A+: Dunedin Blue Jays 5, @ St. Lucie Mets 3 (7 innings)
@ St. Lucie Mets 8, Dunedin Blue Jays 0 (7 innings)

Chase Huchingson had a rough game one and the Mets were three hit. Huchingson’s line: 5 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, WP. Since beginning the season with 17.2 scoreless innings over three starts, Huchingson has yielded 10 runs, nine earned, on 17 hits and 12 walks in his last 14.2 IP. The walks are particularly damning. He’s issued a 16 in 32.1 IP for a 4.4 BB/9 ratio.

CF Cesar Puello (pictured) was 3-for-4 with a double to lead a 15-hit onslaught in game two. The 21-year old is now hitting .291/.344/.407. He has not drawn a walk since April 21 when he was hitting .222/.300/.361 so he still has a long way to go on his approach. He’s a fascinating prospect because he has so much potential, with an enormous range of potential outcomes.

Kyle Allen in a spot start: 4.1 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K. He’s issued just one walk in eight innings this year, a fairly significant departure from 2010 and 2011 when he walked over 4.8 BB/9 both years.

The St. Lucie Mets are right back at it with a 10:30 start Monday morning. Yeesh.

A: Lakewood BlueClaws (PHI) 4, @ Savannah Sand Gnats 0

Rafael Montero, who had walked just one batter in in 27.1 innings entering Sunday, walked the #8 batter twice on a day when he did not have his good command: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.

SS TJ Rivera was 2-for-4. The 23 year old is hitting .368/.459/.544.

Aderlin Rodriguez started at first base for the third time in 2012. He made some nice scoops on low throws and a good stretch on a bang/bang play at first, but is still learning the position, obviously. If the move becomes permanent, it will put even more pressure on the bat to produce monster numbers. Right now, the 20-year old is sitting at .197/.266/.350 in 29 games. On a plate appearances basis, he’s hitting more extra-base hits, walking more, striking out more than he did in 2011. Once again, though, his overall line is crushed by a low BABIP.

Year            XBH%                 SO%               BB%              BABIP
2011              7.6                          19.2                5.2                 .245
2012             8.6                          22.7                7.8                 .235

The increase in his walk rate is a very welcome development. However, the low BABIP is a reflection of too many pop ups and harmless fly balls.

A: @ Savannah Sand Gnats 10, Delmarva Shorebirds 0

Travis Taijeron (pictured) is totally locked in. After going 3-for-4 with a double and a home run, the 23-year old is 11-for-21 (.524) in his last five games with seven extra-base hits. The triple was a missile to the right-centerfield gap well over 400 feet away from home plate. That ball is a home run in almost every other professional baseball facility, but not Savannah, where an angle in right-center is deeper than straight-away center. Taijeron’s recent hot streak has taken him to .304/.430/.620 for the year. He is fourth in the SAL in slugging percentage (.620) and fifth in total bases. He begins his swing with a very deep load, which helps him create power. He gives himself plenty of time to get set, and is just crushing everything he sees right now.

RHP Tyler Pill had a strange night, working around baserunners in every inning to finish six shutout frames. His line: 6 IP, 8 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K. Basically, the ‘Birds were attacking early count fastballs. Five of the eight hits he allowed were on the first pitch of the at-bat. One was on the second and one on the third of a confrontation. His slider and curveball were effective and producing swings and misses once he was ahead, which explains the season and career-high eight whiffs. The question for Pill is whether he can use location and sequence to keep hitters off his fastball moving forward.

LHP Jack Leathersich might have had his best outing as a Sand Gnat, throwing two perfect innings with two strikeouts. After falling behind the first two hitters he faced 2-0, he got ahead of each of the next four batters. His curve was sharper than in the season’s first week.

Taijeron photo courtesy Fred Devyatkin.

A+: St. Lucie was off. Seriously. A baseball team was scheduled for an off day on a Friday night.

We’ll go through each affiliate to recap their month.

The Buffalo Bisons finished April 2012 in second place in the IL North, at 14-10, 1.5 games behind the Pawtucket Red Sox. The Bisons are second in the IL in bating average and third in OBP, SLG and runs scored as part of a .281/.355/.450 line.   The Herd’s 30 homers are tied for first on the circuit.

Despite ranking near the bottom in the IL in strikeouts (12 of 14), the Bisons are third in the IL in ERA (3.04) because they have allowed the third-fewest hits (185).

