:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72284689/854323316.0.jpg)
Jose Peroza
Week: 7 G, 27 AB, .407/.419/.926, 11 H, 5 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 1 BB, 8 K, 0/0 SB (Double-A)
2023 Season: 20 G, 75 AB, .307/.365/.600, 23 H, 7 2B, 0 3B, 5 HR, 6 BB, 27 K, 1/1 SB (Double-A)
Signed out of Carlos Guillen’s academy in Venezuela on July 2, 2016 for $280,000, Peroza made his professional debut a year later in 2017 in the Dominican Summer League. The 17-year-old hit .301/.349/.437 in 57 games with them, and then was promoted to the GCL Mets at the end of his first season, going 3-17 with them. He remained in the Gulf Coast League in 2018 and spent the entire season there, appearing in 24 games and hitting a paltry .184/.253/.241. He began the 2019 season with the GCL Mets once again but was promoted to Brooklyn after roughly a month of action, at the end of July, after hitting .328/.389/.766 in 16 games. In 33 games in the dog days of summer for the eventual 2019 New York-Penn League champions, Peroza was not nearly as successful, hitting .225/.295/.369 in 33 games.
After missing the 2020 season due to the worldwide COVID-19 shutdown, Peroza began the 2021 season with the St. Lucie Mets, now the Mets’ Single-A baseball affiliate. The infielder hit .274/.404/.443 in 64 games with 7 home runs, 5 stolen bases, and 41 walks to 67 strikeouts, earning a promotion to the Brooklyn Cyclones- now the Mets’ High-A affiliate- in early August. He remained in Coney Island for the remainder of the season and hit .218/.293/.384 in 38 games, almost a mirror image of his numbers from 2019. The 22-year-old began the 2022 season with the Cyclones and remained in Brooklyn for the entire year, having much more success this time around. Appearing in a team-high 116 games, Peroza hit .271/.356/.400 with 8 home runs, 4 stolen bases in 5 attempts, and 48 walks to 110 strikeouts, finding himself in the top three on the team in most offensive categories.
When Peroza was signed, he had two standout tools: above-average raw power and above-average arm strength. The 16-year-old was “country strong”, his strength coming from an upbringing on a farm rather than time in the weight room. Now 23-years-old turning 24 in June, the infielder has not been able to refine his batting practice power and manifest it in-game up to this point.
He has a quiet set-up at the plate, with a wide base and his bat wrapped behind his head. He swings with a slight leg kick, with a bat path that contains a bit of loft. His bat speed is average at best, but he is able to muscle pitches he can barrel, particularly to his pull side. This approach has led to a ground ball, pull-heavy profile, though he is having more success this season using the entire field and getting the ball in the air.
Defensively, Peroza has a strong arm and is currently capable of making the routine plays at third base, but his body will likely be a high maintenance one as he continues aging, meaning that he may lose even more mobility and range around the hot corner. The infielder is extremely stocky, listed at 6’1”, 250-pounds but possibly weighs even more than that in actuality.
Mike Vasil
Week: 1 G (1 GS), 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K (Double-A)
2023 Season: 6 G (6 GS), 30.0 IP, 17 H, 10 R, 9 ER (2.70 ERA), 4 BB, 41 K, .206 BABIP (Double-A)
With his last start having a Game Score of 77, Mike Vasil is coming off of not only his best start of 2023, but one of his best starts as a professional, period. His best game was thrown almost a year to the date, when he was a member of the St. Lucie Mets and pitched against the Tampa Tarpons on May 17, 2021. In that game, he allowed two runs- one earned- on two hits over seven innings, walking none and striking out 11, good for a Game Score of 82. Rounding out his top three best games is his start from a few weeks ago, when he pitched against the Somerset Patriots and threw six scoreless innings, allowing one hit, walking two, and striking out 7, good for a Game Score of 75.
Over the first month of the season or so, Vasil is having an extremely impressive season, but he is not alone. The entire group of pitchers drafted out of the University of Virginia in 2021 are blooming. Cavaliers head coach Brian O’Connor, one of the most decorated coaches in NCAA history, has already had multiple former players make it to the big leagues- 29 to be exact-, but he must be pleased with this current bumper crop.
Andrew Abbott, who was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the second round and signed for $1,300,000, currently has a 2.05 ERA in 30.2 innings split between Double-A Chatinooga and Triple-A Louisville with 18 hits allowed, 9 walks, and 60 strikeouts, and is considered a top 10 prospect in their minor league system. Griff McGarry, who was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the fifth round and signed for $322,500, has only pitched in one non-rehab game after starting on the injured list due to tightness in his side, but is considered a top 10 prospect in their minor league system. Zach Messinger, who was drafted by the Yankees in the thirteenth round and signed for $225,000, currently has a 2.03 ERA in 31.0 inning with High-A Hudson Valley with 21 hits allowed, 11 walks, and 38 strikeouts.
The 23-year-old Vasil missed much of last season due to bone spurs in his elbow. He spent roughly a month in Single-A St. Lucie from the beginning of April until the end of May and posted a 1.80 ERA in 35.0 innings with 23 hits allowed, 11 walks, and 37 strikeouts. He was promoted to High-A Brooklyn at the end of May and made six starts before being put on the injured list at the end of June, posting a 5.40 ERA in 28.1 innings with 23 hits allowed, 12 walks, and 39 strikeouts. He made a handful of rehab starts and then returned to Brooklyn just prior to the end of the season, and was then sent to the Arizona Fall League, where he posted a 2.93 ERA for the Peoria Javelinas in 15.1 innings, with 10 hits allowed, 9 walks, and 18 strikeouts. With the exception of his time in Brooklyn, when he was pitching with a developing elbow problem, Vasil has had an impressive minor league career and just may be the best player signed by the Mets in their 2021 draft class.
Loading comments...