Mets Daily Farm System Report - 7/9: Children are the Future

*All results from games played on July 8th, 2012.

Check out the 2012 Amazin' Avenue Pre-Season Top 50 Mets Prospects! And send all of your questions about the Mets farm system to AAProspectMailbag@gmail.com to see them answered here!

All-Star Futures Game_______________________________________

WORLD 5, USA 17 (Box)

Zack Wheeler of Cobb County, Georgia, wore cornflower blue with a Stars and Stripes patch. Wilmer Flores of Valencia, Venezuela, wore a deeper blue with a patch of yellow, blue, red, and eight white stars. The United States yesterday clobbered the other 206 sovereign states in the All-Star Futures game, boding well for fried pies, poorly for the metric system. Our man Wilmer, the starting third baseman, let the world down by grounding out and lining out on a well-struck rope at the third baseman. Wheeler entered the slaughter with two out in the eighth, crushing spasms of resistance to the global order. His first batter was the Indians' Jesus Aguilar, and that went: 98-mph fastball for a called strike, 88-mph slider for a swinging strike, 80-mph changeup popped-up to center field. The next batter was the Twins' Oswaldo Arcia, whose four fastballs came in at 95, 97, 90, and 97. That last was trickled to third base.

• 3B Wilmer Flores: 0-2
• RHP Zack Wheeler: 0.2, 0 across

AAA - Buffalo Bisons (46-45)_______________________________________

BUFFALO 10, SCRANTON/WB 3 (Box)

Yankees starter John Maine -- yeah, weird -- is known to blast Metallica as he stares into a Spartan-clean locker and assumes a game face. Yesterday was less Kill Em All, more "whine about Napster." 2B Josh Satin homered. 1B Adam Loewen followed suit. CF Matt den Dekker powered a three run blast, the 14th big fly of his split-level season. That was plenty enough offense to complement the unbreathtaking proficiency of Collin McHugh (5.1 IP, 1 ER). The right-hander has only once exceeded 5.1 innings pitched in five AAA starts.

• CF Matt Den Dekker: 3-5, R, HR(6), 3 RBI, K
• 1B Josh Satin: 1-4, R, HR(9), 2 RBI, BB, K
• C Rob Johnson: 2-4, R, RBI
• RHP Collin McHugh: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K
• RHP Jenrry Mejia: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB
• RHP Elvin Ramirez: 1 IP, 1 BB, 2 K
• LHP Josh Edgin: 1 IP, 1 BB

AA - Binghamton Mets (41-46)_____________________________________

BINGHAMTON 10, ALTOONA 9 (Box)

The B-pen nearly frittered away a 10-4 eighth-inning lead, but Gonzalez Germen -- who wasn't very good to begin with -- took the W on a night where offense prevailed. 1B Alan Dykstra drove in three runs on as many hits, including the second home run of his AA campaign. More timely hits popped from the bats of Marte, Martin, and Tovar, lifting scores to the double digits. And the Mets still managed to strand nine hopefuls on the bags.

• LF Juan Lagares: 3-6, 2 R, 2 2B; threw out a runner at home
• 3B Jefry Marte: 0-3, R, RBI, 2 BB, K
  
• SS Wilfredo Tovar: 1-3, 2 RBI, E(4)
  
• 2B Reese Havens: 1-3, 2 R, 2B, 2 BB, K
• C Juan Centeno: 0-3, K
• LF Eric Campbell: 1-5, 2 R, K
• RHP Gonzalez Germen: 7.1 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 5 BB, 1 K
• RHP Adrian Rosario: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K

Hi-A - St. Lucie Mets (8-10)________________________________________

ST. LUCIE 9, BRANDENTON 3 (Box)

LF Rafael Fernandez hit for the back half of the cycle, chasing four men around on a first-inning homer and an eight-inning triple. Fellow fly-picker Cory Vaughn collected his usual XBH and walk, breaking the .800 OPS plane with a sub-.240 average. RHP Tyler Pill shrunk his ERA to 2.41 since the June 5th promotion. And 3B Zach Lutz wasn't bodily harmed, and hit some too.

