Mets Daily Farm System Report - 8/3: Who Dat

New York Mets Daily Farm System Report - Results from the afternoon/night of Monday August 2, 2010

The Usual Suspects

AAA - Buffalo (55-53)

AA - Binghamton (54-55)

• Off Day
• Binghamton continues to impress with their great promotions as tonight will be 'A Tribue to The Big Lebowski'.  As always, view the video preview here.

Hi-A - St. Lucie (51-55)

• CF Pedro Zapata: 0-4, K (.229/.270/.314)
• 2B Jordany Valdespin: 0-4, K (.299/.335/.450)
• SS Wilmer Flores: DNP (.310/.319/.411) Night off to clear the head
• RP Brant Rustich: 2 IP, 0 ER, 2H, 2 BB, 2 K
• REHAB ALERT - SP Jenrry Mejia: 4 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 7 K, WP; Mejia looked great, topping out at 97 mph.  Ah, it feels nice to have a legitimate pitching prospect in the system...please God don't let Jerry near him again.

SS-A Brooklyn (30-14)

• CF Darrell Ceciliani: 1-4, SB(16) (.387/.440/.555) Eleven game hit streak; at this point that's actually a bad night for Ceciliani
• RF Cory Vaughn: 1-3, BB, K (.309/.397/.564)
• SS Rylan Sandoval: 0-4, K (.325/.400/.550)
• C Blake Forsythe: 1-4, K (.243/.326/.378)
• SP AJ Pinera: 6 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR (1-3, 2.36, 34.1 IP, 28 H, 8 BB, 22 K, 2 HR)

RK Kingsport (18-22)

• 3B Aderlin Rodriguez: 1-4 (.296/.343/.547)
• RF Javier Rodriguez: 1-4, HR(4) (.327/.358/.527) That actually doubles his HR output from last season when he slugged .338
• CF Chase Greene: DNP (.304/.350/.429)
• LF ZeErika McQueen: 1-4, K (.280/.326/.369)

RK GCL Mets (17-17)

• LF Julio Concepcion: DNP (.301/.341/.522) Looking for an injury update here
• CF Matt Den Dekker: 2-4, 2B, 3 RBI, R, BB, K; Big game in only his second pro contest
• RF Tillman Pugh: 0-3, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K
• SS Randoll Santana: 0-2, R, BB, K (.252/.341/.324)
• SP Domingo Tapia: 6 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 5 K, HB (2-3, 4.15, 30.1 IP, 33 H, 7 BB, 19 K, 0 HR) Easily his best start since joining the GCL, faced three over the minimum in six innings

Star of the Night

Tough call but I'm going with Big Nick tonight as I've been really glad to see him continue mashing after his call-up to Triple-A.  I really wanted to go with Jenrry, but he'll have his day.  As for Nick, he's batting .471 with three doubles and seven RBI's in four games since joining the Herd and is firmly wiping away the memory of last season, once again forcing the organization to pay attention.  I hate to see Fernando Tatis' career end on an injury but at this point Nick better go into ST next year as the clear favorite for that 'first righty off the bench' spot.

The Goat will be Cyclones SS Rylan Sandoval after his 0-for-4 and especially that strikeout leaving the game-tying run on third to end it.  Sandoval's been great this year as the Brooklyn leadoff man though and the 'Clones had to lose eventually so no big deal.

System Roundup

• RHP Dillon Gee bounced back a bit in this one as the Bisons won their third straight, beating the IronPigs 7-3.  Gee was fine over six innings and gave the Herd lineup all they'd need to take control of this one.  And it was the prospects who shined at the dish last night as Evans, Tejada & Duda all had multi-hit games.  Boxscore
• St. Lucie just can't get it together as they were smoked again in this 7-1 defeat to Lakeland.  On the bright side RHP Jenrry Mejia was sensational in his 2010 FSL debut, reminding everyone the kind of pitcher he can be when he isn't buried at the back of a crummy bullpen.  Too bad the lineup managed 0 walks versus eight strikeouts while the bullpen allowed seven runs over the final three innings.  Boxscore
• Savannah couldn't get anything going in this 4-1 loss to the Rome Braves.  The lineup managed just six hits and didn't get on the board until the ninth, leaving LHP Darin Gorski little margin for error on a night when he just didn't have it.  The silver lining was the continued hot streak of RF Cesar Puello who tallied his third straight multi-hit effort and stretched his hit streak to twelve.  Boxscore
• Someone finally managed to slow down the Cyclones offense as the Hudson Valley Renegades topped Brooklyn 3-2, ending their six game win streak.  RHP AJ Pinera wasn't bad but the 'Clones hitters really couldn't get much going.  They did mount a rally in the ninth but after 3B Brian Harrison's pinch-hit double, SS Rylan Sandoval struck out with the tying run on third to end this one.  Boxscore  For a more in depth look, read another of letsgocyclones excellent game wraps here.
• In keeping with the system-wide theme of the night, the Kingsport bats were mostly quiet in this 4-2 defeat to the Twins.  They actually managed seven hits and went 3-for-7 with RISP but just couldn't get that one big hit to break through.  At least RF Javier Rodriguez continued his hot streak with his fourth bomb on the season.  Boxscore
• The GCL Mets are on a roll now as they topped the Cards 9-2 in this one.  The star of the game was starter RHP Domingo Tapia who provided his best effort since joining the team from the DSL.  On the offensive side, 2010 fifth rounder CF Matt Den Dekker didn't waste any time doing some damage and the aptly named 3B Miguel Tejada chipped in with a two-run bomb.  You know this was a good one as the free-swinging GCL hitters managed a combined 7:7 K-to-BB ratio.  Boxscore

Prospect Spotlight:  CF Eudy Pina (DSL)

The beauty of the minor leagues, like Inception, is that you can always go a level deeper.  So let's take a look at the oft-forgotten Dominican Summer League and one of it's best players.  In the midst of a very nice season, the 19 year old Pina is standing out as the most intriguing Mets player in the DSL and is cementing his status as someone worth watching once he starts playing ball stateside.  After a solid pro debut in the DSL last summer where he was among the league leaders in both homers and stolen bases, Pina was a DSL All-Star this year and is really solidifying his power/speed mix while also impoving his peripheral skills. 

Pina is currently pacing the DSL Mets with three homers thus far while ranking third in the circuit with 28 steals (vs. only 6 CS).  He's also all over the DSL leaderboards in doubles, triples, SLG & OBP.  He's seen a huge jump in average this year as he's currently batting .335 (.250 in '09) thanks in part to a tremendous decrease in his K-rate from just over 30% last season to about 15% in 2010.  And though his K:BB needs work, his 8% walk rate is just fine for this level.  Though he's obviously a long way away, numerous interesting Mets players have come from this level including current prospects like Jenrry Mejia & Jordany Valdespin as well as notable former prospects like Carlos Gomez & Jesus Flores.