9/8/17

Tom Brennan – SEASON RECAP: ST LUCIE METS




Reviewed yesterday:

The AAA Las Vegas 51s,who finished a painful 56-86.

Today, the sub-.500 St Lucie Mets, who finished 63-75, yes, 9 full games better than Vegas - but still not good.


So how did the "Lucies That We Love" get there?


On the hitting end:

Lucie was 7th out of 12 in hitting (.252, vs. a league-leading .260) and 6th in scoring at 642 runs scored (a solid 4.65 runs per game); and 78 homers, as compared to the league leader's 104. 

Here come the "Best...Buts" - all the best offensive players had a BUT:

Anthony Dimino hit .317 in 54 games, BUT no homers, and only 7 of his 60 hits were for extra bases.

Pat Mazeika was promoted to AA late in the season and for Lucie played 100 games.  There he hit .287 BUT was hitting .370 in mid-May.

Pete Alonzo started slowly, then scorched and got promoted.  overall for Lucie, he was a fine .286/.316/.516 in 82 games BUT made 18 errors at first base, which is frankly unacceptably sub par.

Jhoan Urena in 122 games hit .282/.364/.437 BUT also slumped like Mazeika and made 23 errors, mostly at 3B - he played defensively much better at 1B, but this organization already has Smith and Alonso there.

Wuilmer Becerra heated up to finish at .267 BUT had only 22 XBH in his 128 games and fanned a lot.

Tim Tebow was  house on fire the first month he played for Lucie, BUT really cooled off to finish at .231/.307/.356 in 62 games there.
On the pitching end:
Lucie was second WORST in ERA at 4.14, with just 6 shutouts and a 3rd best 1,128 Ks, mostly due to high strikeout relievers. The Yanks' Tampa squad was, by comparison, a far superior 85-50, 2.81, 1,215 Ks and 17 shutouts.  Worse yet was St Lucie's 106 unearned runs, while 3 teams, including Tampa, allowed 54 or fewer unearned runs.

More "Best...Buts" this time for the starters:

Andrew Church was 12-8, 4.62 BUT allowed 183 hits in 152 IP, while fanning just 95.

Nabil Crismatt was a hard luck 6-13, 3.95 and fanned 142 in 146 innings BUT allowed more hits than innings too and slumped later in the season. 

Justin Dunn was a weak 5-6, 5.00 and 75 Ks in 95 IP, BUT also had a high 1.56 WHIP and missed the last month with an undisclosed(?) malady.

Merandy Gonzalez was spectacular in Columbia, then terrific for Lucie in 61 IP (5-2, 1.78) - BUT got dealt for AJ Ramos - you do have to give to get.

Jordan Humphreys and Tom Szapucki were expected to get to St Lucie and dazzle - BUT Humphreys barely pitched there and Szapucki never got there, and both needed Tommy John surgery.

Joe Shaw was 7-5 in 18 starts, BUT had a high 4.97 ERA and ominously ended the season on July 23 on the DL.

Relievers: pretty strong:
Tyler Bashlor was terrific after being promoted to AA, but while at St Lucie fanned an amazing 61 in 35 IP.

Austin McGeorge was terrific in 38 innings (1.89 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 50 Ks)

Adonis Uceta was terrific there before he got promoted again to AA.

Kevin Canelon was a solid workhorse - 25 relief outings and 10 starts - and was 3-4, 2.97 in 78 innings with 78 Ks. 

Overall, when one reads this, it is clear that poor defense and weak starting pitching capsized this squad in 2017.

NEXT UP: a Columbia Fireflies season recap. 
I am skipping AA Binghamton for now, because they are the only Mets squad out of the 7 minor league teams to make the playoffs!  And won a beauty in the opener Wednesday night.

2 comments:

Mack Ade said...

a lot of talent went in (and out) of this team this year...

very disappointing team to follow, especially injury wise

I really was looking frwa5rd some day to a 1-2 punch of Humphreys and Merandy... oh well...

Tom Brennan said...

Mack, hopefully we get that one-two punch with Humphreys and Szapucki once their Tommy John surgery rehabs are behind them. That will, as are most things with the Mets, be a LONG wait, however.

There was a nice hard throwing prospect pitching last night for Brooklyn named....Syndergaard. I have a feeling he'll move fast.