• RF Cesar Puello: 1-4, K, CS(1)
• DH Cory Vaughn: 1-3, R, 2B, RBI, BB, K, SB(8)
• CF Alonzo Harris: 1-4, 2 R, BB, K
• LF Rafael Fernandez: 2-4, 4 RBI, 3B, HR, K
• RHP Tyler Pill: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K
• LHP Jack Leathersich: 2 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 K
• REHAB ALERT: 3B Zach Lutz: 1-3, R, RBI, BB

Lo-A - Savannah Sand Gnats (6-12)__________________________________

CHARLESTON 8, SAVANNAH 4 (Box)

There has been recent giddiness over the prospects of pitching prospect Domingo Tapia. The 6'4", 186-pound 20-yo with the triple-digit-touching fastball took a break from May 29th to June 29th to limit his innings, and since returning has thrown an underwhelming stew of 11 strikeouts and seven walks in 19.2 innings. But word is that Tapia's been working diligently at developing a changeup and a sinker that won't scorch batters like his heat, but won't get any better for not trying. The combination of youth and live-armedness continue to suggest, in Rob's phrase, that the sky's the limit for young Domingo. But, patience. Meanwhile, another 20-yo, Aderlin Rodriguez of the .848 OPS, put on his own curious show -- fanning thrice, erring twice, and pounding out his 16th goner of the season.

• 3B Aderlin Rodriguez: 1-5, R, HR(16), 2 RBI, 3 K, 2 E(19)
• DH Dustin Lawley: 3-5, R, 2B, K
• RHP Domingo Tapia: 7 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 4 R, 1 BB, 3 K

Short Season A - Brooklyn Cyclones (14-7)__________________________________

JAMESTOWN 5, BROOKLYN 2 (Box)


1B Jayce Boyd charged into the game batting .370/.419/.704 and landed two more safe hits on three tries. To understand any 2012 draft pick I google "[player's name] Alex Nelson." Here are the goods on the sixth rounder out of FSU:

Boyd has consistently hit for high averages, and true to form he has a simple stroke at the plate. His approach at the plate draws high marks from observers and he's done a great job cutting down his strikeout rate as he's progressed. The big question is power. He has natural strength and long limbs, so scouts have been expecting power from him since high school. He does load his hands to help him drive the bat through the strike zone, generating gap power, but he does a poor job of getting the rest of his body working in concert with his swing. I really can't say I expect him to hit more than 15 home runs in a full season, and that's probably not going to cut it for a first baseman. And while you could overhaul his swing, that may (and probably will) hurt his contact ability.

So, we like the .704 slugging, a lot. CF Brandon Nimmo ended a promising four-game hitting streak and has fallen off the walk/game pace. His numbers still sag, but in 31 ABs with runners on he's hitting .258/.314/.516. Meaning he's clutch as hell. Though SP Luis Cessa delivered a passable, run-limiting performance, there wasn't enough O in the Cyclones order to jam the jammers.

• CF Brandon Nimmo: 0-4, 2 K, CS(1)
• SS Philip Evans: 0-3, R, BB, K
• C Kevin Plawecki: 1-4, R, RBI
• 1B Jayce Boyd: 2-3, RBI, K
• RHP Luis Cessa: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HR

★ Beaming Star of the Night ★

Choosing to interpret "star" in a Hollywood vein, I bestow this award on leading-man Zack Wheeler for his flawless performance on the big stage: ESPN 2.

Stinking Goat of the Night

Me. I'm afraid this is either my last or second-to-last Mets Daily Farm System Report. It's been fun, nurturing, and... well... just right. Thankfully I'm only shifting roles here at AA, so I won't be leaving y'all. Reader, thank you. Rob, thank you. Eric, Jeff, and Steve, thank you. Now let's go first-place Cyclones!