Mets Daily Farm System Report - 8/12: Buffalo Keeps Winning

New York Mets Daily Farm System Report - Results from the night of Wednesday August 11, 2010.

The Usual Suspects

AAA - Buffalo (63-54)

• RF Jesus Feliciano: 1-5, R, K (.346/.391/.431)
• CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis: 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI, K (.345/.424/.483); first Triple-A triple
• LF Lucas Duda: 1-5, RBI, K (.317/.387/.651); hitting streak at nine games
• 1B Nick Evans: 3-5, 2 R, 2B, HR, RBI, K (.333/.396/.583); not bad
• SP Fernando Nieve: 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 7 K, 0 HR (1-0, 4.26 ERA, 12.2 IP, 13 H, 6 BB, 11 K, 0 HR); first full-length start
• REHAB ALERT: RP Sean Green: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K; pitched two innings after throwing one yesterday—must be close

AA - Binghamton (56-60)

• CF Sean Ratliff: 1-4, R, HR, RBI, 2 K (.329/.367/.610); second consecutive game with a home run
• 3B Josh Satin: 3-3, R, HR, 2 RBI (.318/.409/.465); ditto
• 3B Zach Lutz: 0-1 (.285/.403/.616); had to be removed in the third for some reason
• 2B Jordany Valdespin: 1-4, R, (.167/.167/.167)
• SP Chris Schwinden: 6.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 6 K, 0 HR (4-7, 5.35 ERA, 77.1 IP, 97 H, 18 BB, 66 K, 7 HR); nice rebound start
• RP Dylan Owen: 2.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 3 K, 0 HR (4-2, 3.38 ERA, 58.2 IP, 48 H, 29 BB, 50 K, 5 HR); gave up three straight hits in the seventh that brought home two inherited runners and could’ve been a lot worse if Jonathan Malo didn’t throw out a runner at third from left
• RP Roy Merritt: 0.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 0 HR (3-4, 4.00 ERA, 69.2 IP, 65 H, 21 BB, 56 K, 4 HR); yuck
• RP Eddie Kunz: 0.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 0 K, 0 HR (6-7, 5.20 ERA, 91.2 IP, 91 H, 57 BB, 51 K, 4 HR); yuck

Hi-A - St. Lucie (52-61)

• To make up for Tuesday’s rainout, St. Lucie played two against Charlotte yesterday.
• CF Pedro Zapata: 1-7, R, K, SB (.254/.274/.310)
• SS Wilmer Flores: 0-6, 2 K (.311/.328/.437)
• 1B Stefan Welch: 1-6, RBI, 2 K (.262/.332/.399); and the slugging percentage drops below .400—bad news for a first baseman
• SP Eric Beaulac: 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 3 K, 0 HR (5-4, 3.34 ERA, 91.2 IP, 82 H, 49 BB, 63 K, 3 HR)
• SP Brandon Moore: 5.1 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 4 K, 0 HR (2-3, 3.78 ERA, 50.0 IP, 54 H, 21 BB, 40 K, 2 HR); better than his last start, but he still allowed too many baserunners
• REHAB ALERT: 3B Eric Campbell: 2-5, 2 R, BB, K, SB

SS-A Brooklyn (35-18)

• CF Darrell Ceciliani: 0-3, BB, K, CS (.369/.425/.553)
• RF Cory Vaughn: 1-4, 2B, K, CS (.312/.395/.563)
• SS Rylan Sandoval: DNP (.337/.409/.564)
• C Blake Forsythe: 3-4, R, 2B, K (.283/.343/.417); nice day
• 3B Brian Harrison: 0-3, RBI, K (.266/.328/.523)
• SP Angel Cuan: 6.0 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 7 K, 1 HR (5-0, 2.06 ERA, 65.2 IP, 56 H, 13 BB, 55 K, 2 HR); so-so outing

RK Kingsport (23-25)

• LF ZeErika McQueen: 1-5, 2B, RBI, 3 K (.283/.330/.385)
• CF Chase Greene: 1-5, K (.266/.310/.354); batting just .200 over his last ten games
• 3B Aderlin Rodriguez: 2-5, R, K (.293/.337/.545)
• C Taylor Freeman: 0-3, BB, K (.286/.375/.286); second game since being demoted from Brooklyn
• SP Eduardo Aldama: 5.0 IP, 7 ER, 9 H, 0 BB, 6 K, 1 HR (1-2, 6.45 ERA, 22.1 IP, 26 H, 7 BB, 19 K, 3 HR); second poor outing in three starts

