May 2008 Hotlist

Scroll down past this update to view the Gameday Links for 6/3/08
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1. AA Binghamton OF Fernando Martinez L/R 10/10/88

May: 15 for 43, 5 runs, 2b, 3b, 2 HR, 9 RBI, BB/7 Ks, .349/.370/.558/.928

Fernando got off to a slow start in April (254/314/408), but was tearing it up in May when he went down with a hammy injury (3rd consecutive season he's missed significant time with injuries). Injuries are the only thing which have slowed down the still 19 year old phenom.

2. AA Binghamton RHSP Bobby Parnell R/R 9/8/84

May: 4-1, 3.28 era, 6 GS, 35.2 IP, 29 H, 16 R, 13 ER, 3 HR, 19/22 BB/K, 2.15 GO/FO, .223 BAA, 1.35 WHIP

Parnell's numbers improved across the board from his disasterous April, IP/GS went from 4.53 to 5.94, H/9 went from 9.13 to 7.32, he cut his HR rate from 2.38 per 9 to .76, his walk rate came down from 5.56 per 9 to 4.79 per 9 (still way too high), and his K rate improved from 5.16 per 9 to 5.55 per 9. His GO/FO ratio went from 1.79 to 2.15, while his BAA plummeted from .271 to .223. All in all, a VERY good bounceback month for Bobby Parnell. His last 2 outings have been superb (12.1 ip, 10 h, er, 5/11 bb/k) - so there is momentum there for him to build off.

3. AA Binghamton 3B Dan Murphy L/R 4/1/85

May: 32 for 107, 19 runs, 5 2b, 7 HR, 25 RBI, 12/14 BB/K, 5/6 SBs, .299/.367/.542/.909

After an April in which he hit a blistering .363, but with just a 44 IsoD and 108 IsoP, Murphy put together an outstanding month, making marked improvements in his walk rate (April 0.583, May 0.8571), and IsoP (108 to 243). Murphy continues to hit well against LHP, although not at the blistering .432/.465/.676/1.141 clip of April (he's hitting .329/.369/.539/.909)

4. AA Binghamton RHRP Eddie Kunz R/R 4/8/86

May: 0-1, 3.29 era, 12 G, 8 SVs, 13.2 IP, 13 H, 5 ER, 9/14 BB/K, 2.86 GO/FO, .255 BAA, 1.61 WHIP

Kunz had a very rough start to his AA career, posting an ERA slightly over 5 in his first month (5.06), but bounced back to post a very good 3.29 era in May, picking up 8 saves along the way. While his GO/FO ratio did decline from 3 to 2.86, his BAA also came down, from .268 to .255. As is the nature with relief pitching one or two bad outings in a row can cause significant damage to your ERA, as is the case with Kunz. Back to back bad outings (totalling 2.1 ip, 7 h, 5 er, 3/4 bb/k, 19.29 era), skew his season ERA up by 1.62 points, skyrocketing his May ERA up from 0.00 to 3.29.

5. A Savannah LHSP Angel Calero L/L 9/25/86

May: 2-1, 2.78 era, 6 GS, 35.2 IP, 25 H, 12 R, 11 ER, 2 HR, 7/31 BB/K, 1.24 GO/FO, .195 BAA, 0.90 WHIP

Angel Calero has been nothing short of phenominal this season, with a 2.87 era in 11 starts. However, he kicked it into another gear in May, sharply reducing his UER from 10 in April to just 1 in May. So while he had a 3 era in April, his RA was 6.75. Not so in May, his RA was 3.03. Calero, who has we told you in April was plagued with insane control issues in 2006, has seemingly overcome them, he's walked just 14 in 59.2 innings, or 2.11 per 9, with his control improving month to month (2.63 BB/9 in April, 1.77 in May). His H/9 plunged from .95 per IP to .70, his go/fo improved from .57 to 1.24, and his BAA dropped from .250 to .195. All in all, a very successful May for Mr. Calero.

