Tyler Stuart and making major league relievers out of minor league starters

One of my beliefs is that the farm system should be able to create major league relievers from minor league starters, something which seems like it doesn’t happen enough for my tastes. But it’s one thing to have a thought on how things should be; it’s another thing for that thought to be grounded in [...]

Pete Alonso and the problem of chasing low and/or away

In the 21st Century you simply don’t see power hitters who don’t rack up big strikeout numbers. Gone are the days when Joe DiMaggio could hit 46 HR while only striking out 37 times, like he did in 1937. Instead, it’s much more common to see someone like Kyle Schwarber, who hit 47 HR in [...]

How likely is it that Luis Severino bounces back to his old form?

The Mets have yet to sign a high-profile free agent, although few doubt that they will. Currently, the biggest name they’ve brought in is Luis Severino. Unfortunately, it’s not 2018, which was Severino’s last big year. Which makes signing the former Yankee a dumpster-dive move. The question is: How likely is a dumpster-dive move to [...]

The Mets and their recent struggles getting and keeping homegrown IFA stars

You hear a lot of reasons why the Mets haven’t had more success thru the years. These range from cheap owners, to GMs with questionable roster decisions to incompetent managers. But there’s one thing that flies under the radar. And that’s that the club is considerably below average in grabbing young talent from the international [...]

Digging into Mark Vientos’ performance since returning from wrist tendinitis

In the seven games since his recall from the minors after a one-game rehab, Mark Vientos sports a .318/.423/.682 line, thanks in part to a triple and two homers among his seven hits. The other part is that he’s required a .417 BABIP to produce that .318 AVG. But besides being lucky with his hits [...]

Brett Baty and his future given his underwhelming rookie season

During Sunday’s Game Chatter, Chris F and I were talking about Brett Baty. Specifically, Chris stated that the Mets can’t begin next year with Baty as their starting third baseman. It’s not difficult to understand where Chris is coming from here. Baty is right at the Galvis Line with an 80 OPS+ and he’s not [...]

The average age at various levels of Mets prospects who amassed at least 2,000 PA in the majors

In an ideal world, winning and development go hand in hand. We would love it if the Mets’ minor league system had a team like the 1983 Lynchburg Mets, who went 96-43 and had 15 future MLB players on the roster, including Lenny Dykstra and Dwight Gooden. But the reality is that development is so [...]

Diving into the Mets’ numbers when they score three or fewer runs

We all know that the Mets’ offense is struggling, seemingly more days than not. But are they struggling a little or a lot? Let’s look at some runs scored numbers, both for MLB as a whole and for the Mets, and see just how things are. Let’s start with MLB and see how often the [...]

Line drives help fuel Jeff McNeil’s hot streak

Back on April 4, an article was published here talking about Jeff McNeil’s slow start to the season. It also included his Grapefruit League and WBC numbers. At that point, McNeil was 9-53. Just in MLB games, he was slashing .191/.191/.238 in 21 PA. But despite that slow start, McNeil is back to last year’s [...]