No Fuss Lutz
How does a .333/.425/.556 month sound with eight extra-base hits, 10 walks and 20 strikeouts? Thanks to Mets’ injuries 25-year old Zach Lutz even found some big league time where he made his MLB debut and was 1-for-8 in picking up his first MLB hit. A third baseman throughout his minor league career, Lutz picked up his only MLB start at first, and looked a little awkward there. His lack of defensive versatility hurts his bench value, so the Mets might consider exposing him to other positions in AAA in the near future.

The Old Guys Hit
34 year old Bobby Scales: .413/.522/.600 – 17 BB, 8 K – 21 games. Scales’ .413 OBP leads all full-season minor leagues.

32 year old Vinny Rottino: .315/.356/.435 – 8 2B – 7 BB, 14 K – 24 games. He’s worked exclusively in left field, but the Mets will begin working him back in at catcher, the position that he says is his “favorite” and where he is comfortable. Mike Nickeas, you have been warned.

33 year old Valentino Pascucci: .306/.392/.565 – 4 2B, 6 HR, 12 BB, 28 K. Ho hum, another .950 OPS in AAA for “The Big Guy” as Bisons’ broadcaster Duke McGuire calls him.

The Jordany Story
After playing second base for Buffalo on the first two nights of the season, the Mets and Bisons moved Jordany Valdespin out to centerfield after Kirk Nieuwenhuis was promoted to the Mets to take Andres Torres’ place.  His play in centerfield, not surprisingly for a guy who has spent a month at the position, remains a work in progress. He has the athleticism to play out there, but does not yet have an outfielders’ feel for reads off the bat or the long arm stroke for throws. At the plate in 17 games in AAA, he hit a rather pedestrian .276/.321/.368 in 76 AB with five walks against seven strikeouts and just three extra-base hits.

So what’s he doing in the big leagues? First and foremost, with Ronny Cedeno on the shelf, Valdespin is the best back-up shortstop option. The Mets are clearly not comfortable with Justin Turner, who has played just two MLB games at short stop, and only 53 games at short in the minors, as the team’s only back-up shortstop option.   Valdespin is primarily insurance for Ruben Tejada, who happens to be two years younger than Valdespin. At the same time, Valdespin is a second another left-handed bat off the bench alongside Mike Baxter. He is merely the sixth outfielder behind Lucas Duda, Nieuwenhuis, Torres, Baxter and Scott Hairson.

A number of commenters have raised the issue that Valdespin needs to be playing everyday to continue his development. It’s a reasonable argument, but it falls short here. At some point, a prospect’s development becomes secondary to helping the big league team. In this case, Valdespin is providing big league depth while allowing the Mets to weather an injury without making a 40-man roster move. His positional flexibility allows the Mets roster flexibility.

 
The Big Two – Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia
Lets start with the simple one first: Familia is just not throwing enough strikes. In 21.2 innings in 2012, he has issued 22 walks. For the year, he has thrown 56% of his pitches (261 of 463) for strikes where MLB average is 62%. Primarily, this is about locating his fastball. The Mets were working hard with Familia in spring training to repeat a cleaner delivery to improve his command. Obviously, the lessons have not taken yet.

Is the early-season cold a viable excuse? Not for more than a walk an inning. Also, even though it’s cold in Buffalo, it’s plenty cold in many MLB destinations early in the season including New York, Philadelphia and Washington.

Harvey has put together two good outings in a row and seems to be locating his fastball better and using all four of his pitches. He’s getting swings and misses with a hard-mid 80s breaking ball. In his last 13 innings: 15 K, 3 BB and 3 runs on eight hits.

The Mets insist that they will be patient not just with Harvey and Familia, but with all of their pitching prospects. Do not expect to see Harvey anytime soon in Queens. With 26 innings at AAA this year, and 59.2 at Binghamton last year, he’s at 85.2 above a-ball. If the team’s goal is really 130 upper-level innings, he will need another month and a half in AAA or the middle to the end of June. The only way he gets to the bigs faster? Pure domination.

Bullpen Help Soon?
The Mets promoted Josh Edgin to Buffalo on April 23 and he’s allowed just one run on three hits with five strikeouts in his four innings of work in AAA. For the year, between AA and AAA, the big, hard-throwing lefty has fanned 10 and walked four in 10.1 innings while yielding two runs. It’s not just that he’s missing bats; Minor League Central counts him with a 69% gb rate.

Position Player of the Month
Bobby Scales

Pitcher of the Month
Chris Schwinden. His line at Buffalo: 4 GS, 2.05 ERA, 22 IP, 14 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 1 HR, 9 BB, 13 K. It’s not terribly sexy, but he allowed fewer runs than Jeremy Hefner and Garrett Olson and neither Harvey nor Familia deserved it. The ‘pen guys like Fernando Cabrera, Chuck James and Jack Egbert have nice low ERAs without accompanying pretty K/BB ratios.