RK GCL Mets (22-18)

• SS Randoll Santana: 1-2, R, BB, SB (.256/.345/.320); stolen base was his 14th in 19 attempts
• LF Julio Concepcion: 1-4, R, 2B, K (.298/.341/.516)
• C Jeff Glenn: 2-4, 2B, K (.254/.333/.339); boosted his average to .206 over his last ten games
• SP Domingo Tapia: 5.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 1 K, 0 HR (3-3, 3.82 ERA, 35.1 IP, 38 H, 9 BB, 20 K, 0 HR); getting a lot of ground balls

Star of the Night

There weren’t a lot of standout performances last night, so I’ll go with Josh Satin, who didn’t even start Binghamton’s game last night. He came in to replace Zach Lutz in the third, and went a perfect 3-for-3 with a double and a homer. Satin’s hit pretty well wherever he’s been, showing outstanding patience at the plate and a gap power, but some significant flaws in his game prevent him from projecting as a starting-caliber player at the big league level. For one, his defense at second is pretty terrible. Two, there really isn’t enough power in his bat to make it as a first baseman or corner outfielder. He has been a doubles machine in the minors, but I don’t think he’ll ever be a big home run hitter. And third, while his patience is outstanding, he’s very prone to whiffing (45 strikeouts in 198 Double-A at-bats), which may hurt his major league contact ability. That said, the walks, doubles, and versatility to play around the infield and outfield do make him an intriguing utility player, one with the ability to actually make a contribution to a team’s offense.

I don’t think I’ve really spoken about Erik Turgeon this season, so he’s our Goat due to a five-run performance that boosted his ERA from 1.88 to 3.51. The Mets took Turgeon, a UConn product, in the 25th round of the 2008 draft. He doesn’t have great arm strength, topping out around 91, but he does have a pretty good mid-70s curve, which gives him a chance as a reliever, especially if his command sticks around.

System Roundup

• Buffalo brought their bats to Scranton, beating the Yankees 10-4. The Bisons had 14 base knocks, with Nick Evans and Mike Cervenak having particularly notable performances with each hitting a homer, a double, and a single. Fernando Nieve got the start, and it was a mixed bag. The seven strikeouts and two walks were nice, but he also allowed four runs on eight hits over six innings. The win was Buffalo’s sixth straight. Boxscore
• Four seventh-inning runs undid the B-Mets, who lost to Harrisburg, 5-4. Chris Schwinden was removed after six solid innings, and was replaced by Eddie Kunz at the start of the seventh. Kunz allowed two straight singles before being removed in favor of Roy Merritt who one-upped Kunz by permitting two straight doubles. Merritt was then lifted for Dylan Owen. Owen struck out the first batter he saw before giving up three singles. Good times. On the plus side, both Sean Ratliff and Josh Satin homered for the second consecutive game. Boxscore
• Thanks to Tuesday’s rainout, St. Lucie played two against Charlotte yesterday, losing both games. In the first game, Charlotte starter Shane Dyer had to leave in the second, but the Stone Crabs’ bullpen picked up right where Dyer left off, keeping the Mets scoreless through the first six innings. Though St. Lucie was able to tack on a run in the final inning on a Hector Pellot sac fly, it was too little, too late. The final score was 3-1 (Boxscore). The second game didn’t go any smoother. Starter Brandon Moore was a little rough, and reliever Erik Turgeon was a disaster, surrendering five runs in less than two innings. The offense only had four singles and a pair of doubles but still scored five runs. With a better pitching performance somewhere, this game was winnable. Instead, it was an 8-5 loss. Boxscore
• Savannah had the day off.
• The Cyclones were up by a run over Auburn in the bottom of the ninth but lost the game 6-5 on a walk-off sac fly by Gustavo Pierre. Ryan Fraser was the goat, though the tying run was unearned. But after the first hitter reached on an error, Fraser allowed two singles to load the bases, then plunking the penultimate batter before allowing the game-winning sac fly. Boxscore
• Starter Eduardo Aldama dug Kingsport into a whole they couldn’t climb out of, and Kingsport lost to Princeton, 9-4. Luke Stewart, Aderlin Rodriguez, and John Semel had multi-hit games. Boxscore
• Alexander Sanchez, Jeff Glenn, and Gilberto Gomez each had two hits as the GCL Mets beat the GCL Nationals, 4-1. Boxscore

Minor League Logo of the Whenever

The Auburn Doubledays, maybe my favorite minor league logo of all.