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June 12, 2006

Minor League Recap

by: Michael Oliver on Jun 12, 2006 12:00 AM | Filed under: Minor League Recaps

AAA Norfolk Tides

The Norfolk Tides (25-38) beat the Durham Bulls 7-4. The first five batters in the Tides lineup each went 2 for 5 and powered the Tides offense. Anderson Hernandez went 2 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI, Jeff Keppinger played left field yet again and went 2 for 5 with two runs scored and a double, Jose Offerman went 2 for 5 with his third homerun of the year and three RBIs, Michael Tucker went 2 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI, and Victor Diaz went 2 for 5 with his fifth homerun of the year and his second in as many days. John Maine started the game for the Tides and had a solid outing while earning the no decision. Maine went six innings and gave up five hits, two earned runs, and two walks while striking out five. Blake McGinley picked up his first win to improve to 1-1 with one scoreless inning of relief as Royce Ring picked up his third save of the year with scoreless inning of relief to drop his ERA to 1.86.

AA Binghamton

The Binghamton Mets (27-36) lost to the Bowie Baysox 11-5. Jorge Padilla went 3 for 4 with two doubles, one RBI, and one walk, Jay Caligiuri went 3 for 4 with a double, his eighth homerun of the year, and two RBIs, and Kevin Rios went 1 for 4 with his first homerun of the year. Miguel Perez started the game for the Mets and lasted five innings while giving up seven hits, seven runs, six earned runs, and two walks as he dropped to 1-3.

High-A St. Lucie Mets

The St. Lucie Mets game against the Palm Beach Cardinals was postponed due to rain.

Low-A Hagerstown Suns

The Hagerstown Suns (25-38) beat the Delmarva Shorebirds 4-3. Joseph Holden went 1 for 6, Hector Pellot went 3 for 5 with a run scored, Nick Evans went 2 for 5 with a double and an RBI, Elvis Cruz went 2 for 5 with a run scored, a double, and an RBI, Drew Butera went 1 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI, and Luis Rivera went 2 for 5. Jon Niese had a solid outing despite his ongoing control issues and took the no decision. Niese went five innings and gave up four hits, one run, no earned runs, and four walks while striking out seven. Kevin Tomasiewicz picked up the win in relief to improve to 5-1 and gave up one run in two innings while allowing five base runners and struck out two.

9 Responses to “Minor League Recap”

Comment posted by Jordan on June 12, 2006 at 12:33 am (#46925)
Niese looks like a project that could help the rotation, or at least the state of the farm system in a couple years.

Is Keppinger playing LF on an order from the big league club to make him a true utility player?
Comment posted by Dan on June 12, 2006 at 1:56 am (#46929)
Any updates on Fernando? He left the game the other night with an apparent leg injury.
Comment posted by john on June 12, 2006 at 7:40 am (#46941)
Ahhhhhhhhhhh damn fernado injuried again? Im going to the game tonight and was looking forward to watching him.
Comment posted by joemetsfan on June 12, 2006 at 9:56 am (#46956)
Is Keppinger playing LF on an order from the big league club to make him a true utility player?

Maybe, but with AHern playing 2B and washed-up veterans at DH, it’s one way to keep Keppinger’s bat in the lineup. Doesn’t look like he’ll ever get a shot at the bigs here, so I kind of hope the Mets trade him to a team that will.

Comment posted by jpwf on June 12, 2006 at 12:45 pm (#46972)
Found this on BPro today:

Jesus Flores, c, High Class A St. Lucie (Mets)

When it comes to position prospects, the Mets are awfully thin, but they entered the season with high hopes for Flores, despite the 21-year-old Venezuelan’s miserable 2005 that was beset by injuries and an inability to hit (.216/.250/.339) in the Sally League. This year started much of the same, as Flores didn’t get his batting average above .200 for good until May 5th. When he finally did, he went on a tear. Since getting over the Mendoza line, Flores is batting .336 (39-for-118) with ten doubles and nine home runs; on the season, nearly 55% of his hits (29 of 53) have gone for extra bases. Throw in some pretty good defensive skills, and you get a real catching prospect, one who makes other teams jealous.
Comment posted by Jose Reyes, RBI Machine on June 12, 2006 at 1:27 pm (#46978)
Courtesy of Baseball America, via MetsBlog:

In contrast, Pelfrey was brilliant. Since being called up from high Class A St. Lucie in late April, the Mets’ first-rounder last year out of Wichita State has battled command issues at times, but over his last three starts, the 22-year-old righthander has turned it up a notch. Over a 19-inning span, Pelfrey is 1-0, 1.42 with a 22-4 strikeout-walk ratio. His win against the R-Phils was his first in Double-A.

“He sat at 93-95 (mph) consistently throughout, and touched 97 a few times,” the scout said. “He had real good command of the fastball, and moved it around to make it more effective. He was up, down and in, out–his fastball was unhittable–with a lot of late, downward movement.

“The secondary stuff was just OK. His curveball is a hard, slurvy breaking ball that he just wasn’t commanding well. The changeup was a non-factor that needs work, more in his grip than his arm speed. It looks fine (mechanically), but it doesn’t have much depth to it at all.”

Also - I am extremely extremely pleased to hear about three of my FAVORITE minor league Mets: Victor Diaz, Royce Ring, and Mike Pelfrey. I’m surprised that Ring doesn’t get talked about more, considering what a huge chip he was in the Alomar trade. If I could make a trade now for all three of these guys to live up to their potential, in exchange for getting nothing else from the minor league system for the next year or two, I’d take it. They’ve all got fantastic ceilings.

Comment posted by Ellis Dee on June 12, 2006 at 9:50 pm (#47053)
Nady represents the realization of the previously hoped for potential of Diaz:
An acceptable defensive OF with good pop.
Comment posted by thedonald60 on June 12, 2006 at 11:39 pm (#47059)
Jeff Keppinger should prove to be a valuable utility player for the
Mets. He is a solid hitter, and if he can play the outfield, should
be called up if there is a need. He should not be included in a
trade as a throw-in. We have given away too many Jeff Keppingers and
must give him a real opportunity.
Comment posted by Jose Reyes, RBI Machine on June 12, 2006 at 11:54 pm (#47060)
Now that I think about it, did we just trade Matsui for the more expensive 32 year old version of Jeff Keppinger?