Jenrry Mejia and Chris Young both went out for their second games with Port St. Lucie as they recover from their respective injuries. The best news of all… is of course that both pitched their games without injury and are progressing towards helping the Mets big-league club with admirable haste. The thing to keep in mind… is that this is still just Port St. Lucie and not quite major league hitters.
5/14/2012 – St. Lucie: 4, Bradenton: 1
Jenrry Mejia was GOOD. Really good. His one mistake was a home run given up to Stefan Welch (Former Met farmhand and native of Australia) but there is almost nothing negative to say about the outing. Mejia managed to give up only 3 hits, 0 walks and he managed to strike out 7 in an impressive 6 inning outing. Also… 9 of the 10 non-K outs were off of ground balls.
Don’t get ahead of yourself when you look at this impressive outing. Stefan Welch appears to be the best hitter on Bradenton and while I thought he was talented… I lost no sleep when the Mets let him walk away into the Pirate’s organization. Mejia will need to prove that he can get people out consistently in AAA before I’m ready to get excited about his chances of helping the club in 2012. For now… let’s focus on the fact that he’s still a prospect and he’s on the mend. He pitches this Saturday for AA Binghamton so he’s already on his way up.
5/16/2012 – St. Lucie: 6, Bradenton: 3
Chris Young… wasn’t bad. Young managed 5.2 innings in a rain shortened game. He gave up 7 hits and no walks while striking out 2. It’s not an outing that makes you twitter with excitement, but it’s really a fine outing for Young. Chris Young is NOT a power pitcher and he’s not going to rack up lots of double digit strike outs. Young needs to craft his way through games and he’s doing that. I expect 2-3 more minor league starts before he’s an option to join the rotation.
The average fan might look at these two starts and think that Jenrry Mejia looks like the clear favorite to join the rotation. That is far from reality. Chris Young is being paid to help the 2012 Mets compete. When he’s healthy and ready, he’s got a spot waiting for him. Jenrry Mejia is (hopefully) part of the Met’s future. So the Mets might (rightly) want to protect him and keep Mejia in the minors to figure out his future for 2013 and beyond rather than risking his confidence and health in 2012. Mejia still can make the major league team before 2012 is over but expect him to make 5 – 7 starts (good starts) in AAA before that is possible.
The winning has whetted the fans appetites and the bullpen losses are giving them indigestion.
Young filling Batista spot in the rotation and Batista going back to long man will strengthen the pitching. There is much written that Mejia will pitch in the bullpen so Manny Acosta better start improving fast if he likes the MLB style or is it Dillon Gee who needs to worry about his spot if Mejia starts? Ironic that the most reliable reliever is Parnell who was the 2011 failure that caused the bullpen overhaul. The Carrasco dump was deserved, he just didn’t produce. Josh Edgin missed a golden opportunity. Can the Mets pitching hang on until June 1st and are these reinforcements enough? Until then, Parnell should be trusted for a more responsible role.
I get defensive every time people are ready to throw Mejia into the bullpen. I think that Robert Carson is up now and that Elvin Ramirez will be up soon. I think the Mets should do what they can to avoid relegating Mejia to the bullpen.
I agree with you but for 2012 there seems to be an undercurrent that he will relieve and maybe start 2013 ala the Texas Rangers. “The whole thing is what’s better for Jenrry long-term,” Collins said. “The fact he goes out there for 80 pitches or whatever he might be throwing, he’s got a better chance to throw more breaking balls to use his secondary pitches to get better command of them. But I think down the road you will see Jenrry Mejia somehow get in that bullpen.” 5/16/12 NY Post
My philosophy is to keep Jenrry as a starter in the minors unless he’s ready and needed to START in the majors and if he cannot start or fails in 2012… you switch him in 2013 into the bullpen. It worked out for Texas… so far (Feliz/Wilson) and it worked out for St. Louis (Wainwright) but it did not work out so well for Joba Chamberlain.