- L/R – 6’3″ 210 lbs – 3^rd Rd ’08 – b. 8/7/87

There was a reason immediately after the June draft that Mets Director of Scouting pointed to Nieuwenhuis as a player he was particularly happy to add to the Mets system out of Azusa Pacific.  Nieuwenhius looks the part of rangy outfielder, but even better, plays the part.  Nieuwenhuis is a capable defender who runs well enough for center and throws well enough for right.  Scouts appreciated Nieuwenhuis’s skills and clean swing.  Nieuwenhuis does not have the power to offer a classic right-field profile, but offers something just as valuable: the ability to go get it in center.

Likely ’09 start: A+

- L/L – 6’3″ 185 – 4^th Rd ’08 – b. 2/24/87

Ratliff left Stanford with a reputation for good power, patience and lots of strikeouts.  As a professional he delivered: tying for the team lead in homers and striking out in 30% of his plate appearances in 2008 in the New York Penn League.  He has a long swing and an unusual load so fought timing issues as a Cyclone.  Ratliff played a month in center to complement his time in right.  He fits better in right, but simply must make more contact to continue moving up the system.

Likely ’09 start: A

The 2008 Brooklyn Cyclones finished 45-30, in second place in the New York-Penn League McNamara Division four games behind the Staten Island Yankees. The Cyclones fell just 1.5 games shy of the wildcard spot eventually controlled by the Jamestown Jammers. Brooklyn burst back into the playoff race by reeling off nine straight wins from August 24^th-September 1^st bringing drama to the season’s final weekend.

Brooklyn led the NYP in attendance for the eighth straight year, pulling in 265,200 over 36 dates for a 7,367 average.

The Mets stock the Cyclones with the best of their recent college draftees and other A-ballers from around the system. As a result, Brooklyn has never finished below .500, coming closest in 2002, when the team was 38-38.

I’ll go through the position players today, and the pitchers tomorrow.

LHP Michael Antonini – R/L – 6’0” 190 – 18^th Rd ’07 – b. 8/6/85

I wrote about Antonini’s excellent season in the St. Lucie wrap.

LHP Angel Calero – L/L – 6’1” 210 lbs – NDFA ’04 – b. 9/25/86

I was told in early July that Calero’s shoulder problems were not serious and that the team was just being cautious with his good arm… and yet he didn’t pitch again the rest of the season. Add him to the list of things I need some more information about.

Take a look at Calero’s nice 2.57 ERA at Savannah. Now add the unearned runs back in and his runs/game jumps up to 4.05. Still, his K/BB ratio was almost four (3.93) before he ran out of gas and into injury in St. Lucie.

Likely ’09 start: A+

RHP Nicholas Carr – R/R – 6’0 200 lbs – 41^st Rd ’05 – b. 4/19/87

I wrote about Carr in the St. Lucie wrap-up earlier this week.

RHP Maikel Cleto – R/R – 6’3” 220 lbs – NDFA ’06 – b. 5/1/89

Maikel Cleto throws hard, 93-96 the night I saw him. I wrote about one his starts here. That’s plus MLB velocity. His second pitch was a hard changeup that was about 87 mph that didn’t have much movement or deception thanks to a slower armspeed on the offering versus his heater. He has trouble locating the gas and the secondary stuff is very far away. Sounds like a reliever profile, no?

Likely ’09 start: A+

RHP Junior Guerra – R/R – 6’0” 200 lbs – NDFA ’07 – b. 4/17/89

In the SAL, Junior Guerra recorded 47 outs, a ridiculous 72% of which came via the strikeout. His K/BB was a goofy 17. How did he do it? Simple. Two potentially plus pitches: a 93-95 mph fastball and a slider that had some bite at 83 mph. He’s a reliever who could move quickly.

Likely ’09 start: A+. However, with a good showing in HWB and a nice spring, Guerra could find himself in Binghamton.

RHP John Holdzkom R/R – 6’7” 225 – 4^th rd ’06 – b. 10/19/87

Look closely at that walk column. Yes, Holdzkom really walked 45 batters in 47.1 innings in the SAL in 2008. Scouts were unsurprised and did not forecast improved control in the future from the erratic Holdzkom based on his trouble repeating his mechanics. He throws hard, so he’ll be given chance after chance to learn to throw strikes.

