If you scour the internet for information on Nabil Crismatt you will wind up disappointed. The Colombian player signed with the Mets in 2012 for an undisclosed amount and has worked his way up, spending two seasons in the DSL before he came state side for a campaign in 2014 with the GCL Mets and in 2015 with the Kingsport Mets.
Prior to the season I had thought the Mets might have seen enough out of his 2013-15 campaigns to promote Crismatt to Columbia to start the season but the Mets had other ideas. Should the Mets have been more aggressive?
2013 – 24 Games, 1.33 ERA, 40.2 IP, 46 Ks, .174 Opp AVG and 0.89 WHIP
2014 – 19 Games, 2.25 ERA, 28.0 IP, 33 Ks, .161 Opp AVG and 0.89 WHIP
2015 – 12 Games, 2.90 ERA, 62.0 IP, 63 Ks, .223 Opp AVG and 1.03 WHIP
The Mets decided not and started Crismatt as a reliever in Brooklyn. After 8 games the Mets caught on and promoted him to Colombia where he has continued his solid pitching performance. Thus far in 2016 he has pitched 52.2 innings, striking out 57 and achieving a season WHIP of 0.80. With a successful 2016 shaping up, the question of 2017 lies ahead and the Mets may look to continue with his slow development plan.
Rather than having Crismatt make the leap to Port St. Lucie in 2017, the Mets might want his first taste of a grueling full-season campaign to begin in the familiar confines of Columbia. Regardless, Crismatt has emerged as one of the top five starters in the Mets farm system.
AAA: Las Vegas 51s
Brandon Nimmo very solid back in AAA – At the risk of offending people who seem upset by us extolling any offensive achievements in Las Vegas I’ll point out that Nimmo has 17 hits in his first 9 games since his demotion (oh yeah, and 6 walks).
Gavin Cecchini keeps hitting too – If you browse those batting lines you find very few 0-fers.
AA: Binghamton Mets
Dominic Smith aids his OPS – I’d prefer if he aided his OPS with a tear of home runs but I’m easily satisfied by his 9 walks this past week.
What do we make of Matt Oberste? – It’s hard to predict what Oberste will become for the Mets but his trajectory seems to end in Queens.
David Roseboom quietly righted his ship – In 2015 Roseboom emerged as a major bullpen option in Savannah and it seems he’s gotten a hang of things in Binghamton in 2016.
A+: Port St. Lucie
Zack Wheeler still only has 1.0 IP – There is still only that one glimpse of the Met starter in 2016 and it’s becoming more and more likely that he’s not going to be back until 2017.
A: Columbia Fireflies
Patrick Mazeika begins lighting it up – With his injuries behind him, Mazeika’s bat has woken up over his last 10 games (oh yeah, and 10 walks).
A-: Brooklyn Cyclones
Anthony Dimino debuts in Brooklyn – The catcher/firstbaseman has earned his way up into the Brooklyn Cyclone’s lineup.
Peter Alonso and Thomas Szapucki both hurt – Alonso hasn’t played since 8/9 and Szapucki last pitched on 8/12.
Justin Dunn a 3 inning pitcher – It seems the Mets mean to limit Dunn’s innings by pulling him after 3.0 innings each start.
Sometimes I suspect that they “go slow” with some of the foreign-born players for non-baseball reasons, letting them adjust to the language, the culture, etc. I’ve wondered in the past if that was part of the issue with Herrera, a “maturity” issue, rather than a skills problem.
Szapucki is an interesting prospect. Because he’s a deceptive LHP with high K totals, I don’t think we’ll know about him until he faces ML-caliber hitters. A lot of these kids just haven’t faced this kind of pitcher before. I think of a guy like Leathersich, who struck everybody out with a crappy fastball . . . until he couldn’t. Then he got hurt. When I saw Leathersich in AA, I was very disappointed. I just didn’t see that live arm or good body, though the results were still productive. OTOH, Szapucki was much more impressive. Very good demeanor, too.
