Rafael MonteroWe are all nervously hoping for some good news on Jacob deGrom.  He’s been a feel-good story for the up and down Mets of 2014.  Should he be able to return he’s in the running for the 2014 Rookie of the Year award but, return or not, his injury opens the door for Rafael Montero to return to Queens.

People will recall, because I keep reminding them, that I had been saying before the season that deGrom could become the better caliber pitcher than Montero.  I never said that Montero would not be a good pitcher.  Now, with Montero healthy and ready to go, I’m excited to have him back up with the Mets.

We the pundits have been penciling in the eight pitcher deep starting rotation for 2015 and have been cautioned about putting the cart before the horse.  Matt Harvey is returning from Tommy John surgery, Dillon Gee has been hit-and-miss, Jonathon Niese has looked shaky, Montero and Noah Syndergaard are only prospects, deGrom has to endure his sophomore headache and Jeremy Hefner might be staring at the end of his pitching career.  Wouldn’t it be nice to solidify part of that uncertain future with an audition today?

Bring Montero back up to the majors and stick with him for the rest of the year.  Let us see what he can be for us moving forward so we can better identify what our needs are in 2015 and beyond.  If his last outing for AAA is any indication we should be fine: 8.0 IP, 1 Hit, 2 BBs and 11 Ks.

AAA:

Matt Reynolds is a hit machine – In his last 10 games he has 40 at bats.  In those 40 at bats he has 17 hits.

Jack Leathersich is up in AAA… finally – He’s finally at the level he belongs waiting for the call to replace Dana Eveland.

AA:

Dilson Herrera shows off a new trick – He’s walked 5 times in his last 10 games and only struck out 7 times.  That’s significant improvement in both areas.

Brandon Nimmo is heating up – AA has been a hurdle for Nimmo but his 10 game OPS is now .982 and he’s showing that he’s turning the corner.

Steven Matz is still good – Have no fear, he keeps churning out quality starts like pitching is easy.

A:

Dominic Smith hits a home run! – No, you should not be happy with his performance thus far.  He plays first base and has an OPS just North of .700, which will not cut it.  He’s hit one out of the park now, hopefully he continues to hit with authority.

11 comments on “Mets Minors: Montero should get another chance

  • Jerry Grote

    I had the chance to drift over to Batavia to see Mssrs Conforto, Rosario & Co on a beautiful Sunday.

    Rosario looks the part of an every day SS, but he looked bad on some breaking pitches. He had a bad day in the field as well. Conforto … that guy simply won’t swing at something even close. He wants his pitch. 0-3 with 2 BBs, and he’s got a pretty good arm out there in LF.

    Some of those arms know what to do with a baseball as well. NY-Penn … good cheap fun, a great way to see “almost” professional baseball. Wife and I traveled 35 minutes to the next county, watched a 9 inning game, had some of the best sit down dinners around, drove home and did it all in 5 hours 30 minutes.

    This is why major leagues is in trouble. I have to wonder what its like in other minor league towns.

    • Chris F

      Its great here too JG. We have the AA Cubs team here (Tennessee Smokies). Great stadium, easy parking, cheap seats, little hassle, and pro baseball.

    • Metsense

      A typical Friday night in Hickory, 2 dinners in the Crawdad Cafe $18, 4 craft beers from local breweries $16, two seats 4 rows behind homeplate $18, free fireworks show, priceless and if your lucky enough your imaginary friends Brian and Joe drop in when the Sand Gnats come to town.

  • Patrick Albanesius

    Is it just Dave, or do we suddenly have a lot of ripe talent waiting in the wings? Nice Jerry! Sounds like a wonderful evening.

    • Jerry Grote

      Hells yeah Patrick.

      A complete game (and actually, pretty good one. 2-1 most of the time until the Mets and Rosario won it in the 9th), a great dinner, $65 all in and completed in 5+ hours?

      The best thing about NY-Penn league though, is that GA seats gets you within 20-25 feet of field.

  • Rich Holmes

    As concerns Dominic Smith he is having a fine year. Try and comprehend the concept of development. As an 18/19 year old in a league with players 2 and 3 years older than him, his numbers are strong. Add to that equation the ballpark in Savannah is a graveyard for left handed power hitters. If he still has a .690 OPS in two years, and even next year, then there is reason for concern (concern not panic) but let the kid develop before you make statements like “He plays first base and has an OPS just north of .700, which will not cut it.”

    • Jerry Grote

      Where I agree with this, is this: it would have been very, very easy for an 18-19 year old to completely tank and not offer

      … *anything* …

      if he couldn’t hit for power. Instead, he is staying within his game, delivering what he can and producing value on the field.

      That is positive, positive news and something he can build on. And that said, he needs to hit home runs. Period.

      • David Groveman

        If he is too young for Savannah, why is he there? I want more out of my top picks. I want them to exceed their scouting reports. Dominic Smith was hailed as potentially the best pure hitter potential in his class and this far he hasn’t shown us that.

        Potential is potential until he figures out how to make good on it. I sure hope he does but I will likely drop him in the internal rankings based on what I’ve seen.

        • Chris F

          Like JG says…magic beans…

        • Brian Joura

          He’s not too young.

          After his first 15 games, Smith has a .304/.380/.381 line for a .761 OPS. For a comparison, Nimmo had a .756 OPS at SAV last year.

          There’s nothing less important than how many homers Smith hits in Lo-A. He’s hitting for AVG and he’s drawing walks. He wasn’t drafted for HR power. Nimmo only hit 2 HR last year at SAV. I’m sure Smith will add HR as he matures.

          Smith needed a full season of ABs against live pitching and he got it. This year has been a tremendous success and I’ll wager he’ll be on the Nimmo path next year and get a mid-year promotion to Double-A.

  • Steevy

    Smith is doing fine for his first full season pro ball.Nimmo is looking good,finally cut those strikeouts down from ludicrous level

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