Mets Daily Farm Report- 7/21/13: Montero struggles, Muno Shines

*All results from games played on Saturday, July 20th 2013

AAA - Las Vegas 51's (51-47)______________________________________

RENO 5, LAS VEGAS 4 (12) (Box)

In an unusual turn of events, the Vegas bullpen actually had a very good night, preserving a 4-4 tie for six innings before they finally gave up the ghost in the twelfth. Rafael Montero continues to have a rough adjustment period in the Pacific Coast League, walking three and giving up four runs in five innings of work.

• SS Ruben Tejada: 2-5, 2B, 2 R
• IF Wilmer Flores: Still DLing it
• RF-2B Jordany Valdespin: 0-5, 2 K, E (1)
• 1B Zach Lutz: 2-5, 2B, RBI, K
• C Francisco Pena: 1-4, BB; Hey, remember when Pena had that great first week in Vegas and everyone thought he should be backing up Buck. Yeah, neither do I
• RHP Rafael Montero: 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, Balk; I thought Double-A would be the real test of his profile, but looks like it's Triple-A, K rates and BB rates are both quite average right now.

AA - Binghamton Mets (61-37)_____________________________________

BINGHAMTON 10, NEW BRITAIN 2 (Box)

"These are the games that try men's souls, the amateur scout and the local beat reporter will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their organization, but he that sits behind home plate now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman."

- Thomas Paine, after watching last night's Bingo game probably

This may have been the worst game I ever covered. And I've sat on plenty of Penn and Sally League games. Rock Cats forgot to cover bases, dropped routine pop-ups, threw balls into dugouts, and couldn't throw strikes. Innings bled one into the other, it felt like the B-Mets had the bases loaded in every inning. They may well have. The throng of scouts around me groaned with every piece of poor fundamentals. We'll do it again today, because that's baseball, Suzyn.

• SS Wilfredo Tovar: 3-4, 3B, 3 R, BB; Right after I mentioned to Chris McShane that Tovar had 20 power, he hits one ove the CF head for a triple. More like Trollvar.
• 2B Danny Muno: 2-2, 2B, 3 R, RBI, 2 BB, HBP; Has looked just awful at second in the series, but the swing is nice from the left side at least. Wouldn't be shocked if he grinds his way to the Mets as a bench guy once Turner gets expensive.
• RF Cesar Puello: 3-5, 2 2B, R, 3 RBI, SF, SB (20); Had the best at-bat I've ever seen from him last night. Eight pitches, fouled some stuff off, laid off a 2-2 slider, and then laced an opposite field double into the gap. Unfortunately, got exploited against major league arms Thursday and Friday night. Harder to peg the more I see him.
• LF Travis Taijeron: 1-4, K, HBP
• 1B Allan Dykstra: 1-6, RBI, 2 K; I get the Dykstra love, but the swing is long and slow, and he's a rough first baseman.

REHAB ALERT: Jenrry Mejia: W, 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K, 1 HR; Lost velocity quickly from 92-94 early to 90-92 by the third, but the secondaries looked as good as I've seen. Could help in the bullpen soon, just don't see a starter here.

Hi-A - St. Lucie Mets (15-11 // 52-41)________________________________________

CANCELLED: (RAIN)

Having minor league teams in Florida can be problematic, you guys.

Lo-A - Savannah Sand Gnats (54-40)__________________________________

SAVANNAH 8, DELMARVA 6

Matthew Koch got lit up for the second consecutive start, but the Gnats rallied from a 6-1 deficit. Albert Cordero doubled in the go-ahead run in the seventh. He was one of five Savannah players who had multi-hit games, led by Brandon Nimmo with three knocks.

• CF Brandon Nimmo: 3-5, 3B, R, K
• DH Stefan Sabol: 0-5, 2 K
• SS Phillip Evans:DNP
• RHP Matthew Koch: 3 IP, 11 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 0 K; BABIP'd to death.
• RHP Julian Hilario: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K; I really like Hilario's stuff. Surprised they've been so conservative with him this year.



SS-A - Brooklyn Cyclones (14-18)__________________________________

BROOKLYN 3, BATAVIA 0

Despite a couple rain delays that took almost as long as the actual game, the Cyclones managed to outlast the Muckdogs (and the weather). The Cyclones struck for three in the first and Miller Diaz and company made it hold up for eight more very long innings.

• 2B LJ Mazzilli: 0-4, RBI, K; I like Mazzilli's swing and had a scout tell me he's a potential second divison guy, but I don't know that I see it.
• LF Jared King: 3-4, 2B, R, RBI
• C Tomas Nido: 0-3
• CF Patrick Biondi: 2-4, 2B, R, 2 K
• RHP Miller Diaz: W, 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K; Fastball control is the key for Diaz, who more than enough velocity and slider to dominate the Penn League otherwise.

REHAB ALERT: Justin Turner played shortstop and went for 0-2 with a walk and a run scored. He's expected to join the Mets early next week.

R - Kingsport Mets (15-13)__________________________________

KINGSPORT 5, PRINCETON 3

Kingsport continued their winning ways, rallying for four in the eighth against Princeton without a single base hit. Yep, it's the Appy League

• LF Joe Tuschak: 0-4, 2 K; Toolsy northeast prep guy is spending his third season in rookie ball, but seems to be getting his feet under him this year.
• SS Amed Rosario: 0-3, BB, R
• CF Bradley Marquez: 1-4, K
• RHP Andrew Massie: 6 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 2 K; That might well be the platonic ideal of an Appy League pitching line.

R - GCL Mets (6-19)__________________________________

GCL NATS 6, GCL METS 3

• SS Luis Guillorme: 0-4, R, BB, 2 K
• DH Dominic Smith: 1-3, 2 RBI
• CF Ivan Wilson: 0-3, BB, 3 K
• RF Vicente Lupo: 0-3, BB, 2 K; One more reminder that DSL stats are completely and utterly worthless
• RHP Andrew Church: 3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

REHAB ALERT: Cory Vaughn went 1-3 with a triple, run scored, and a walk.

2013 Amazin' Avenue Mets Top 50 Prospect Rankings

(credit: Gordon Donovan)
Danny Muno didn't make our midseason Top 25, but after a slow start, has been heating up with the season, hitting .327/.429/.545 in July.

Star of the Night

Danny Muno got on base five times last night, keying the Binghamton offensive explosion.

Goat of the Night

It's not quite a golden sombrero, but 2 K plus an error in the field is good (bad) enough to get Valdespin the horns tonight.