Mets Daily Farm System Report - 6/6: 6 is Wild for the Captain

AA - Binghamton (27-28)

• CF Kirk Nieuwenhuis: 3-5, 2B, 6 RBI, R (.287/.327/.474) That's what I'd call a big night
• 2B Reese Havens: 1-6 (.320/.393/.700)
• 1B Nick Evans: 2-6, RBI, R, K (.285/.358/.549)
• 3B Eric Campbell: 1-4, R, K, BB (.310/.375/.431) After a hot start in Bingo, he's 2 for his last 22
• LF Lucas Duda: 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R (.296/.432/.533)
• C Mike Nickeas: 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 R, K, BB (.289/.400/.351)
• SP Eric Niesen: 6 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 5 K, 4 HBP? (1-2, 2.67, 27 IP, 17 H, 20 BB, 21 K, 1 HR) Best start of the season
• RP Eddie Kunz: 3 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 1 K (4-4, 5.82, 1 S, 51 IP, 51 H, 31 BB, 30 K, 2 HR) After 3 straight relief appearances is it safe to assume the starting experiment is over?

Hi-A - St. Lucie (25-29)

• SS Jordany Valdespin: 1-4, 2B, 2 R, BB, CS(4), E(7) (.310/.338/.528) Batting .333 in 5 games since returning
• 2B Josh Satin: 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R, BB (.326/.413/.487)
• CF Sean Ratliff: 1-5, RBI, K (.271/.327/.438)
• 1B Stefan Welch: 0-5, 2 K (.298/.350/.454) Cooling off: .237 in his last 10 games
• RF Brahiam Maldonado: 2-4, 2B, HR(6), 3 RBI, R (.272/.313/.392) Heating up: 4 HR's in his last 5 games
• SP Kyle Allen: 5 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 4 K, HBP (4-3, 4.95, 56.1 IP, 55 H, 34 BB, 36 K, 3 HR) Way too many baserunners and not nearly enough whiffs; has walked 4 or more in 6 of his 11 starts 

Lo-A Savannah

• Rained Out

Star of the Night

I know we should probably reward DH Mike Jacobs tonight for his 5-hit, 3 RBI performance...but out of principle we're not going to.  For the 4th straight day the star comes out of the epic '08 draft class as the honors go to CF Captain Kirk Nieuwenhuis for accumulating a career-high 6 RBI's in last night's 13-1 blowout of the Rock Cats.  Nieu has had a very strong campaign thus far, further solidifying the fact that he has an excellent power/speed mix and can play a good center.   He has also shown a much-improved approach against lefties (.305 with an .844 OPS vs. .245 with a .642 OPS in '09) all in the advanced pitching environment of Double-A.  While the K/BB is still a concern (13:52), the idea of Nieuwenhuis as a player in the mold of a Curtis Granderson is not a huge stretch.

Goat of the Night:  Despite getting the W in his game, Bisons RHP Dylan Owen wasn't very good last night, allowing 6 runs and 12 baserunners in only 5 innings.  The '07 20th round selection out of  DII Francis Marion University has only had 4 starts this season but he fits perfectly into the Gee/Stoner/Bannister mold of an eventual cheap, effective spot starter/#5.

System Roundup

• After getting shut down by Strasburg, the Herd bats had to remind everyone why they were considered the league's best offense, scoring 11 runs on Friday then beating Norfolk 12-9 in VA last night.  Though we didn't see any home runs, they did rap 22 hits (11 with RISP), including 5-hit performances by OF Jesus Feliciano and (believe it or not) DH Mike Jacobs.  The Buffalo pitching was not very good, especially RHP Dylan Owen, but that didn't seem to matter much as the offense was in the driver's seat all night.  They even got to O's top prospect Jake Arrieta during his 2 relief innings.  Fun Fact:  Buffalo hadn't seen a 5-hit game in nearly 5 years until this week when there have been 3 of them (2 by Feliciano).
• Binghamton finally had the breakout win they needed tonight with a 13-1 laugher over New Britain.  After nearly a month-long malaise, the team is finally getting healthy again (Duda & Niesen) and with a couple of nice additions (Campbell & Havens) they're starting to click on all cylinders like they did in April.  The offense especially was a cause for concern but tonight 8 of 9 regulars got a hit and they managed an impressive 13 runs on 14 hits, against the Twins dominant '09 first rounder Kyle Gibson no less.  LHP Eric Niesen posted his best start of the season and Captain Kirk knocked in a career-high 6 runs.  The game did seem to get a little chippy as there were a total of 7 HBP's (but no ejections).  The climb back to .500 is almost over and this is all without 3B Zack Lutz.
• St. Lucie actually played a game last night but fell short 7-6 in 10 innings against Dunedin.  SP Kyle Allen put them in the hole early with his patented 4 walk special but the Mets bats battled back, eventually tying it up and forcing extras.  However, 2 errors in the bottom of the 10th eventually doomed St. Lucie in this one.  The Mets are now 6 games out of first in the FSL, residing in the 4th hole.
• Apparently all that rain moved up the seaboard as Savannah was rained out at home last night.  The game will be made up as part of a double header on Monday (which as always is $1 tickets Monday).  Savannah is now 1.5 games behind Augusta for the top spot in the SAL (and the coveted automatic playoff bid) with 2 weeks to go before the ASB.