PS: I am working on getting a scouting report on Angel.

6. A Savannah LHSP Michael Antonini R/L 8/6/85

May: 2-1, 1.76 era, 5 GS, 30.2 IP, 26 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 4/26 BB/K, 1.68 GO/FO, .224 BAA, 0.98 WHIP

Wow. Good thing May 32nd doesn't exist, or that ERA would be ballooned. Joking aside, Antonini had an outstanding month, forming a formidable 1-2 punch with Angel Calero atop the Gnats rotation. We posted Antonini's scouting report back in April, but will include it again at the end of this report. HIs hit rate stayed virtually constant from April to May, what really helped him out was the marked improvement in control (11 BBs in April, 4 in May), and giving up no homers (2 in April). Put it into context, he averaged 0.80 walks per start in May, versus the 1.83 in April.

PS: He's given up just as many runs in today's start (6/1) as he did in the whole month of May - 7. Quirks like that is what makes baseball fun, IMO.

7. A+ St. Lucie RHSP Dylan Owen R/R 7/12/86

May: 1-1, 2.41 era, 6 GS, 33.2 IP, 31 H, 11 R, 9 ER, 3 HR, 7/34 BB/K, 0.86 GO/FO, .244 BAA, 1.13 WHIP

Owen's periphials improved across the board, with the exception of HR rate. He walked considerably less in May then April (0.30/IP in April, 0.20 in May), struck out more (0.675/IP in April, 1.01 in May), and allowed fewer hits (1.09/IP in April, 0.92 in May). All of that came as he transitioned a bit from a groundball pitcher in April (2.05 groundout:flyout ratio), to a flyball/strikeout pitcher in May (0.86 go:fo ratio, 9.09 K/9).

8. A Savannah 3B/1B Jose Jimenez R/R 5/9/87

May: 29 for 93, 17 runs, 8 2b, 4 HR, 21 RBI, 6/15 BB/K, .312/.356/.527/.883

After a horrific beginning to his full season career (.187/.283/.352/.635), Jimenez made vast improvements in May, his average skyrocketed 125 points, his OBP 73, and his SLG 175. He hit 2 more 2b and 1 more HR, driving in 7 more runs. While his walk rate did diminish from 11:91 (BB:AB (.121)) to 6:93 (.064), his strikeout rate plunged from .286 to .161. Interestingly, he's hitting far worse vs LHP (.197/.215/.426/.642) then RHP (.276/.366/.447/.813), so one would expect his numbers to increase as he begins to hit LHP.

9. A+ St. Lucie RHSP Tobi Stoner S/R 12/3/84

May: 0-2, 2.59 era, 5 GS, 31.1 IP, 23 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 2 HR, 4/35 BB/K

Stoner had a bit of a late start to his season, he didn't start his first game until April 24th, and only made 2 starts total in April. Stoner's hit the ground running in High A though, with a .204 BAA in May, a 1.03 go/fo, and a ridiculous 1.15 BB/9, with a corresponding 10.05 K/9, and a very low 6.61 H/9, Stoner's acquitting himself very nicely. The sample size isn't there as with the other pitchers (they have ~20-30 innings and/or 4 starts more), but the results speak for themselves.

10. A+ St. Lucie C Josh Thole L/R 10/28/86

May: 20 for 63, 11 runs, 5 2b, HR, 13 RBI, 10/5 BB/K, .317/.411/.444/.855

Thole's split catching duties in St. Lucie after backing up Francisco Pena and Sean McCraw in 2007 (Savannah), and after a somewhat rough start to his high A career (.228/.323/.386 in April), he put together a very good month of May, with a 2:1 BB:K ratio and an OPS in the mid .800s.

