Mets Daily Prospect Report, 7/17/15: And we're back!

*All results from games played on Thursday, July 16, 2015

Triple-A - Las Vegas 51s (54-38)_______________________________________

LAS VEGAS 10, ALBUQUERQUE 5 (Box)

The 51s started the second half with a run-of-the-mill Pacific Coast League contest. Zach Lutz made quite the return to the organization, knocking out four of the team's 19 hits in his Vegas re-debut. Wilfredo Tovar was the only 51s starter to go hitless in support of a so-so Matt Bowman start. Sorry, SAMBA.

• 2B Dilson Herrera: 2-5, 2 R; Hitting .345/.383/.482 in Vegas. He'll be fine.
• 3B T.J. Rivera: 3-5, 2 R, RBI
• C Anthony Recker: 2-4, 3B, 3 R, 3 RBI
• LF Brandon Allen: 2-5, R, RBI
• 1B Zach Lutz: 4-5, 2B, 3 RBI; I'll leave the ruminating on whether Lutz would be a better major league option than Eric Campbell to one Rob Castellano.
• RF Travis Taijeron: 2-5, 2B, RBI, 3 K
• CF Cory Vaughn: 1-4, 2B, R, K
• SS Wilfredo Tovar: 0-4, K
• PH Jayce Boyd: 0-1, K
• RHP Matt Bowman: 6.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 5 K // 1-3, R, RBI; A lower K% that Gabriel Ynoa. That's gonna be a problem.
• RHP Zach Thornton: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
• RHP Chase Huchingson: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
• RHP Chase Bradford: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Double-A - Binghamton Mets (46-43)_____________________________________

TRENTON 3, BINGHAMTON 2 (Box)

Michael Fulmer took the bump for the newish look B-Mets as they kicked off their second half against the Thunder. Fulmer managed to limit the damage, but didn't seem to have his best stuff on this night. Michael Conforto went deep for Bingo, but the rest of the lineup didn't offer much in the way of resistance to Trenton pitching.

• SS Gavin Cecchini: 0-3, BB
• 2B L.J. Mazzilli: 1-3, BB, K; I had assumed the recent cuts were to make room for Jeff McNeil on the B-Mets infield, forgetting the Maz has been manning second base for a while now. But Mazzilli has not been lighting the Eastern League on fire and at this point he is blocking a significantly better prospect.
• LF Michael Conforto: 1-4, HR, R, RBI; There will be weeks and weeks of To PROMOAT or not to PROMOAT talk around Conforto. There is likely no long term downside to throwing him to the major league sharks, but expectations that he is a slam dunk to be immediately better than Cuddyer are overly optimistic.
• 1B Brock Peterson: 1-3, BB, K
• CF Brandon Nimmo: 1-3, BB
• 3B Josh Rodriguez: 0-4
• RF Joe Benson: 1-4, R, K
• C Xorge Carrillo: 0-3, K
• DH Jared King: 2-3, SB
• RHP Michael Fulmer: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
• RHP Matt Koch: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
• RHP Beck Wheeler: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
• LHP Dario Alvarez: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K; No rest for the dude that just pitched in the All-Star Game yesterday I guess.

Advanced-A - St. Lucie Mets (12-9 // 47-44)_____________________________________

DUNEDIN 6, ST. LUCIE 2 (Box)

The Mets 7-game winning streak came to a crashing halt. Starter Kyle McGowan got touched up in his six innings of work, and St. Lucie managed just five hits.

• 2B Jeff McNeil: 1-4, R, BB, SB; Really don't know what the 23-year-old McNeil is still doing here.
• RF Victor Cruzado: 1-3, 2B, R, 2 BB, K; Since people like to talk about my "small sample size scouting" in the comments, I will mention that Cruzado took the best at-bats from both sides of the plate in my recent look at St. Lucie, and made a pretty nice diving catch in RF. He's not much more than a good org guy, but sometimes you do catch a guy on a good stretch. You are never doing results-based analysis though.
• DH Matt Oberste: 1-5, 2 K
• 1B Dominic Smith: 1-3, 2 BB, K, E
• LF Stefan Sabol: 0-5, RBI, 2 K
• SS Amed Rosario: 1-3, RBI, BB, K
• 3B Jhoan Urena: 0-3, BB, K; Nice to see him back in the lineup after whispers that the hamate injury might cost him the whole season.
• C Colton Plaia: 0-3, BB, 2 K
• CF Champ Stuart: 0-4, K
• P Kevin McGowan: 6.0 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
• P David Roseboom: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
• P Kelly Secrest: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
• P Jeff Walters: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K; Working back-to-back days now and should be close to rejoining Vegas. Velocity was down a tick when I saw him on rehab in the GCL, but the FB command looked all the way back.

