Over the weekend, the Mets promoted Bobby Parnell to AAA and Dillon Gee to AA.

After a strong performance Thursday, Dillon Gee left the Florida State League 8-6 with a 3.25 ERA in 127.1 IP for St. Lucie. He allowed just 117 hits, less than one per inning. With 94 strikeouts and 19 walks, he’s working with a very strong K/BB ratio of a 4.94. His home run rate is a modest .42 per nine innings and his walk rate is a tiny 1.34 per nine. That’s all good stuff.

However, there are two major statistical markers that give reason for pause. Gee has struck out only 6.64 batters per nine innings. I’m really dogmatic on this point: at high-A, the best pitching prospects strike out a batter an inning. Moreover, he’s a relatively extreme flyball pitcher with a gb/fb ratio of 0.86. As hitters get stronger, those drives that have been swallowed by the FSL’s heavy air and big ballparks could turn into extra base hits.

The night I saw Gee, in a game against Dunedin that was later rained out, he didn’t appear to be at his best, or at least failed to live up to his otherwise impressive stat line from the rest of the year in the FSL. Gee gave up a long pair of homers to former Cubs top prospect Brian Dopirak, trying to rescue his career with the Blue Jays. He was throwing his fastball 89-91 and working with a soft curve that was in the 69-75 mph range. The fastball was consistently up in the zone that evening. I liked the run on his 82 mph changeup.