Pictured - JAYCE BOYD
Tom
Brennan - Homers by Mets Minors Outfielders
In a year where the major leagues set a record for homers in a
season (6,105, per Baseball Almanac), and in a season where Stanton just missed 60 and Judge hit 52, how exactly
did the Mets minors do in homers?
Are we
developing home run hitters to joint that HR Hit Parade?
Well, that is kind of a broad question, so let’s focus on the
outfield only for the 7 Mets minors teams in this article, since outfield is
usually a category where home run hitters are most predominant. I’ll save my comments – mostly – until the
end. You, the reader, can evaluate the
raw data first yourselves. I listed guys
who were predominantly OFs.
LAS VEGAS
51’S
Travis Taijeron – 25 in 125 games (dropped from 40 man)
Jayce Boyd – 11 in 92 games (in just 246 ABs - surprise!)
Travis Snyder – 10 in 117 games (journeyman)
Victor Cruzado – 7 in 94 games
Brandon Nimmo – 4 in 42 games (5 for Mets in 177 at bats)
BINGHAMTON
RUMBLE PONIES
Kevin Kaczmarski – 5 in 128 games
Champ Stuart – 5 in 101 games (speed and Ks)
LJ Mazzilli – 5 in 110 games (about half played in OF)
Kevin Taylor – 3 in 114 games (76 games in OF)
Patrick Biondi – 2 in 94 games
ST LUCIE
METS
Tim Tebow – 8 in 126 games (former NFL QB)
Nick Sergakis – 6 in 65 games (.252/.371/.432 in 2nd
season)
Wuilmer Becerra – 4 in 128 games (surgery sucks)
John Mora – 3 in 133 games
COLUMBIA
FIREFLIES
Desmond Lindsay – 8 in 65 games (surgery sucks)
Jay Jabs – 7 in 90 games (.206)
Jacob Zanon – 1 in 66 games (speedster)
Arnaldo Berrios – 2 in 84 games
Gene Cone – 0 in 84 games
BROOKLYN
CYCLONES
Jose Miguel Medina – 1 in 91 games
KINGSPORT
METS
Anthony Dirocie – 11 in 61 games (93 Ks)
Wagner Lagrange – 4 in 58 games (.330)
Rafael Gladu – 2 in 36 games
Dionis Paulino – 2 in 51 games
Guillermo Granadillo – 1 in 61 games
GCL METS
Kenny Bautista – 3 in 43 games
Raul Beracierta – 1 in 49 games (18 yr old)
Edinson Valdez – 0 in 25 games
Let’s exclude Travis Taijeron for just a moment, since he may
well not be back with the Mets farm in 2018.
The other 28 guys hit a not-so-grand total of 116 homers.
Those 116 HRs were in 2,208 games – that works
out to a paltry average of 8 HRs for every 150 games.
Fifteen of those guys hit less than 5 - theirs totaled 33 in 1,159 games, or 4 per
every 150 games.
Only 3 of the 29 OFs (Taijeron, Boyd, and Dirocie) hit
more than 10 HRs, and latter 2 of the 3 hit just 11 (those 2, in fairness, did
it in limited at bats).
I didn't look back at other major league teams to see how
their minors did for HRs by OFs – but I have little doubt the Mets came
in dead last.
My theory?
Part of it was a hangover from the deep fences at
Citifield days, which only ended in 2014, leading back then to an over-emphasis
on contact hitters vs. power hitters.
Part of it could be they are training guys to make contact, and then
encouraging them to swing for the fences more towards the end of their minor
league careers. Part of it certainly is
playing in pitchers’ parks everywhere except Vegas.
Finally, and very importantly, there has been a lot of STUPID
METS DRAFTING THAT UNDERVALUES POWER BATS.
In that vein, my 9 part draft analysis, spanning the Mets’
drafts of 2008-17, starts on Friday.
Please read those.
9 comments:
Morning Tom.
You are correct. 'Contact' is stressed at Columbia and all levels below that. Mets coaches will not screw with a natural home run swing... if... it is not also generating too many strikeouts. Instead, they will leave the development angle of the swing to higher levels when and if the player gets there.
A good indication of future power potential is the amount of doubles a player has generated.
For example, Michael Paez led Columbia with 21 doubles... he also had 8 HRs in 224 at-bats.
Anthony Dirocie led Kingsport with 19 doubles in 237 at-bats. He also led the team with 11 home runs.
Mack, good points. I sure hope Dirocie can curtail the strikeouts. I recall Ivan Wilson, who had similar power, hit worse and fanned somewhat more. He failed, hopefully Dirocie will not.
Is Paez shorter than Altuve? You know, maybe that doesn't matter now.
Seems like Desmond Lindsey can be a Mike Trout like player, in that he has loads of talents in all areas, but he's hurt a lot. There have been players that are hurt often earlier in their career, but then their body udjusts and they can stay healthy and productive. We saw one last night in Charlie Morton, but others were Alan Trammell and Jose Reyes. Reyes even had to learn to run differently to help his hamstrings. Hoping Lindsey can also.
I remember being one of the bigger guys in Little League and the coaches erroneously advised me to swing for the fences. I became a notorious all-or-nothing hitter. Preaching to hit to contact is how it should be done. Of course, if someone has natural power it will come out. Eventually I did become a contact hitter and still popped the occasional long ball.
My issue is that the Mets always seem to draft pitching and contact hitters without even looking for power.
Hobie -
Paez is 5'7"
Hobie, I know you didn't ask, but Yao Ming is 7'6". He calls Aaron Judge "Tiny."
The problem with the Mets' contact approach is the power for most guys never emerges. Binghamton, for example, had a fine year, but was dead last by a long shot in team homers.
Reese Kingman, baby. Like the name.
Texas Gus, Lindsay (hopefully healthy in 2018) could pleasantly surprise many. Just playing 90% of his team's games in 2018 would be a pleasant surprise.
I never once sent a rat to anyone. (Or at least I was never caught or accused of doing so...)
That rat kept big Dave out of the Hall LOL
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