AAA: Buffalo Bisons 3, @ Gwinnett Braves 0

Matt Harvey and two relievers combined on a seven-hit shutout. Harvey’s line: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 96 pitches, 56 strikes. He threw 58% of his pitches for strikes. He walked two batters in the first inning and one in the third. He did not have a single clean inning, and had a runner to second in five of six innings.

Harvey’s last four starts: 3-0, 23 IP, 16 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 8 BB, 23 K, 3 WP and 61% strikes (214  strikes/349 pitches). That’s a .195 opponents’ batting average (16 H/82 AB) and a K/BB of 3.25. He’s fine. Not quite ready yet, but fine.

3B Zach Lutz started his first game since last Wednesday and was 1-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts.

AA: New Britain Rock Cats (MIN) 4, @ Binghamton Mets 3 

The New Britain Rock Cats scored three unearned runs off reliever Robert Carson in the top of the ninth to steal a win. The runs were all unearned thanks to a Jefry Marte throwing error with one out. And yet, the unearned runs absolve Carson of too much responsibility. He was not good. He walked the leadoff man, gave up a single and a walk and did not strikeout a batter.

LHP Mark Cohoon was really good: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.

CF Matt den Dekker (.282/.351/.479 – 29 gms) was 2-for-5 with a stolen base, his fourth in nine tries.

RF Juan Lagares was 2-for-3 with a double and a strikeout. The 23-year old Lagares is sitting at .248/.327/.347 in 28 games this year.

AA: @ Binghamton Mets 2, Harrisburg Senators 1 

With two outs in the bottom of  the ninth, SS Josh Rodriguez drove a single into right field to bring home LF Pedro Zapata from second with the winning run to give the B-Mets their first walk-off win of 2012. Rodriguez, an Eastern League veteran at age 27, has been a nice pickup for the Mets as he’s hit .280/.404/.387 in his first 26 games.

After starting off his 2012 campaign with a home run in his first at-bat, 2B Reese Havens has gone four games without a hit and is hitting .227/.346/.364 (five-for-22 with four walks) after seven games.

3B Jefry Marte (.315/.380/.404 – 25 games) was 1-for-3 with a walk. He had a 1.031 OPS  as part of a .405/.463/.568 line after April 21, but has cooled off considerably since. The 20-year old is hitting .250/.341/.278 in his last 10.

Greg Peavey’s up and down season continued with an “up” in his longest outing to date: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. All told, over six starts, the Eastern League is hitting .300 against Peavey (2-1, 4.85) with 36 hits in 29.2 innings. He’s fanned 21 and walked five. Sure the K/BB over four is nice, but he’s working with a 6.4 K/9.

Pettitte and the Bisons

The Bisons were off, but traveled to Atlanta to to begin a four-game series against Gwinnett Monday. Originally, the Bisons were scheduled to play the Rochester Red Wings Sunday in Rochester. Meanwhile, the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees were supposed to the play the Pawtucket Red Sox Sunday at the home of the Batavia MuckDogs, a New York Penn League team. For the last few years, the Rochester franchise has subsidedized the Muckdogs operations. Also, Sunday, Andy Pettite was scheduled to rehab.
So, with the permission of the Bisons and the Mets, the Red Wings moved their game against the Bisons Sunday into a double-header Saturday. They then packed in 13,584 people for Sunday’s Andy Pettitte rehab start, making money hand over fist in the process.

And it all worked.

AAA: @ Rochester Red Wings (MIN) 2, Buffalo Bisons 1 (7 innings) 
@ Rochester Red Wings 5, Buffalo Bisons 0 (7 innings)

One run over 14 innings is not going to win a lot of doubleheaders.

I’ve heard Garrett Olson’s name mentioned as a candidate for a big league look in the last week. I’m not sure why, other than that he’s healthy and was in big league camp for a while. His line Saturday in game two: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K.

LHP Josh Edgin in game two: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K. In 6.2 innings in AAA, he’s given up five runs on nine hits and four walks while striking out nine. There’s a good reason players do not jump from a-ball to the big leagues. This is it.

RHP Elvin Ramirez made his AAA debut in game one, inducing a fly ball to end the bottom of the sixth. Edgin was in big league camp, but Ramirez has been the more effective reliever during the regular season. He’s throwing hard, and fans should start paying attention.