In general, that’s a complaint about Sandy’s farm system. We all know that the way to build a bullpen is from within, create that pipeline of talent, rather than spending big bucks on dubious free agents. That means, a steady stream of live arms. When that’s absent, then a team is compelled to signed guys like Bastardo out of desperation — because they know there’s nobody else within the system who can do it. In the past, the Braves and Marlins have been good at consistently producing that type of arm, the guy who can give them 50 innings, if only for a year or two . . . or maybe five. Crismatt seems like a step in the right direction. Though I had that hope for Montero, too.
Anybody dare to give the ball to Rafael on Thursday? Gsellman? Ynoa? Or just roll Lugo out there again? I suppose he’s earned a second start, sort of, maybe. BTW, too bad about Gilmartin. I thought he’d be useful this season, and he seemed to fall apart on them.
Thanks for chiming in with such a wee thought out response.
The reason I had hoped Crismatt would proceed to Columbia was to stretch out his innings. Looking at 2017 he’s not going to have pitched over 80 innings in his first 4 seasons in the minors.
In the case of Szapucki, that fastball is no longer “crappy”. I saw him pitch in Brooklyn and his fastball flat-out beat the batters on both sides of the plate. His strikeout pitch was still his slider but the fast ball was likely sitting in the mid 90s all game long.
With Gilmartin I wonder if Las Vegas destroyed him mentally. It’s not an easy place to be a pitcher.
Thanks again for chiming in!
I agree that Szapucki’s fastball looked very good (I said Leather’s was “crappy”). But to my eye — and the gun was not working at the game I attended — it was not a sizzling fastball. More 92 than 95, my guess. It did generate many swings and misses against low-level batters. I’m just not yet convinced that it will do so at the highest levels. Not saying it won’t, either. Just that I’ve seen too many deceptive lefties flame out as they progressed.
The hard, sharp slider was fabulous. How many lefties have done that? Carlton?
Sparky Lyle
The PCL is no place for an minor league affiliate of an NL East club, and probably not that great for any minor league team if you think that it’s a good idea for the minor league playing conditions (i.e. the climate) to emulate what players will find when they get called up to the parent club. OK, maybe it’s a good place for the Rockies minor league team.
The climate makes it more difficult to develop and evaluate pitchers whose out pitch isn’t a 95+ mph fastball. Breaking pitches don’t break. It’s also more difficult to develop and evaluate hitters because that they won’t see many really good breaking pitches, again due to the climate.
The Mets should hightail their rear ends out of the PCL as soon as an International League franchise has an opening.
If only the Yankees would allow the Mets to settle into the Newark Bear’s facility.
I thought it was the other way around.
The Mets blocked the Yankees a couple of years ago. Right now, there’s no way on earth the Yankees would allow a Mets affil anywhere in the 50-mile radius.
But the bigger issue is that the Mets don’t own their Triple-A affiliate. So, it’s not like they could just pick up the Las Vegas franchise and put it anywhere else.
Believe me, I know all about it. I still opine that Newark would be such a great place for the Mets AAA affiliate.
Partially for selfish reasons of I pass the stadium every day.
Dave, about 10-12 days ago, Alderson made a comment about Nimmo leading the PCL in hitting and saying that no matter what anyone says, it’s still better than any other PCL hitter. Well, the latter part of that statement shows that he doesn’t weigh heavily on Vegas numbers and since he hasn’t gone to talk to Vegas about an extension yet, he may be holding out for a better opportunity.
When El Paso opened a few years ago, they were the 31st AAA stadium and one was closed for renovations. I can’t find any info in that stadium and its locale. At this point, I think Vegas is a better deal than either New Orleans or El Paso. While El Paso is more neutral, I don’t think the Mets want to deal with the border issues it has. New Orleans has had a problem keeping teams.
