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With various Mets prospects assigned to the team to begin the year, expectations were high for the St. Lucie Mets. The team started things off on the right foot, winning their first three games against Bradenton Marauders, but they then lost their next three to the Brevard County Manatees. They would end the first month of the season with an 11-10 record. May was much of the same. The team went 14-15, ending the month with a 25-25 record. The .500 record perfectly summed up the high highs that certain players on the team were experiencing and the low lows that other players on the team were experiencing.
Michael Conforto exceeded all expectations. Through the month of April, the Mets' 2014 first-round draft pick was hitting a blistering .313/.396/.566, and through May, he was hitting a still impressive .283/.350/.462. Dominic Smith, on the other hand, did not live up to expectations. In April, the Mets' 2013 first-round draft pick hit .220/.256/.244, and though he heated up a bit in May thanks to a sixteen-game hitting streak, still ended the month with an underwhelming .260/.303/.377 batting line.
When Michael Conforto was promoted to Double-A Binghamton on May 30, the .500 St. Lucie Mets lost their best hitter. Other players picked up the slack, and as a result, there was no significant fall off in the standings. Smith, who had begun hitting the ball in mid-May, continued hitting at a torrid pace, and ended the first half with a .296/.336/.421 batting line. Jeff McNeil, who was quietly having a good season, continued hitting, posting a .328/.385/.393 line through the end of the first half.
All the while, Robert Gsellman took a big step forward in his development, going 7-3 with a 2.68 ERA in 74 innings, while Akeel Morris was dominant at the end of games. St. Lucie ended the first half with a 9-8 record. At 34-33, one game over .500, St. Lucie finished the first half ten games behind the Charlotte Stone Crabs for the division.
First Half MVP
Runner Up
First Half Cy Young
Runner Up