Low-A - Savannah Sand Gnats (7-13 // 46-44)__________________________________

GAME 1: SAVANNAH 4, ASHEVILLE 3 (Box)

The Gnats and Tourists split two, and Toby Hyde had to stay up way past his bedtime due to a rather long rain delay in the first game.

• 3B Jonathan Johnson: 0-3
• SS Luis Guillorme: 2-4, RBI, 2 K
• RF Wuilmer Becerra: 1-2, 2B, BB; Becerra is back after missing just over the minimum with a hamstring strain. So it is possible I guess.
• 1B Michael Katz: 0-3, 2 K
• C Tomas Nido: 1-3, R, E
• LF John Mora: 1-3, 2B, R, K
• 2B Jean Rodriguez: 0-3, K
• DH Vicente Lupo: 1-3, HR, R, 2 RBI, K
• CF Patrick Biondi: 1-3, R, RBI, SB
• P Scarlyn Reyes: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
• P Cameron Griffin: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
• P Paul Paez: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

GAME 2: ASHEVILLE 4, SAVANNAH 1 (Box)

• 2B Jonathan Johnson: 0-1, R, 2 BB
• SS Luis Guillorme: 0-0, 2 BB
• DH Wuilmer Becerra: 0-3, K
• 3B Eudor Garcia: 0-2, RBI, K
• 1B Michael Katz: 0-3, K
• RF John Mora: 0-3
• C Tyler Moore: 0-3, 2 K, E
• LF Joe Tuschak: 1-2, 2B, K
• CF Patrick Biondi: 0-2
• P Michael Gibbons: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
• P Dawrin Frias: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• P Tim Peterson: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

SS-A - Brooklyn Cyclones (15-10)_______________________________________

STATEN ISLAND 1, BROOKLYN 0 (Box)

The Cyclones played another tight, low-scoring affair against their cross-borough rivals, and again ended up on the wrong side of it. Matt Blackham was dominant in six innings of work, but 80s teen movie villain and Staten Island starter Kolten Mahoney got the better of him in this one.

• CF Tucker Tharp: 1-4, 2 K
• 2B Vincent Siena: 1-4, 2 K
• RF Michael Bernal: 0-4, K
• C Brandon Brosher: 1-4, 2B
• 3B David Thompson: 1-4
• DH Jeff Diehl: 1-3, BB, K
• 1B Pedro Perez: 1-4, K
• LF Oswald Caraballo: 0-3, K
• SS Alfredo Reyes: 0-2, BB
• P Matt Blackham: 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 10 K; Looked like a dude that will at least pitch in a Double-A bullpen, which may not sound like a positive report, but actually is.
• P Ruben Reyes: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
• P Christian Montgomery: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

Rookie - Kingsport Mets (11-11)__________________________

PRINCETON 7, KINGSPORT 6 (Box)

• CF Raphael Ramirez: 2-5, R; The rawness and swing-and-miss is starting to show up more for Ramirez lately, but I still really like the tools
• DH Luis Carpio: 1-4, BB
• 1B Dash Winningham: 0-5, 2 K; I accidentally left Dash off my "follow list" in the comments yesterday. He's got more feel for hitting than you'd think given the profile.
• C Patrick Mazeika: 2-5, 2B, HR, 2 R, RBI
• 3B Luis Ortega: 1-5, 2 R, K
• LF Kevin Kaczmarski: 2-5, 2 RBI
• RF Arnaldo Berrios: 0-3, RBI, 2 K
• 2B Dale Burdick: 0-4, 2 K
• SS Leon Canelon: 1-2, R, 2 BB
• P Merandy Gonzalez: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K; This is disappointing, if not unexpected.

@nymets18 had control issues early. Pitches have averaged 86-89. Nothing spectacular to report yet. Got out of jams behind good defense.

— Mark Davis (@kmetsfan) July 17, 2015

• P Chase Ingram: 2.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
• P Seth Davis: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K
• P Witt Haggard: 0.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Rookie - GCL Mets (12-10)__________________________

GCL METS 3, GCL MARLINS 2 (5) (Box)

• CF Ricardo Cespedes: 0-2, R, BB
• SS Milton Ramos: 0-3, K, E
• C Ali Sanchez: 1-2, R, BB; The Behind the Backstop stuff will resume after our midseason list, but SPOILER ALERT: I really like Ali Sanchez
• RF Jose Miguel Medina: 0-3, K
• 1B Victor Moscote: 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI, BB
• LF Kenneth Bautista: 0-3
• 2B Franklin Correa: 1-1, R, BB
• DH Yeffry De Aza: 1-2
• 3B Luis Crisostomo: 1-2, 2B, RBI
• P Joel Huertas: 5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

Star of the Night

Zach Lutz

Goat of the Night

Kyle McGowan