for it. Batting with the bases full in the fourth inning, Bowman shot a fastball through the right side for a two run single, tying the game at 2-2. Video of that swing is below. He explained that he was “just trying to put a good swing on it, stay short and I got some barrel on it.”
With the B-Mets down two in the eighth, Bowman clubbed a long homerun to straight away left that brought his team within a run. He hit a “fastball, middle-in belt high. Probably the pitch I’d ask for if I was trying to hit a home run to leftfield.”
Down 7-3 in the bottom of the seventh, the Mets rallied. Jose Coronado and Jonathan Malo both reached base in front of Dan Murphy. Murphy narrowly missed extra bases going the other way down the left field line. On the very next pitch, he ripped a double down the first base line to drive home the runners. B-Mets manager Mako Oliveras was effusive in his praise for Murphy, “to me he’s the best hitting prospect in this league. I’m not saying that because he’s playing for the Mets,” Murphy’s manager said, “He goes up there with a plan and he sticks to it. That’s the sign of a good hitter.” Mike Carp, following Murphy, batting as the tying run, drilled a curveball high and deep to right where right fielder Carlos Sosa made the catch with his back against het wall.
Eddie Kunz threw a 1-2-3 top of the ninth with two groundouts and a strikeout. As hyped, he sat at 94 mph and touched 95 with a nasty sinking fastball from a low armslot. Even while throwing mostly strikes to three batters, when he missed, he missed badly. He threw one slider at 84, which he followed with a heater at 93 to record his only strikeout.
In the ninth with two outs, 2B Jonathan Malo also hit a ball to the wall, this time in left, but his drive was reeled in for the game’s final out.
Bowman’s Two Run Single to Right
Kunz’s Only Slider Tuesday at 84 MPH
Kunz Fastball at 93 For Strike Three
New Orleans (AAA – International League)
@ Salt Lake Bees 11, New Orleans Zephyrs 6
Neither Claudio Vargas, nor Jose Santiago nor Eddie Camacho was particularly effective.
SS Anderson Hernandez (remember him?) was 3-4. He’s now hitting a whopping .194. CF Jesus Feliciano was 2-5. Gustavo Molina was 1-3 with a three-run jack.
St. Lucie (A+ – Florida State League)
St. Lucie Mets @ Brevard County
Rained out.
Savannah (A – South Atlantic League)
@ Savannah Sand Gnats 7, Hickory Crawdads 5
Maikel Cleto (4-9, 4.03) won his first game since July 4th. Through five innings, he’d allowed just one run, but was charged with four runs in the fifth while recording one out. His final line wasn’t pretty: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 2 K. Stephen Puhl, making his SAL debut, allowed two inherited runners to score, the first on a wild pitch in the inning. He then worked two scoreless innings of his own, fanning three.
Greg Veloz was 1-3 with a three run homer in the third. Carlos Guzman was 2-4 with a solo bomb in the sixth.
Brooklyn (SSA – New York Penn League)
Brooklyn Cyclones 4, @ Vermont Lake Monsters 3
Hmm. Coming off a brilliant outing last Thursday, Brad Holt had some serious command issues on Tuesday. In 3.1 innings, Holt walked seven Monsters and struck out two, yielding three runs, two earned on three hits. Matias Carillo walked three but struck out six in 3.2 scoreless innings in relief of Holt.
The Cyclones took the lead with a four-run eighth, instigated by an Eric Campbell double. Campbell was 2-2 with three walks. With the bases loaded, John Servidio doubled home two runs to bring Brooklyn within a run. J.R. Voyles, who was 3-4, singled into centerfield to bring home two more runs to put the Cyclones up a run.
Kingsport (R – Appalachian League)
Kingsport Mets
Off.
GCL Mets (R – Gulf Coast League)
GCL Dodgers @ GCL Mets
Rained out. First pitch was supposed to be at 7 pm in the big stadium under the lights for the young ones so it’s a shame for them to lose that opportunity to rain.
LHP Julio Polanco and RHP Josh Stinson were promoted from Savannah to St. Lucie. 
Polanco was 2-1 with five saves and a 4.19 ERA with the Sand Gnats. In 68.2 IP, he fanned 60 and walked 15. Polanco began the year in the bullpen, but made three starts in the last two weeks. He’s a lefty without overpowering stuff, but nice command.
Stinson was 3-6 with a 3.52 ERA and three saves. Like Polanco, he began the year in the bullpen, but moved into the starting rotation, making six starts for Savannah. As a starter, he was 2-3 with a 4.80 ERA and 18 strikeouts and 13 walks in 30 IP. Stinson suffered through what one scout described as a prolonged period of “dead arm” last year, but his velocity was reportedly better this year.
SS Matt Smith, who had been rehabbing in Brooklyn, was returned to St. Lucie. Smith can really pick it.
RHP John Holdzkom and Eric Beaulac were promoted from Kingsport to Savannah. Holdzkom was 2-1 with an 8.31 ERA and 26 walks in 21.2 IP over 15 games with Savannah through June 8th. Sent to the lower level at Kingsport, he was 3-1 with a 3.66 ERA and just 12 walks and 44 in 39.1 IP in the Appalachian League. Now will the flamethrower be able to handle the higher level?
Beaulac made two appearance with Brooklyn at the beginning of the Cyclones season before moving down to Kingsport where he was 1-0 with a save and a 1.89 ERA. In 19 IP he fanned 23 and walked six.
On Sunday, Brandon Moore moved down from Brooklyn to Kingsport.