A+: St. Lucie Mets 2, Fort Myers Miracle (MIN) 1 

Sick of Manny Acosta? DJ Carrasco made his third FSL rehab appearance, starting for the Mets on Monday, and working a scoreless first inning with a hit and a strikeout.  In his three rehab appearances in the FSL, he’s allowed just one hit and a walk while striking out two. He has not pitched on back-to-back days.

Chase Huchingson came in after Carrasco and for the second straight outing, issued four walks. His line: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 2 WP.

CF Cesar Puello was 1-for-3 with a hit by pitch and is back to running wild with two more stolen bases. In 17 games in April, he was a perfect 7-for-7 stealing bases.

C Blake Forsythe’s (.167/.200/.286 – 13 G) seventh inning home run, his first, broke a 1-1 tie and put the Mets in front.

LHP Adam Kolarek extended his scoreless innings streak to 13 to start the year by working a scoreless 8th and 9th innings. In those 13 innings, he’s fanned 20 and walked just one. Lefties are hitting .111 (2-for-18) against him.

A: Savannah Sand Gnats 10, @ Lexington Legends 9 (12 innings)

Now this is the way to end a seven-game road trip with a winning record. CF Travis Taijeron, who had already homered twice in the game, doubled in the top of the 12th, and after moving to third on an Aderlin Rodriguez groundout, scored on a wild pitch. The 23-year old Taijeron (pictured), who has hit .263/.406/.538 overall, is hitting .333/.500/.733 in 13 games on the road and .171/.268/.286 in 10 games at home. That’s all small sample size stuff, but he has crushed the ball on the road. Away from Savannah, he’s drawn 12 walks and fanned 14 times, while at home he’s walked three times and whiffed 10.

Rafael Montero struggled: 5 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 2 HR. Even on a day when he was hittable, he still did not issue a walk. In 27.2 innings this year for the 21-year old, he’s fanned 21 and walked one. That’s awfully tasty.

SS TJ Rivera homered in a 1-for-4 day with two walks. He ripped four home runs on the Gnats’ seven-game road trip and is now hitting .389/.478/.600 in 24 games. He committed two errors, numbers five and six, on the year. He’s hitting over .385 both home and road, but his slugging .447 at home and .702 on the road.

Jordany Valdespin and LHP Jeremy Hefner are in New York on the Taxi squad and ready to be activated. Adam Rubin reports that Ronny Cedeno is heading to the disabled list, so Valdespin appears poised to take his roster spot. He’s hit .276/.321/.368 in 17 games in Buffalo in 2012, mostly playing centerfield. He’s still learning centerfield, but the reports on his progress have been generally positive. He can also play second and short, so he’s he becomes a very useful roster piece.

The 24-year old has plus speed and plus bat speed, but did not use to have the discipline to harness either. However, Valdespin caught fire last June, bashing his way out of AA with 15 home runs as part of a .297/.341/.483 total line.

He’s working on fixing the hole in his game, and has apparently become a little more patient at the plate with five walks drawn in 17 games in Buffalo this year after just four in 27 games a year ago to push his walk rate from anemic levels at AAA in 2011 (3.5%) towards respectable levels this year (6.2%). Valdespin will bring the Mets, who are  dead last in MLB in stolen bases (3), some sorely needed speed and athleticism. The Mets are.

Valdespin’s arrival makes the Mets even more left-handed as he’ll replace the right-handed Cedeno.

This is one of those cases where I think Valdespin could have used more time in AAA to improve his play in center and consolidate his improved plate discipline, but the Mets needed him now, and big league needs take precedence.

It’s a little unusual to call up a prospect in a situation where he does not figure to play everyday. However, in Valdespin’s case, he offers the Mets enough with his speed and defensive versatility that he should see the field regularly. Also, unlike Omar Quintanilla, the Bisons’ regular shortstop, Valdespin is already on the Mets’ 40-man roster.

AA: @ Binghamton Mets 6, Portland Sea Dogs (BOS) 0

Darin Gorski was commanding again: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 4 K. He threw 62% of his pitches (54 of 87) for strikes. That’s two out of three starts in which he’s thrown six shutout innings. His three-start line: 16 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 7 BB, 16 K, 1.13 ERA. Sure, you want to point out that he’s walking 3.9 batters per nine? Fair. He’s also not allowing hits. The Eastern League is hitting just .120 against him. There’s a tradeoff, he could throw more strikes and give up a few more hits and walk fewer batters.