Likely ’09 start: A

LHP Elvin Ramirez – L/L – 6’3” 183 – NDFA ’04 – b. 10/10/87

The most important column above: 1 HR allowed in 81 IP. That’s impressive stuff. In his final start of the season, on July 9^th, Ramirez showed a fastball at 91-94, sitting 92-93 with a curve (77-80) and a changup. At the time I wrote that the curve “showed flashes of promise.”

Likely ’09 start: A+

Brant Rustich – R/R – 6’6” 230 lbs – 2^nd rd ’07 – b. 1/23/85

Few pitchers in the system can match a healthy Rustich’s stuff and few can match his injury history. The Mets converted Rustich, who was a reliever at UCLA and in his pro debut in ’07 into a starter for 2008. However, his season started late after over exerting himself in big league camp in the spring and coming up with a sore arm. He worked his arm back into shape out of the Savannah bullpen before making his first start in a rough outing on June 20^th in which he allowed seven runs in 2.1 innings. However, after that he didn’t allow more than two runs in any of his subsequent starts. The problem was that he only made seven more starts. He missed three weeks at the end of July with a blister problem and then sat down after August 16^th with a stress fracture.

When he was healthy, Rustich offered up a fastball that was regularly low 90s and touched 95 this summer with a slider that came a long, long way in the last year. His changeup is his third pitch.

Likely ’09 start: A+ rotation

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Nathan Vineyard – L/L – 6’2” 200 lbs – 1s rd ’07 – b. 10/3/88

Vineyard, the Mets second pick in the 2007 draft, in the supplemental round had shoulder surgery in April, ending a lost year.

Happy 20^th Birthday Nathan.

Likely ’09 start: A rotation

Greg Veloz – S/R – 6’0” 175 lbs – NDFA ’06 – b. 6/3/88

Good stuff first: Veloz just keeps getting better. In 2007, the then-18 year old hit .171/.243/.235 in 66 games in Savannah before the Mets sent him down to Kingsport where he hit .271/.344/.450 in the season’s final 66 games. In 2008, Veloz turned his .258/.304/.352 (267 AB) pre-All Star Break line into .324/.388/.473 (188 AB) and a late-season promotion to St. Lucie where he struggled. The second baseman runs well and shows some gap power, but that’s below average MLB power. Veloz was no favorite of scouts who saw him as struggling with better stuff.

Veloz is limited by arm strength to second base limiting his value as a utility man in the future.

Likely ’09 start: A+

Juan Lagares – R/R – 6’1” 175 – NDFA – b. 3/17/89

The scout who signed Juan Lagares and Jose Reyes said that Lagares was ahead of Reyes at the tender age of 16. It’s just an unfair thing to say publicly. There simply aren’t 10 Jose Reyes’ in the world.

The Mets have pushed Lagares to Savannah and the 19-year old has yet to produce despite significant hype coming out of instructs last fall. Here’s the first problem. He’s not Reyes. He’s not that fast. He doesn’t have the same lightning quick bat or arm or first step quickness. Lagares should go back to the SAL in 2009, but that would make it his third year in the league. Prediction: the Mets will promote Lagares to St. Lucie where he will struggle in the season’s opening half.

Likely ’09 start: A+

Francisco Pena
– R/R – 6’2” 230 lbs – NDFA ’06 – b. 10/12/89

What, Pena’s ’08 was so disappointing – no stolen bases! Ok, ok, we kid.

Pena added 14 extra base hits and 14 singles to his 2007 production at the plate. That’s some kind of progress. Pena is a strong kid with plus raw power, don’t forget he’s just 18.

On the other side of the ball,  Savannah pitchers and coaches were unanimous that his work behind the dish, in both game calling and the mechanics of catching had made major improvements since 2007 as well. Pena has the arm for catcher – but he threw out just 23% of basestealers against him.

Pena must get serious about his weight and get himself in better shape. Doing so will help his agility behind the dish and at the plate.

Likely ’09 start: A+

The 2008 Savannah Sand Gnats finished 61-76. The Gnats were 33-37 in the first half, 13 games out in fifth place, but slipped a little to 28-39 in the second half into 8^th (last) place in the SAL Southern Division in the second half.

The Savannah offense was the league’s lowest scoring unit, plating only 540 runs (3.94 r/g). The team’s AVG (.250) and OBP (.308) were second from the bottom, while the Gnats were last in the league in slugging (.357) and homers (62).

The Gnats hard-throwing pitching staff was the strength of the team. seventh in the league with a 3.88 ERA with the seventh most strikeouts (1006) with the fifth-most walks (438), but the fifth fewest hits (1145).

