When Binghamton Met pitching coach Glenn Abbott assembled his pitching staff last spring, his group of young B-Met arms had a distinctly different profile than the cadre Abbott shaped into one of the Eastern League’s finest staffs in 2013. Gone where the power arms of guys like Rafael Montero, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard who each appeared in Binghamton’s starting rotation at some time a year ago. Gone was closer Jeff Walters and his franchise record setting 38 saves. Expectations for Binghamton’s pitching staff in the spring of 2014 were tepid, but Abbott wove together a formidable staff, a key component of Binghamton’s championship success.
In some ways, B-Met starting pitcher Darin Gorski typified the profile of several B-Met starters at the opening of the season last spring. Gorski returned from a shoulder injury in 2013 to pitch brilliantly for the B-Mets down the homestretch going 6-1 with sterling 1.83 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP. That effort earned him Opening Day honors as the B-Met ace in 2014. Gorski didn’t disappoint going 4-2 with a 2.22 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP in 9 starts before his elevation to Las Vegas.
For the most part Greg Peavey, recently lost to Minnesota in the Rule 5 draft, was the mainstay of the B-Met rotation last summer. Peavey started 18 regular season games for Binghamton, the ace of the team, compiling a team best 11-3 record and a 2.90 ERA. After a rough outing in the second game of the playoffs against Portland, Peavey pitched brilliantly winning game number two in Richmond, throwing seven innings and allowing a single run on five hits.
In April, few would have predicted Tyler Pills emergence as a key cog in the Binghamton starting pitching wheel. Pill got off to a horrid start. By May the 5th, after Pill’s fifth start of the season, the B-Met right-hander was winless at 0-5. Pill, who led the B-Mets in starts with 21, would not lose a game for the B-Mets the rest of the way. As Pill’s confidence grew, so did his precision, and excellent command of his pitches allowed Pill to keep batter’s off-balance as he chalked up win after win. Pill ended the regular season at 9-5, earned a no-decision in a well pitched opening playoff game against Portland, then won the opening game of the championship series in Richmond.
The bulk of the remaining B-Met starts were shared by four pitchers; Matt Bowman, Hansel Robles, Rainy Lara and late call-up, Steven Matz. Bowman, Robles and Lara started 17 or more games each with Matz taking the hill to start a game 12 times for Binghamton toward the end of the regular season. Lara and Matz won six games each with Robles and Bowman each winning seven.
Matz, who went 6-5, showed flashes of brilliance in the late season. The competitive left-hander struck out nearly a batter an inning and logged a 2.22 ERA for Binghamton. After a no decision in game three of the opening series against Portland, Matz dazzled a capacity B-Met crowd carrying a no-hitter into the eighth inning in Binghamton’s, 2-1, championship clinching victory over Richmond.
Time and again during the regular season, Binghamton managed to plate clutch runs in the late innings of close games. That fact is validated by the fact the B-Met bullpen totaled 23 of the B-Mets regular season wins on the year. Jon Velasquez and Chase Hutchinson both won 4 games out of the pen, Cody Satterwhite, Jack Leathersich, and Ryan Frasier all won three. John Church won 2, and four B-Met relievers each won a single game.
B-Met skipper, Pedro Lopez, assigned Chase Bradford with closing duties at the start of the season. Bradford worked in 23 games saving 11 with a 2.03 ERA before being summoned to Vegas. From there Lopez handed closing responsibilities to Cody Satterwhite, a former number #1 draft pick in the Detroit organization who after being sidelined for two seasons was staging a comeback. Satterwhite pitched brilliantly saving 15 games with a stingy 2.33 earned run average to go with a 1.10 WHIP and better than one strikeout per inning. And, Satterwhite was lights out in post season play making four appearances, pitching four scoreless innings, winning twice with two saves.
A pitching staff with team statistics that fall in the middle of the pack in the Eastern League needs a manager and pitching coach that mix and match well to bring their best to the forefront should their team contend and then win the Eastern League title. That was the case with Abbott and B-Met skipper Pedro Lopez. Both pushed all the right buttons to get the most of their pitching staff tailoring a steady starting rotation and shaping consistent roles for their pitchers working out of the pen.
No decision exemplifies that better than the choice to move Hansel Robles from the starting rotation and into the bullpen after Matz arrived in the late season. Binghamton’s championship drive would likely have fallen short had the B-Met brain trust not made that adjustment.
Moved to the pen in early August, Robles started slowly in his maiden first inning stints. But, as time passed Hobles warmed to his new role. The right-handed Hobles saw his fast ball tick upward in limited innings of work out of the pen averaging between 93 and 96 m.p.h. A sweeping slider that reaches home plate at between 84 and 87 m.p.h. range complimented Robles fastball.
Out of the pen, Robles pounded the strike zone as he had in his NY/Penn days. And the more important the significance of a game in which Robles pitched the better he performed.
Lopez had used Jon Velasquez as a setup man for both Bradford and Scatterwhite earlier in the season, but when it seemed like Valasquez faded during the final month of the campaign, the B-Met skipper replaced him with Robles.
In the final 10 games of the regular season, Robles pitched 16 innings allowing a lone run while striking out 23 and walking only 3. Robles pitched 6.1 innings in the post season without allowing a run, fanning six and not walking a batter. Robles was the right man at the right time, the perfect setup option out of the bullpen to help carry Binghamton over the Eastern League finish line with their third championship in franchise history.