Anywhere would be better than Vegas but I’ll continue to celebrate the successes of Met prospects no matter where they play.
It’s interesting and often disappointing to see how many players who pile up the walks at AA and AAA can’t bring the same discipline when they are promoted to the majors. Nimmo is known for his batting eye yet did not seem to display it while he was up with the Mets. I suspect the umps are tougher on rookie batters and will give some close pitches to the veteran on the mound but it seems to be more than that going on.
We are in an era that has learned to respect OBP as a stat. The rookie hitters should not be thinking that their only way of staying up is by hacking and hitting.
Hopefully when Nimmo and Conforto return in September they’ll each show good hitting and walking skills.
Nimmo has shown a need to adjust at every level.
I said the same thing when the Mets promoted Matt Den Dekker. Sometimes a player needs to take his lumps at the major league level before finding his footing.
Nimmo will be a high OBP guy if he is able to calm down and play “His Game”
This is true of Conforto as well. They have not given him a reasonable opportunity to hit LHP. Instead of support, TC has looked for reasons to put him on the bench.
I don’t see the room for Nimmo on this team. Picking up Jay Bruce was an odd move, considering the strengths and weaknesses of the system as a whole.
Agree about Nimmo. I just dont see where that is heading. Conforto went too fast through the system IMO, so Im ok to have him parked in LV and continually honing his craft for a while.
Larry, Nimmo batted at the top of the batting order his entire professional career and is familiar with that mindset. When Granderson was hurt and Nimmo batted leadoff, his numbers were .333/.385/.583 in 13 PAs, with one walk and one K. In 41 PAs batting seventh, he is .237/.293/.237 with 11 Ks and 3 BBs.
Yes, 13 PAs is a small sample, but did anyone notice?
The walk rates at lower are a good sign of basic hitter mindset…every positive stat is earned thru the MLB level. The effect of good pitching is to drive those things down.
Hitters don’t drive MLB walks until they hit—- that’s when pitchers stop throwing Fastball Strikes and begin to pitch them hard.
The plain fact is the quality of pitching between AAA and the Bigs is gigantic. Im excited to see our guys do great in the minors, but I dont think it just translates to facing big league pitching.
Has anyone here seen any reports that contradict what I have read on Crismatt, namely that he tops out at 90 mph? There isn’t so much info available on him, leaving us with his work to date, which has been great, of course.
“A guy that touches 93 but has a good three pitch mix, with a plus changeup and above average curve he can throw in any count.”
– Teddy Klein, 2/2/16
That is, indeed, the only scouting I could find myself.
It’s almost a shame he’s left Brooklyn where I could more easily scout him in person.
“I enjoy watching Nabil Crismatt pitch.
The stuff isn’t going to leap out at you, although Crismatt has made tidy work of New-York-Penn-League lineups this year. It’s a fun profile though. He stays closed and gets low. There’s an aesthetically pleasing lollipop curve in the high-60s that befuddles hitters and good feel for the change-up. His fastball doesn’t light up the gun, topping out at 90, but Crismatt knows how to mix his pitches and is comfortable throwing anything in any count. He’s in better shape this year too, and I suspect he will continue to outperform his profile as he moves forward.”
– Jeffery Paternostro, 8/8/16
http://mets.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/08/08/mets-prospects-notes-from-the-field-short-season-got-no-reason/
Nice!
21 year old rh reliever at a low level—but they refer to a 3 pitch mix…hmmmmm
Median age for the SAL is 22.3
Nabil Crismatt has 21.2 IP in his three starts at that level (meaning 7+ innings per game) which probably qualifies him as a starter.
Funny, I read 90 MPH RHP with lollipop curve and yawn, skeptical.
Wake me up when that combo gets it done in Binghamton.
Cecchini is hitting? He’s not having many ofers, but he’s hit an empty .286 over the past 6 games for a super weak 632 ops. From August 1st it’s not much better at 744
Guess my attempt at advice has gone unheeded