Mets Minor League Players of the Week: Week Sixteen

Karell Paz

Week: 4 G, 13 AB, .539/.600/1.539, 7 H, 2 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 2 BB, 2 K, 0/0 SB (Rookie)

2022 Season: 30 G, 86 AB, .337/.418/.616, 29 H, 4 2B, 4 3B, 4 HR, 8 BB, 15 K, 5/10 SB, .357 BABIP (Foreign Rookie/Rookie)

Karell Paz was born in the central Cuban city of Ciego de Avila, the capital of the eponymous province, a land of milky lakes, turquoise beaches, and pineapples whose wafting scents hitchhike on Caribbean breezes and hint at future gustatory bliss. Paz- which ironically means ‘peace’, as the city itself gained importance during the Cuban Ten Years’ War, when the Spanish built a line of colonial ditch-work defenses through the city to defend against insurrectionists- grew up watching Los Tigres de Ciego de Avila, the city’s team in La Serie Nacional de Béisbol. Manager Roger Machado and his players had some success in the 2010s, winning three championships in the 51s (2011–2012), 54th (2014–2015), and 55th (2015–2016) competitions and making the finals in the one more, but Paz was never part of that, as he was too young to play. The young man would end up never playing for his hometown team, as he left Cuba in April 2017.

The 18-year-old ended up traveling through multiple countries over the course of the next few months. He began his journey in Guyana, then passed though Brazil, Uruguay, and Panama before crossing the Caribbean once again to Haiti, and finally from there, the Dominican Republic. To add injury to insult, the process for Paz to be declared a free agent came to a screeching halt in early 2020, as COVID-19 swept across the world.

Paz officially signed with the Mets in May 2022 and was assigned to the Dominican Summer League Mets. The 22-year-old appeared in 15 games for the DSL Mets 2 and hit .342/.420/.512 with 0 doubles, 2 triples, 1 home run, 3 steals in 7 attempts, and drew 3 walks to 7 strikeouts. He was sent stateside to the FCL Mets in early July, and through 16 games with them is hitting .314/.397/.647 with 4 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs, 2 steals in 3 attempts, and has 5 walks to 10 strikeouts.

Paz, a switch hitter, stands square at the plate with his hands high and his bat wrapped behind his head. He swings with a toe tap and/or slight leg lift as a timing mechanism from both sides of the plate. According to evaluators familiar with him, Paz has above-average raw power. He has played all over the field in his brief professional career, logging innings in center field, right field, left field, third base, and first base. He has logged the majority of his innings in right field and first base, his above-average arm profiling well in the outfield.

Luis Moreno

Week: 1 G (1 GS), 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K (High-A)

Season: 18 G (10 GS), 80.2 IP, 67 H, 32 R, 25 ER (2.79 ERA), 29 BB, 78 K, .299 BABIP (Single-A/High-A)

Moreno began his season with the St. Lucie Mets and spent roughly two months there before being promoted to the Brooklyn Cyclones at he beginning of June. Nearly two months later, he now has exactly 40.1 innings with St. Lucie and 40.1 with Brooklyn. Virtually across the board, his numbers are better with Brooklyn than they were with St. Lucie. He has allowed fewer hits, has walked fewer batters, and has struck out more batters. The only areas where he was more effective in St. Lucie was the amount of earned runs he allowed (12 as opposed to 13), his groundball rate (61.1% as opposed to 58.3%), flyball rate (17.6% as opposed to 27.2%) and his HR/FB rate (5.3% as opposed to 7.1%). Mainly a sinker ball pitcher who pounds the zone, Moreno needs to keep the ball on the ground, and in the park.

Keyshawn Askew

Week: 1 G (0 GS), 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K (Low-A)

Season: 13 G (4 GS), 46.2 IP, 28 H, 16R, 10 ER (1.93 ERA), 19 BB, 64 K, .266 BABIP (Single-A)

Askew started the season off strong but missed roughly a month due to an injury. The Mets eased him back after activating him from the injured list, pitching short stints out of the bullpen once or twice a week, and have slowly been stretching him, having him throw multiple innings out of the bullpen and piggyback other starters. He has had success virtually all year, which makes it even more puzzling why the Mets haven’t promoted the southpaw to High-A. The Brooklyn Cyclones rotation is crowded, with Dominic Hamel, Carson Seymour, Nick Zwack, and Luis Moreno all having success, Mike Vasil currently injured, and Junior Santos still young and showing glimpses of potential, but at some point, with the way he is pitching, the Mets need to find innings for Askew in a more competitive environment.

Players of the Week 2022

Week One (April 5-April 17): Francisco Alvarez/Jose Butto

Week Two (April 19-April 24): Daniel Palka/Keyshawn Askew

Week Three (April 26-May 1): Shervyen Newton/Alec Kisena

Week Four (May 3-May 8): Alex Ramirez/David Peterson

Week Five: (May 10-May 15): Brett Baty/Jose Chacin

Week Six: (May 17-May 22): Jaylen Palmer/Mike Vasil

Week Seven (May 24th-May 29th): Francisco Alvarez/Connor Grey

Week Eight (May 31-June 5th): Khalil Lee/Jose Butto

Week Nine (June 7-June 12): Stanley Consuegra/Nick Zwack

Week Ten (June 14-June 19): Daniel Palka/Alex Valverde

Week Eleven (June 21-June 26): Travis Blankenhorn/Dominic Hamel

Week Twelve (June 28-July 3): Alex Ramirez/Luis Moreno

Week Thirteen (July 4-July 10): Gosuke Katoh/Nick Zwack

Week Fourteen (July 11-July 17): Stanley Consuegra/Carson Seymour

Week Fifteen (July 21-July 24): Alex Ramirez/Carson Seymour