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Stanley Consuegra
Week: 6 G, 25 AB, .280/.333/.680, 7 H, 1 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 1 BB, 7 K, 0/1 SB (High-A)
2023 Season: 58 G, 220 AB, .246/.307/.464, 54 H, 14 2B, 2 3B, 10 HR, 17 BB, 63 K, 2/4 SB, .293 BABIP (High-A)
Signed out of the Dominican Republic for $500,000, Stanly Consuegra was one of the better quick-twitch athletes in the 2017-2018 international free agent class. He began the 2018 season in the Dominican Summer League but impressed enough organizational evaluators to promoted him to the GCL Mets after only a few weeks. While Consuegra didn’t exactly dominate in his stateside debut in, he held his own as a 17-year-old, hitting .217/.297/.344 with 2 homers, 4 steals, 17 walks, and 41 strikeouts. He entered the 2019 season with a knee injury and eventually had surgery on his ACL, ending his season before he was able to play in a single game. After missing all of 2019, he missed all of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The outfielder finally got back on the field in June 2021, when the FCL Mets season began, but he broke his hand after just three games. He missed all of July and most of August, finally finding himself back in the FCL Mets lineup in late August. All in all, the 20-year-old appeared in 20 games and hit .270/.325/.500 with 2 home runs, 3 stolen bases, and 4 walks to 21 strikeouts.
He was promoted to St. Lucie to start the 2022 and did not look like someone who had missed so much developmental time, hitting .251/.324/.431 in 66 games with 8 home runs, 8 stolen bases in 16 attempts, and 26 walks to 77 strikeouts. He was promoted to Brooklyn at the beginning of July and remained there for the rest of the summer, hitting .239/.309/.381 with 5 home runs, 4 stolen bases, and 18 walks to 62 strikeouts, giving him a 2022 season total of .245/.317/.408 in 122 games with 13 home runs, 12 stolen bases in 22 attempts, and 44 walks to 139 strikeouts. Following the conclusion of the season, he got some additional playing time in the Arizona Fall League, hitting .167/.244/.389 in 36 at-bats over 11 games for the Peoria Javelinas. The 22-year-old began the 2023 season with Brooklyn and has spent his entire season there so far sans a rehab stint in St. Lucie.
When signed, he demonstrated loud line drive power and was expected to add additional in-game power and that has more or less occurred. Originally listed at 6’2”, 170-pounds at his signing, Consuegra is now roughly 6’2”, 205-pounds and displays plus raw power and above-average in-game power. He regularly records exit velocities 100 MPH or higher, and is among the club leaders in recorded exit velocities above 110 MPH. His swing can get long and uppercutty, evidenced by his 139 strikeouts last season and his 63 total this season, but he does have strong wrists and enough strong barrel control to not strike out at a completely catastrophic rate and still make some contact despite the long levers. Still, the poor contact has led to too many ground balls or weakly hit fly balls, limiting Consuegra’s ability to make the most of his power. He still struggles against breaking balls but given the amount of missed developmental time in the last few years, this is not completely unsurprising. Key to Consuegra’s future development will be the improvement of his eye at the plate and his ability to recognize spin.
Originally a shortstop, Consuegra has long since transitioned to playing the outfield. Consuegra does not have afterburners, but once he gets going, he can cover a lot of ground in the outfield. Coupled with his strong throwing arm, which can reach 95 MPH or more, he has all of the qualities of the prototypical right fielder with the ability to play center field in a pinch.
Christian Scott
Week: 2 G (2 GS), 11.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 14 K (Double-A)
2023 Season: 6 G (6 GS), 23.2 IP, 15 H, 6 R, 6 ER (2.28 ERA), 4 BB, 27 K, .259 BABIP (High-A)/7 G (7 GS), 40.1 IP, 28 H, 13 R, 13 ER (2.90 ERA), 7 BB, 46 K, .261 BABIP (Double-A)
Born in Parkland, Florida, Christian Scott attended Calvary Christian High School, where he won numerous awards, was named to numerous honorary teams, and helped lead the Calvary Christian Eagles to the 2018 4A State Title. Over the course of his four years there, he posted a cumulative 1.64 ERA in 183.0 total innings, allowing 153 hits, walking 55, and striking out 223. After graduating in 2018, he went undrafted in the 2018 MLB Draft and went on to attend the University of Florida. In his freshman year there, the right-hander made a team high 22 appearances, starting 4 games and pitching out of the bullpen in the other 18. All in all, he posted a 5.19 ERA in 52.0 innings, allowing 54 hits, walking 18, and striking out 44, but was much more effective as a reliever, posting a 2.75 ERA in 36.0 innings out of the pen. He exclusively pitched out of the Gators bullpen in 2020 and had much better results, posting a 1.20 ERA in 15.0 innings before the NCAA ended the collegiate season early due to COVID-19 ended his breakout campaign early. Eligible to be drafted in the 2020 MLB Draft because of his age, he was not selected in the extremely abbreviated draft and returned to Florida for his junior season. The right-hander pitched in 26 games in total in 2021, once again leading the Gators in appearances. Making 1 start and 25 games relief appearances, he posted a 3.00 ERA in 54.0 innings, allowing 46 hits, walking 9, and striking out 51. The Mets selected the right-hander in the fifth-round, the 142nd player selected overall, and the two sides ended up agreeing to a $350,000 signing bonus, slightly below the MLB-recommended slot value of $386,600.