AA: Harrisburg Senators (WAS) 2, @ Binghamton Mets 1
The B-Mets could not do anything against LHP Daniel Rosenbaum (9 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K), but to be fair, the Eastern League as a whole has done painfully little against the lefty. Rosenbaum (4-0, 0.81) has given up just six runs on 28 hits in 44.2 innings while running a K/BB ratio of NINE (27 K, 3 BB). Rosenbaum is a finess lefty, who Baseball America ranked #23 in the Nationals’ system coming into the year.

Darin Gorksi (2-1, 2.27) was solid himself: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K

AAA: @ Buffalo Bisons 9, Syracuse Chiefs 0

Jeremy Hefner is insulted that the Mets will go with Miguel Batista as the team’s fifth starter apparently. He did not allow a hit between the first and seventh innings. His final line: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K. He threw 67% of his pitches (52 of 78) for strikes.

The Mets’ desire to get DJ Carrasco two innings of work in relief was the only reason Hefner left the game. Carrasco was solid: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.

3B Matt Tuiasosopo had a day: 4-4 with two homers.  He’ll turn 26 next week is hitting .286/.356/.444 in 24 games for the Bisons. Heading into Friday night, he had just two extra-base hits all year.

After going 2-for-4, 1B Josh Satin is hitting .290/.313/.419 in 26 games with four walks against 27 strikeouts. From first base, at age 27, that has no value.

AA: Harrisburg Senators 7, @ Binghamton Mets 4

Gonzalez Germen’s first AA start was rocky: 6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 9 K. All five runs scored in the second when he threw three wild pitches all of which scored runs. He threw a lot of strikes – 78% for the game (67 of 85).

Reese Havens appeared as a pinch-hitter after starting Wednesday and Thursday night’s games.

CF Matt den Dekker: 1-for-4, BB, 2K. That’s 31 strikeouts in 27 games for the 24 year old as part of a .278/.347/.481 line.

AAA: @ Buffalo Bisons 6, Syracuse Chiefs 5

Jeurys Familia still is not throwing enough strikes. Thursday: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, WP. He threw 56% of his pitches (53 of 94) for strikes. That’s in line with what he’s done all year when he has thrown strikes with 56% of his pitches. In 26.2 innings this year, he has fanned 29 and walked 25.

LHP Josh Edgin faced four batters, three of whom hit from the left side: .2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K. Wally Backman did not let him finish his inning with runners at first and second with the Bisons up a run, calling on Jack Egbert to face a righty.

DJ Carrasco made his first rehab assignment in Buffalo and gave up a home run to Syracuse catcher Carlos Maldonado.

AA: Binghamton Mets 7, @ Akron Aeros 3 

Collin McHugh through seven innings: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K – 58 strikes/83 pitches (70%)

Two doubles sandwiched around a single in the eighth, and a runner bequeather to Erik Turgeon turned into three runs in the inning. His final line: 7.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K – 68 strikes/99 pitches.

Raul Reyes picked up his first AA hit of the year, a three-run homer in the top of the first, to stake McHugh to an early lead.

AAA: @ Buffalo Bisons 5, Syracuse Chiefs (WAS) 2

Lets get this out of the way first, Matt Harvey threw four innings, and then was removed after a 23-minute rain delay. He was not hurt. His outing was not limited because the Mets are thinking about calling him up. It’s just a little rain. His line: 4 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HBP. He threw 53% of his pitches (36 of 68).

The Bisons’ bullpen of Justin Hampson, Jack Egbert and Fernando Cabrera combined on five scoreless innings.

SS Omar Quintanilla (.280/.372/.493 – 24 G) had a nice night, going 2-for-2 with a double and a triple, a walk and an RBI.

AA: @ Akron Aeros (CLE) 3, Binghamton Mets 1

In his third game of the year, Reese Havens was 2-for-4 with an RBI. He’s 5-for-10 in his three games. One of his two hits was came against a lefty.

Mark Cohoon: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 0 HR, WP.  In 29 innings this year for AA Binghamton he’s fanned 13 and walked 10, for a K/9 of 4.0 and BB/9 of 3.1. That… not going to work.

CF Matt den Dekker was 0-3 with a walk and two more strikeouts. That’s 29 whiffs in 25 games.

