Poised and confident as he enters his third season as the Binghamton Mets skipper, Pedro Lopez has his sights set on an Eastern League championship. ‘Six more wins’ is Lopez’s goal and battle cry as he embarks on a new campaign. No, Lopez is not talking about besting last season’s B-Met franchise best 86 win regular season. The B-Met skipper is determined that his team earn a spot in this year’s post season tournament and then win six more playoff games than they did last season to give the city of Binghamton a baseball championship.
Actualizing Lopez’s goal will not be easy for the B-Mets. Last year’s historic success began with quality pitching. The B-Mets pitching staff included many of the young power arms Met fans have been waiting to see in Citi Field, guys like Rafael Montero, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, and Cory Mazzoni. Each helped contribute to last season’s Binghamton baseball express at different stages of the season helping the B-Mets to some stellar pitching stats.
In 2013, Binghamton pitchers led the Easter League in strikeouts (1,185), were second in ERA, and WHIP, ranked at the top of the league in holds by a wide margin, were the best of the bunch in saves and allowed the fewest hits in the Eastern League. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill.
Lopez will be counting on big things from lefthander Darin Gorski this spring. Returning to the mound after a shoulder injury, Gorski was the B-Mets most effective starter down the stretch last summer going 6-1 with a stingy 1.83 ERA and a 0.864 WHIP. Gorski was tabbed this year’s Opening Day starter and had a shaky outing last week, battling with his command. Even so, Gorski did what he always does on the mound – battled.
Hansel Robles launched the Double-A portion of his career in impressive style over the weekend, throwing five scoreless innings in the B-Mets 5-4 win over Akron. Lopez will need quality innings from the new edition to his pitching staff if he hopes to navigate his team back to the playoffs in 2014.
Erik Goeddel returns to Binghamton. The tall right hander was a mainstay in the B-Met rotation last season starting 25 games and winning nine times. Expect Goeddel to carry a sizable chuck of the innings load again this summer if the B-Mets expect to contend once again.
Newcomers Tyler Pill, Rainy Lara and Matthew Bowman round out the B-Met rotation. After only four starts in 2013 Pill was sidelined with a shoulder injury and is working himself back into pitching form. Lara depends on pinpoint command yielding only 26 base-on-balls last season in almost 130 innings. Bowman, out of Princeton University, started 21 games between Savannah and St. Lucie last year winning 10 and losing only four with a 3.18 ERA and striking out 8.4 batters every nine innings.
Lopez worked his bullpen brilliantly during last year’s record Binghamton run. Jeff Walters was the B-Met closer setting a franchise record 38 saves. Walters is gone, and Lopez has turned the ‘lights out’ role to Chase Bradford. Bradford impressed Lopez during the final month of 2013, at one time appearing in 16 consecutive B-Met games without yielding a run. The righthanded reliever compiled a stingy 0.71 ERA in 20 Double-A appearances last season in Binghamton and is already 2 of 2 in save chances in the new season.
A mix-and-match compliment of right and lefthanders in the pen last summer gave Lopez some compelling options, and the B-Met skipper played his hand superbly. Lopez has three righties: John Church, Cody Satterwhite and Jon Velasquez and four lefties: T.J. Chism, Jack Leathersich, Angel Cuan and Hamilton Bennett to play his sorting game in the new year.
Church got off to a shaky start walking two batters, hitting one and allowing three runs in the ninth inning on opening day, but came back to retire six consecutive Akron batters in two innings of work on Saturday. The strong righthander recorded 68 strikeouts 64 2/3 innings on the hill split between Double and Triple-A last season.
Satterwhite came to the Mets from the Detroit system and averaged 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings pitching A-ball last summer. Velasquez was 6-2, pitching independent league baseball in Camden in 2013.
Lefty Adam Kolarek returns after a terrific 2013 Binghamton campaign. Kolarek pitched in 44 games last summer with a 1.71 ERA, averaging one strikeout per inning and logging the third lowest batting average against (.209) in the Eastern League.
T.J. Chism will provide Kolarek assistance from the left side. Chism used some nasty breaking stuff to chalk up a team leading 20 saves last summer at Port St. Lucie.
Then there is Jack Leathersich who makes every appearance on the hill an adventure. Leathersich has electric stuff, and the Mets are expecting big things from the lefty. Last season Leathersich averaged 15.4 strikeouts every nine innings, but the K machine struggles with pitch command. In 2 1/3 innings of the new season, Leathersich has been true to the script, recording strikeouts for all seven outs but walking three batters and hitting one.