The Mets have been affiliated with the Gnats for two years, ’08 and ’09 and have re-upped for two more years with a new PDC that covers the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Individual player reports follow.

LHP Michael Antonini – R/L – 6’0” 190 – 18^th Rd ’07 – b. 8/6/85

Antonini had a great year, earning his promotions first to St. Lucie and then to Binghamton.

The night I saw him in Binghamton, Antonini worked off a fastball that was 87-91, but mostly 88/89. He commanded it to both sides of the plate. He faced a lineup with eight batters who hit from the right side and featured his changeup as his second pitch. It was inconsistent, without great movement and often elevated. He allowed a homerun on an elevated changeup at 83 mph. He was cautious about throwing his slider to the RHH, and with good reason, since it was a little sweeping.

Note that once Antonini reached AA, his homerun and walk rates spiked, while his strikeout rate was 6.3 K/9, the lowest of any of his three stops in 2008.

Likely 09 Start: AA

RHP Nicholas Carr – R/R – 6’0 200 lbs – 41^st Rd ’05 – b. 4/19/87

The Mets skipped Carr over the SAL straight from Brooklyn in 2007 to the Florida State League in 2008, and the results were simply ugly early. Through June 5, he was 0-7 with a 7.19 ERA, when the Mets sent him down to Savannah to get right. Life was a little better in the SAL, but he was forced back to the FSL in early July when the system was short on arms due to a number of injuries.

However, Carr finished 2008 by making his last two starts his best of the year. In his last 12 innings, Carr didn’t allow a run, gave up seven hits, walked three and struck out 13.

Carr still has a big-time arm. He throws 90-95 and was sitting at 92-93. However, in July in the FSL, he had only a slight idea where the ball was going when it left his hand. He threw his below average slider (~80 mph) and change (~84/85 mph) sparingly.

I’d suggest that Carr’s future is in the bullpen, but I’d like to see him repeat the FSL as a starter in 2009, and experience some success, and pick up more repetitions, before moving to AA.

Likely 09 Start: A+

Nick Carr Fastball

RHP Stephen Clyne – R/R – 6’2” 215 – 3^rd Rd 07 – b. 9/22/07

Clyne was the third college reliever the Mets picked in 2007, behind Eddie Kunz and Brant Rustich. Like Carr, Clyne was promoted directly from Brooklyn to St. Lucie, and like Carr, struggled early. Clyne gave up 25 runs in his first 20 innings in St. Lucie. However, he turned a corner in June yielding just five runs in his next 18 innings before being sent down to Brooklyn to help out the Cyclones.

Clyne is a potentially very good middle reliever. His fastball was 91-93 and scouts saw his slider as a potentially plus pitch.

I wrote about Clyne making a mechanical adjustment here.

Likely ’09 Start: A+, although with a strong spring, AA is not out of the question

RHP Dillon Gee – R/R – 6’1” 195 – 21^st rd ’07 – b. 4/28/86

Gee had a successful run in the Florida State League posting a great strikeout-to-walk ratio of nearly 5 (4.95). It’s worth pointing out that like Carr, Clyne and Owen, he jumped straight from Brooklyn to St. Lucie and thrived. However, I’m suspicious of pitchers who experience success at the advanced A level without fanning a batter an inning.

In July, Gee was throwing 89-91 with his fastball which he spotted reasonably well. I had heard reports of slightly better velo at other times. His second best pitch was a changeup with some nice run. His soft curve was his third pitch.

Likely 09 start: AA

RHP Dylan Owen – R/R – 5’11” 203 lbs – 20^th rd ‘07 – b. 7/12/86

Owen and Gee were back-to-back picks in 2007. In 2007, Owen led the NYP in wins and ERA while earning the team’s Sterling Award. Both pitchers hopped right from Brooklyn to the FSL. Like Gee, Owen had great success in the FSL by throwing lots of strikes with a superb K/BB rate (3.51). Unlike Gee, Owen’s first taste of AA did not go well.

Owen throws a fastball that’s mostly upper 80s, a slider and a changeup.

Likely 09 start: AA

RHP Tobi Stoner – S/R – 6’3” 203 – 16^th rd ’06 – b. 12/3/84

Another late round pick made good, Stoner found AA a whole lot tougher than A-ball. His K/BB rate declined from 5.33 to 2.03 as he moved up a level while his strikeout rate dropped from 8.31 K/9 to 6.72 K/9.

Likely 09 start: AA. AAA is a possibility as dictated by organizational need in spring training, but I view AA as the likelier scenario.