Mets Minors: Hansel Robles is someone to watch

In 2012, Hansel Robles was part of one of the best rotations you could imagine in the New York Penn League.  His 1.11 ERA over 12 games with 66 Ks over 72.2 IP was almost forgotten amongst the pitching of Luis Mateo, Gabriel Ynoa and Rainy Lara.

Advancing to Port St. Lucie in 2013 he became more forgettable.  His 3.72 ERA and 66 Ks over 16 games and 84.2 IP was fine, but hardly something for us to jump for joy about.  The numbers weren’t bad, but they weren’t good enough for Robles to project into the front end of a rotation.  The biggest and most troubling trend was the rising number of walks that Robles issued.

Part of what made the 2012 Brooklyn Cyclone rotation so devastating was the utter control of the strike zone they showed.  Robles, himself, only walked 11 batters in those 72.2 IP that year.  While in 2013 he issued a much less impressive 29 walks.

Yesterday, Robles pitched 5.0 innings of near perfect baseball.  He gave up 2 hits and 1 BB while striking out 8 on his way to a no decision.  The 9.00+ K/9 is likely not sustainable but the low number of hits and walks is a good sign, especially as this was his first start at the AA level.  He’ll draw comparisons to Montero, the #2 prospect for the Mets in 2014, but expectations for Robles should be far more tempered.

Tempered or not, it was a good first start.

AAA:

Zach Lutz starts the season on fire – He’s 7 for 14 with a pair of doubles, a home run and 9 RBI.  Lutz is blocked by David Wright and Josh Satin in the majors but he could be gaining some trade value.

Vegas hitters off to a good start – Bobby Abreu, Allan Dykstra, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Eric Campbell, Taylor Teagarden and Cesar Puello all have OPS numbers above .700.  Wait for the season to get rolling before getting too excited about much of this.

4 Starts and 4 Good ones – Each of the 51’s starters has pitched well in this young season:

• Rafael Montero – 0.00 ERA, 6.0 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, 5 K
• Noah Syndergaard – 3.00 ERA, 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 5 K
• Jacob deGrom – 0.00 ERA, 6.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 K
• Logan Verrett – 1.50 ERA, 6.0 IP, 8 H, 0 BB, 3 K

Nothing good to report on the AAA bullpen – Only Giancarlo Alvarado has a WHIP below 1.00 and Ryan Reid, Jeff Walters, Erik Goeddel, Josh Edgin, Dana Eveland and Joel Carreno all have ERAs above 10.00.

AA:

Not enough data for the AA hitters – Few players have over 10 AB so it isn’t a point in the season where there is much to judge.  One thing of note is there hasn’t been much in the SLG or RBI departments.

Jack Leathersich is up to old tricks – His ERA and WHIP are not pretty but Leathersich has become known for his sick K numbers and he already has 7 over 2.1 IP.  You might notice he couldn’t have possibly struck out more people than he’s done so far.

A+:

Brandon Nimmo hits the ground running – Through 4 games and 12 ABs he has 4 hits and 4 walks.  He has a pair of doubles which supports a more than healthy OPS to start the year.  We would love to see him steal a base.

T.J. Rivera is the master of Port St. Lucie – In his third year at the level, Rivera is off to a fast start, with a double and a homer in his first three games.  He’s not a prospect at this point, but it is good to see.

Michael Fulmer has a bad first game – 3.2 IP with 11 hits and 7 ER is not good.  He walked none and struck out 3 but it wasn’t good.

A:

Gavin Cecchini has stats – Both a home run and a stolen base in the early going is nice to see, I’m not yet impressed.

Jared King earns a mention – Only 3 games and 9 ABs, but King’s got a pair of triples, a stolen base and leads the team with 3 walks.  I haven’t listed a number of players who are big names because there isn’t enough material to make a true statement about them.  This sample from King mostly shows me that he might be better suited to playing in Port St. Lucie.

John Gant continues to look good – The best starter from the Brooklyn rotation picked up where he left off in 2013 with 6.0 solid innings of 1 run baseball.  His 7 Ks are nice too.