Ynoa MorrisThe Mets dugout is as crowded as the Mets’ bandwagon these days. My unofficial count has 38 of the members of the club’s 40-man roster currently enjoying life in a pennant race in Queens. It may not be unprecedented but it sure is unusual for the Mets. The two guys who aren’t in the majors are Akeel Morris and Gabriel Ynoa, who are both participating in the playoffs with Double-A Binghamton.

Morris spent a few days in the majors this year, making the jump from St. Lucie to New York. The Mets needed a body in the pen, he was on the 40-man and so he got the call. Morris got into one game, it wasn’t pretty and he soon found himself back in the minors, albeit with a promotion to the Eastern League.

Morris is still pretty raw for a pitcher, due in large part to being a native of the Virgin Islands, not a place known as a baseball hot spot. And he also spent time as an infielder growing up, too. Still, he’s hit 97 with his fastball – although it wasn’t that impressive in his brief time in the majors – and he’s racked up a ton of strikeouts in the minors. Unfortunately, he’s had quite a few walks, too.

He was making strides with his command, going from a 6.66 BB/9 in 2011 to a 5.17 mark the following season and then lowered it again the next two seasons, as well, going to 4.60 and then 3.47 in 2014. But this year the trend reversed, as he posted a 3.97 mark in Hi-A and now has a 4.60 rate in Double-A. Morris has pitched well in Binghamton despite the walks. But it’s highly unlikely he can continue to succeed at higher levels with a walk rate that high.

Meanwhile, Ynoa has the exact opposite problem. He barely walks anyone, with a 1.83 BB/9 rate. But he doesn’t strike anyone out, either. While Morris sports a 10.74 K/9, Ynoa has just a 4.84 mark, which ranks 35th among the 40 pitchers in the league with 100 IP.

It’s next to impossible to win in the majors with a K-rate that low. Yet Ynoa is finishing the year strong. In his last 15 games, he’s 7-5 with a 2.82 ERA and a 1.056 WHIP. That’s great news. What’s not so great is his next stop is Las Vegas, where command pitchers with little strikeout ability generally do not thrive.

So, Morris and Ynoa are teammates in Double-A going through the playoffs. They’re also the only guys on the 40-man roster not in Queens. And they may have something else in common, too. They may not be on the 40-man at the end of the year.

Each year there’s always a lot of movement and the Mets have no shortage of players to remove from the roster. There’s a certain useless LOOGY who has no right to be on the roster now, a couple of Quad-A catchers, which is at least one too many, Eric Campbell and several free agents who will leave and open up spots. The flip side is that players always need to be added and the Mets will look to protect Wuilmer Becerra, Brandon Nimmo and others from Rule 5 this year.

Will the Mets consider Morris and Ynoa replaceable? It’s a possibility, although the number of minor leaguers traded this year may work in their favor. At the very least, they are more likely to return than another guy toiling in the minors who didn’t get the call to the majors – Dillon Gee.

A success story for drafting and development, Gee has fallen completely out of favor with the Mets. His status of not being on the 40-man roster certainly hurt him. However, that didn’t stop the Mets from bringing Tim Stauffer to the majors. They promoted Darrel Ceciliani to the majors and put him on the 60-day DL to create room for Stauffer. They were not willing to jump through any hoops to do likewise for Gee.

Some may argue that the Mets treated Gee poorly this year. Some may argue they gave him a spot in the rotation, he didn’t produce and was moved to the bullpen, whereupon he ran his mouth and criticized his bosses. That’s never a good idea. Regardless of how you feel about the Gee situation, it’s a good thing for the Mets that the organization is improving to the point that just because you have MLB experience is no Get Out of Jail Free card that exempts you from roster crunches.

And the same principle applies to guys who were highly regarded and who haven’t quite fulfilled their promise.

8 comments on “What do Akeel Morris and Gabriel Ynoa have in common?

  • Gregg

    Here’s the thing – the Mets traded away a whole bunch of minor league pitchers at the deadline, so it may be difficult to give up on two players who in the top forty organizational prospects. There will be a lot of moves to be made (for instance, they have eight major league outfielders right now). I think both guys will stay there, at least one more year.

  • James Preller

    Not knowing all the specifics of the crunch, I’d protect Morris over Ynoa. A Rule 5 guy has to stick all season, and I don’t see any team thinking that Ynoa would be a good candidate for that.

    I don’t see any painful loses coming up.

  • LongTimeFan1

    Morris has way too much upside to unprotect.

    Doubt they leave Ynoa exposed either.

    Monell, EOF, Parnell, EY, Stauffer are easy decisions off the 40, be it through free agency of not.

    Others will be removed through free agency such as Cippard, Johnson, Uribe but perhaps Mets will want to extend.

    Some will have to be counted again toward 40 when ready to return from injury – 60-day DL status no longer in effect. Or become free agent such as Blevins who very much wants to remain a Met and I think Mets will make every effort to bring back.

    Montero, Edgin,, Wheeler, Leathesich will need 40-man roster spots once removed from 60-Day DL when ready to return.

    Recker and Campbell are candidates to release off 40.

    Ceciliani, Carlyle and Tovar of the 60-DL could be goners once healthy.

    Mejia – do Mets release him after suspension over?

  • studes

    Thanks to their trades and Mejia’s suspension, the Mets don’t have a huge roster crunch unless they sign some free agents. I think they need to keep one of Recker/Monell (it will be interesting to see which one, though they seem to prefer Recker) as a third catcher. I don’t see them releasing Soup cause he’s a pretty useful guy. I do see them releasing Tovar and Muno, in addition to all the free agents such as Parnell. I think Morris and Ynoa stay on the roster too, given that they need to hang onto some pitching depth.

    • Brian Joura

      Muno was removed from the 40-man to make room for EY Jr.

    • LongTimeFan1

      Studes,

      They went into the 2015 with only two catchers on the 40 so it’s no sure thing they don’t do same.

      Also keep in mind Recker is very unhappy playing in the minors, says the pay is difficult supporting a family.

      So Mets might do him a favor and release him, let him earn big league job with another team. The chances of him winning the back up role over Plawecki is probably not that good.

      However, Mets need to decide in the offseason how they want to proceed with Plawecki’s career. He can’t stay in the minors indefinitely to get regular AB’s. If he’s not going to be d’Arnaud’s back up, they should trade him in which case, Recker will likely remain backup but is also arb eligible this offseason for first time.

  • Metsense

    I have seen Morris on numerous occasions. His fastball is electric and hd will only be 23 next year.He shouldt be protected in the hope his command improves.

    • LongTimeFan1

      There’s just no way Mets leave him unprotected. His stuff is way too good.

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