A trio of impressive catching prospects in Binghamton attest to the overall quality at that position throughout the Met farm system. All eyes are on Kevin Plawecki who should see the lion’s share of the backstop duties in Binghamton. Plawecki split his time last summer between Savannah and St.Luice and excelled in both settings hitting a combined .305 with 38 2B’s, 8HR’s, 80 RBI’s and a .390 on-base-percentage.
Unlike many of the Mets at Citi Field, Plawecki despises striking out. “I just try to see a good pitch and hit it no matter what the count is. I just try to get myself in a good hitter’s count to begin with. If I’m in control of the count, I feel like I can put a good swing on the ball. I wouldn’t say I’m a contact hitter, but I’d definitely say I put the ball in play a little more, I guess than the other guys, the numbers would show,” Plawecki told Lynn Worthy of the Binghamton Press and Sun. “I’ve said it before. I hate striking out. I’d rather hit a wimpy ground ball to the infield or a lazy pop up than walk to the dugout. At least it makes them get me out rather than swing and miss or watch strike three go by.”
Plawecki put that theory to the test at one time reaching base in 34 consecutive games last year.
He might not command Plawecki’s billing but don’t discount B-Met catcher Xorge Carrillo. Met fans rave about Plawecki’s 29% ratio throwing out baserunner trying to steal. Carrillo threw out 28% of advancing runners last season. And, Carrillo is a tough out at the plate. Other than Cesar Puello, no other B-Met batted higher than the Carrillo last year. The B-Met catcher is a contact hitter who batted .296 with a .350 OBP.
Currently on the inactive list and, perhaps, a somewhat lost in the Met prospect catching shuffle is Blake Forsythe, last season’s Rawlings Golden Glove recipient as the best defensive catcher at any level of the minor leagues. A third round draft pick in 2010, Forsythe has struggled at the plate but has home run power hitting 10 round trippers last season.
Binghamton is shuffling the deck in the middle infield alternating Wilfredo Tovar and Matt Reynolds at shortstop and second base on an almost game-by-game basis. Designated by Baseball America as the best defensive infielder in the Mets farm system for the fourth consecutive year, whether he plays short or second, Tovar is a defensive wizard. The gritty middle infielder astounded B-Met fans with several dazzling plays at both positions in the opening series of the 2014 season at NYSEG. And Tovar can hit, batting almost .300 after the All-Star break for Binghamton last year.
Reynolds, a 2nd round selection in the 2012 draft, will get a long look in Binghamton this summer. The sure handed infielder has yet to impress with the bat in professional baseball, and the Mets are hoping for real improvement from Reynolds at the plate at the Double-A level.
Rylan Sandoval, who hit .327 in 110 at-bats late in the season last year in Las Vegas will provide infield depth at both positions for Binghamton.
Veteran minor leaguer Brian Burgamy will handle the hot corner for the B-Mets. He was signed in 2002 by the Padres. Binghamton is the 13th minor league team for the well traveled Burgamy who has over 4,500 minor league at bats.
Burgamy will receive relief at third from Dustin Lawley, who will also play left field. On a fast track through the minor league system, Lawley, who hit more HR’s last season (26) than any other Met minor league prospect, leads a gang of B-Mets with long ball potential. The Florida State League’s Most Valuable Player last season, Lawley was an extra base machine and led the league in HR’s.
Travis Taijeron joins Lawley in the outfield giving the B-Mets some ‘Bruise Brothers‘ long ball pop. Taijeron’s 23 round trippers were the second most of any Met farmhand last summer, and 54% of Taijeron’s hits last year were the extra base hit variety.
Cory Vaughn was off to a sizzling start in Binghamton last year when a hand injury interrupted his season. Even so, in 262 at-bats Vaughn hit .267 with 10 HR’s and 50 RBI’s.
Two speedsters are splitting time in centerfield for Binghamton. Darrell Ceciliani played in 113 games, his most in professional baseball, batting a respectable .286 with a team leading 31 stolen bases in 2013. Kyle Johnson, acquired from the Angels in June, battet .278 and pilfered 12 bases in St. Lucie.
That’s the gang assembled in Binghamton that Pedro Lopez will motivate and try to produce baseball greatness. The optimistic B-Met skipper likes what he sees up and down his 2014 roster. “Looking at the team we’ve got on paper it actually kind of looks better than the one we had last year. I just hope the guys show up every day and give the fans what they deserve.”
(Photo Credit: Jeff Miller)