Also, Elvin Ramirez keeps racking up the strikeouts out of the B-Mets’ pen. Thursday, he fanned four and walked one in two innings of action while throwing a wild pitch. Ramirez has now struck out 14 of the 30 batters he’s faced at double-A this year. That’s… good.

3B Jefry Marte returned after missing three days with a tight hamstring and extended his hitting streak to nine straight. Still just 20, he’s hitting .379/.438/.517 in his first nine games in Binghamton. Leave the batting average aside over nine games: he has three walks and just four strikeouts. That’s good stuff.

Entering Wednesday’s game, Matt den Dekker was hitting .318/.375/.500. After going 0-for-8 with two strikeouts since, he’s down to .269/.333/.423. Small sample sizes are still fun, y’all.

Gorski photo courtesy Michael Baron. 

AAA: Lehigh Valley IronPigs (PHI) 8, Buffalo Bisons 4

There might or might not have been a blown call on a force play at the plate that opened up into a five-run eighth inning for Lehigh that broke a 2-2 tie. The runs were charged to Jack Egbert who finished with this ugly line: 1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K.

I’m more interested in CF Jordany Valdespin (.269/.319/.373) who was 3-for-4 with a homer, his second, and a walk, his fifth. He’s now drawn more walks in 15 games of 2012, than he did in 27 games at AAA in 2011. His 2012 walk rate thus far is 6.9%, nearly double his 2012 AAA rate of 3.5%. Small numbers and all, but progress in small numbers nonetheless.

2B Bobby Scales was 2-for-4. He’s reached base at least twice in every single game he’s started. At 34 years old, it’s highly unlikely he’ll ever help the Mets, but he’s in the midst of a remarkable two-week run for Buffalo.

A+: St. Lucie Mets 2, Charlotte Stone Crabs 0 

Cory Mazzoni is just cruising through the Florida State League so far. Monday: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. His three-start line: 16 IP, 13 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 HR, 4 BB, 11 K. I’ve been told he’s sitting in the low 90s, but can reach back for 94 when he needs it.

3B Wilmer Flores picked up a couple of singles, a walk and two stolen bases(?!?). For a little bit of context, he stole just two bases in the entire 2011 season over 133 games. All eight of his hits so far in 2012 have been singles.

Concerned about Cesar Puello’s approach? He was 1-4 Monday, but struck out three times and has now whiffed 10 times in 21 AB.

A: Savannah Sand Gnats 6, Rome Braves 5 (12 innings)

LF Dustin Lawley (pictured) launched a home run in the top of the 12th inning, to give the Gnats their fourth straight win. It was Lawley’s second home run in as many games. A centerfielder and 3B in college at West Florida, the Mets experimented with Lawley at catcher in instructs and early in spring training, but he has played LF exclusively in 2012. The just-turned-23 year old is hitting a healthy .295/.404/.500 in 11 games with eight walks.

CF Travis Taijeron was 1-5 with a homer, a walk and three strikeouts. The 23-year old is bopping at .350/.469/.625 with three homers in 11 games in the SAL.  The bad news for Lawley and Taijeron is that the outfield above them at St. Lucie looked loaded with Cesar Puello, Cory Vaughn and Darrell Ceciliani. Ceciliani’s out with a strained hamstring and Vaughn has been placed on the Temporarily Inactive list, but it might be too soon to help Taijeron or Lawley.

One more 23-year old: 2B TJ Rivera extended his hitting streak to 11 games to open the season by going 3-for-6 with a double. He’s sitting at a cool .419/.500/.558 with eight walks and six strikeouts. Look, 23 year olds are supposed to hit in the South Atlantic League. Rivera too is facing a crowded situation in front of him in St. Lucie with Wilfredo Tovar, Robbie Shields and Danny Muno splitting the two middle infield positions.

And the kids.

3B Aderlin Rodriguez (.250/.304/.519 – 12 G) was 2-for-6 with a double, an RBI and three strikeouts. The 20-year old has hit safely in seven straight games, and has an extra-base hit in six of those seven.

Michael Fulmer’s second start: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR.  His two-start line: 9 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 HR, 2 BB, 8 K. It’s not as sexy as Domingo Tapia’s on Saturday night, but Tapia is the more experienced hurler of the pair.  There’s plenty to like here, starting with the two walks in nine innings. Fulmer’s got plenty of fastball, and it speaks well of him that at age 19, he’s not walking the ballpark.