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Cold List

1. AA Binghamton LHSP Jon Niese L/L 10/27/86

May: 2-2, 5.10 era, 6 GS, 30 IP, 34 H, 20 R, 17 ER, 2 HR, 10/25 BB/K, 1.65 GO/FO, .291 BAA, 1.47 WHIP

Jon Niese makes the list by virtue of having 2 disasterous outings in a 3 start span. He actually finished up his May with a very good 3 starts in a row (16.2 ip, 16 h, 3 er, 6/17 bb/k, 2-0, 1.62 era). However, his previous 3 starts were a completely different story (13.1 ip, 18 h, 14 er, 4/8 bb/k, 0-2, 9.45 era).

2. A+ St. Lucie RHSP Nick Carr R/R 4/19/87

May: 0-5, 9.39 era, 6 GS, 23 IP, 32 H, 26 R, 24 ER, 4 HR, 18/19 BB/K, 1.33 GO/FO, .330 BAA, 2.17 WHIP

It's been a straight up DISASTER for Nick Carr in St. Lucie this season. In 11 starts, he's 0-7 with a mid 7 era, and his May was just a horror show for the 21 year old. In one more start then April, he pitched 1/3 of an inning less, allowed the same number of hits, 11 more runs (9 earned), 2 more homers, twice the number of walks, and 4 less strikeouts. Wow. He has had a few credible outings (6 ip, 5 h, er, bb, 6 ks on 4/11), (6 ip, 3 h, er, 3 bb, 4 ks on 5/9), (6 ip, 6 h, 3 er, 3 bb, 5 ks on 5/14) but the vast majority of his starts have been abysmal.

3. A+ St. Lucie RHRP Stephen Clyne S/R 9/22/84

May: 0-2, 9.64 era, 12 G, 14 IP, 19 H, 17 R, 15 ER, 2 HR, 8/8 BB/K, 2.56 GO/FO, .328 BAA, 1.93 WHIP

Uh - his April was worse (only 6 innings, but still). Not much to say - just an abysmal waste of the 99th pick in 2007. Lets hope pick #100 this year doesn't yield similar results (but it will - lets face it, this is the Mets we're talking about). At least he's generating ground balls. :eyeroll:

4. AA Binghamton RHRP German Marte R/R 4/29/85

May: 0-0, 8.10 era, 9 G, 13.1 IP, 17 H, 12 ER, 3 HR, 8/12 BB/K, 0.65 GO/FO, .309 BAA, 1.88 WHIP

His April was smokes and mirrors, his BAA was .288 and his ERA was a semi-respectable 4.26. Well, the mirrors cracked and the smoke disappeared in May, his BAA only went up 21 points, but his ERA shot up 3.84 points, mainly due to his HR rate tripling (1 to 3). Still, he's still getting his Ks (23 in 26 ip, 12 in 13.1 ip in May), but he's walking far too many, 4.50 per 9 overall and 5.40 in May. There was concern last year about his velocity mysteriously dropping, so that's something to keep an eye on (but not with a K rate of nearly 1 per inning).

5. AAA New Orleans SS Anderson Hernandez S/R 10/30/82

May: 16 for 103, 9 runs, 3 2b, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 10/19 BB/K, 3/5 SBs, .155/.230/.243/.473

Yikes. It's hard to be much colder then that. AHern's seen himself go from "best switchhitting prospect" in 2005 to "God awful switchhitter" in 3 years. He was the opening day second baseman in 2006 for the Mets (over Jeff Keppinger, which was a complete joke), and his career has spiralled downhill from there.
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Positive Developmental Trends

1. Mike Carp's BB/K ratio improved from 0.40 in April to 0.7143 in May.
2. Nick Evan's BB/K ratio improved from 0.3181 in April to 1.00 in May.
3. Ruben Tejada's BB/K ratio improved from 0.4347 in April to 0.6923 in May.
4. Scott Moviel dramatically lowered his some of his periphs, BAA from .380 in April to .258 in May. BB/9 from 4.08 to 3.45, and HR rate from 1.02 per 9 to 0.86.
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