Scott appeared in three token games for the FCL Mets at the end of their season in 2021, but his professional career began in earnest in 2022. He began the year assigned to the St. Lucie Mets and appeared in 12 games for them, making 4 starts. Throwing 37.1 innings in total, having missed roughly the entire month of July due to an injury, he posted a 4.82 ERA, allowing 40 hits, walking 12, and striking out 52. He was promoted to the Brooklyn Cyclones in mid-August and finished the season in Coney Island, appearing in 6 games and starting 5 of them. Throwing 21.1 innings, the right-hander posted a 3.80 ERA, allowing 21 hits, walking 10, and striking out 25. All in all, Scott threw 58.2 innings in his first full season as a professional, posting a 4.45 ERA with 61 hits allowed, 22 walks, and 77 strikeouts. His struggles continued into the fall, as the Mets assigned the right-hander to the Arizona Fall League. Appearing in 4 games for the Peoria Javelinas, Scott allowed 15 earned runs in 13.0 innings, a 10.38 ERA, while allowing a whopping 27 hits, walking 3, and striking out 10.
The 24-year-old right-hander began the 2023 season with the Cyclones but his debut was delayed for roughly a month as he dealt with an injury. When he returned to the mound in early May, he made up for lost time. Transitioned completely out of the bullpen and made a starting pitcher full-time, Scott posting a 2.28 ERA in 23.2 innings over 6 starts, with 15 hits allowed, 4 walks, and 27 strikeouts. He was promoted to the Binghamton Rumble Ponies in mid-June, where he remains.
At 6’4”, 215-pounds, Scott has an ideal frame for pitching. He has already surpassed his previous career high innings load but has yet to show any fatigue, at either a micro, per game basis, or on a macro, totality of the season, level. He throws from a three-quarters arm slot, with a long arm action through the back. There is a bit of effort in his arm, and in the past he has had command issues, issuing unintentional walks in bunches on any given day, depending on how well he is repeating his mechanics. Scott has improved his command and control considerably this season, a byproduct of his transition from the bullpen to the starting rotation and throwing in the zone and sequencing better to conserve pitches.
His fastball, a two-seam fastball, ranges from 92-96 MPH, averaging 94 MPH and has reportedly touched as high as 98 MPH this season. The pitch has a lot of arm-side and sinking movement, roughly 14 inches of induced vertical break and 7 inches of horizontal movement, making it difficult for batters to square up on. It is not much of a swing-and-miss, bat-missing strikeout pitch in and of itself, but rather, induces poor contact, eliciting weak fly balls as batters swing under it and ground balls as batters swing over it.
He pairs it with a slider and a changeup, the latter of which has improved over the winter of 2022. Whereas Scott threw his fastball roughly 55% of the time in 2022, his slider 30% and his changeup roughly 10%, the right-hander has been utilizing his changeup a bit more often this season as it is a better pitch that he has more confidence in. He also occasionally mixes in a curveball, but the pitch is generally reserved as a get-me-over offering.
His slider is his main strikeout pitch. It sits 82-85 MPH, averaging 83 MPH, and with an average spin rate around 2465 RPM, it has roughly 34 inches of induced vertical break and anywhere between 1-7 inches of horizontal movement, generally on the more gyro side of the scale than the sweepier. It tunnels well with his fastball and has late two-plane bite that hitters struggle to pick up on. He mainly throws it to his glove side, getting right-handers to chase down and away although he does also use it against left-handed hitters as well, backfooting it against them.
His changeup sits in the low-to-mid-80s, averaging 82-84 MPH. It also tunnels well with his fastball and Scott is able to maintain his arm speed well. With 27 inches of induced vertical break and 5-6 inches of horizontal movement, the pitch has late tumble and fade, and has been a fairly effective weapon against right-handers and left-handers alike, as opposed to before his winter improvements, when the pitch was used almost exclusively against left-handers.
Players of the Week 2023
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