The Binghamton Mets finished April at 12-11, in third place, four games behind division-leading Reading. As a team, the B-Mets hit .258/.355/.390 while drawing an Eastern League leading 105 walks to finish 7th in the 12-team league with 95 runs scored. The pitching staff is fourth in ERA, and tied for third in strikeouts (182) and is tied for the second-most walks (88).

The Most Pleasant Surprise
20-year old Jefry Marte hit .358/.421/.478 in 19 games in April after returning from a hamstring strain that sidelined him for a few days. He did not homer, but he drew six walks while only striking out nine times.  Just as importantly perhaps as the high batting average over three weeks was that he committed but two errors, a career-best in any month in which he played as many as 19 games. His previous best: 5 errors in a month.

Matt den Dekker is Hitting Like Himself, Only Better
The 24-year old den Dekker is bopping along at .290/.352/.516 in 23 games with a .358 BABIP. He’s striking out less, walking slightly less and hitting for more power than he did a year ago in AA. He’s fanned in 23.6% of his plate appearances, down enough from his scary 29% mark in AA a year ago to call it progress. His walk rate ticked down as well from from 8.3% to 7.5% right now. Meanwhile, he’s running an isolated slugging percentage of .226 and has extra-base hits in 12.3% of his plate appearances, both of which would be career highs if he could maintain them for a full-season. I will freely admit that I did not see this kind of power from den Dekker when he was in Savannah in 2010, when he ran an ISO of .125. He did not homer in 2010, and I did not see many homers in his future based on a very flat swing plane. Now about 1/4 of his extra-base hits are going over the wall. He is a different, more powerful hitter now at age 24.

The twin monsters of BABIP and strikeout might eat his batting average, as they did in AA last year, in AAA or the big leagues, but he has kept them at bay so far in 2012.

Progress for Lagares, Disguised by low AVG
RF Juan Lagares set a new career-high with 11 walks in April 2012 while hitting .256/.348/.359 with five extra-base hits, 14 strikeouts in 22 games. The 23-year old was a slow starter in 2011 too: even while hitting a total of .349/.383/.500 between advanced-A and and double-A, in 2011, he hit .262/.314/.369 in 18 games in April, with four extra-base hits and five walks and seven strikeouts.

Free-Wheelin’
Zack Wheeler finished April 5th in the Eastern League with a 1.75 ERA (5 ER/25.2 IP) and second behind the Phillies’ Trevor May with 30 strikeouts.  He’s “missing bats” with his fastball and slider. However, as discussed over the weekend, he is not ready for AAA. He is walking 4.9 batters per nine innings, or 13% of all hitters he faces. He has succeeded thus far because he has limited the hits against him just 6.0 per 9 IP (17 H in 25.67) which in itself is a testament to the natural movement on his pitches. He still must learn to harness that movement.

Less Fastball, Plenty of Strikeouts
Collin McHugh is tied for fourth in the EL in strikeouts (26) and Darin Gorski is tied for eighth (23).  In three of his five starts, Gorski has allowed zero or one run over six innings. Gorski added velocity in the last two years, and is now 89-91. Both McHugh and Gorski share some statistical traits at his point as opponents are hitting under .200 against both guys (.189-Gorski  and .194-McHugh) but both are walking too many guys. In Gorski’s case, his walk rate is a career-high 13.2% and 4.9 BB/9 IP, so while he’s missing plenty of bats (22% K/rate) he must get back in the strike zone. McHugh’s walk rate is less extreme: 9.6BB% and 3.7 BB/9, but still too high for the type of stuff he possesses.

Another Bullpen Piece
RHP Elvin Ramirez in April: 7 G, 11.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 16 K, 2 WP.
Of course, he gave up two runs on the first day of May, but he is human after all. He’s working with plus velocity, throwing 94 mph regularly. The Nationals had to return the 2010 Rule 5 pick, and it looks like the Mets are better for it.

Player of the Month
Jefry Marte (.358/.421/.478) edges out Matt den Dekker (.290/.352/.516) on the basis of fewer strikeouts (9 to 25) at a younger age.

Pitcher of the Month
Elvin Ramirez did not give up a run and struck out 12.7 batters/9 IP. Wheeler, Gorski and McHugh all would have been fine selections, but all will improve when their walk rates drop.