This is our third installment of the Who’s Hot, Who’s Not list with only infielders Amed Rosario and Vinny Siena making it in all three on the hot side. This week we saw two guys, Dominic Smith and Ivan Wilson redeem themselves by moving from the Not list last week to the Hot group this week.
Who’s Hot
Wuilmer Becerra – St. Lucie Mets
Since returning to the lineup everyday (sore shoulder) he has hit safely in nine of ten games, batting .359 in that span. He has scored five runs and knocked in five while sporting a .826 OPS in his last ten games as well. He has yet to show off the same power he did last year but has raised his season line to .306/.333/.367 and you have to wonder if the shoulder injury is affecting his power.
Amed Rosario – St. Lucie Mets
The 20-year Mets top prospect has been hot all season but he was on fire over the last seven games knocking in 13 runs while batting .370/.406/.740. Look at that slugging percentage! He also swiped two bags over the last week and hit his league leading fifth triple. He also walked more recently with four in his last ten games after not doing so at all in the first ten games of the year. He is now tied for 2nd in the Florida State League with 16 RBI, 2nd with .585 SLG, first in triples with five, first in hits with 27 and first in total bases with 48.
David Thompson – Columbia Fireflies
Another guy that has hit since opening night and hasn’t cooled off at all lately, going 11 for his last 28 (.392/.452/.500) with ten RBI. He has scored nine runs during that time and hit three doubles. For the year he is hitting .319/.388/.500 with a minor league leading 23 runs batted in, the only two players with more RBI in affiliated ball are major leaguers Bryce Harper and Robinson Cano with 24.
Dominic Smith – Binghamton Mets
Last May was when Dom caught fire, he has started earlier this season going 13 for 29 (.448) during his current seven game hitting streak. He has driven in eight during that span and even swiped his first base of the season on the 21st. His hot streak has lifted his season line to .280/.316/.413 with 14 RBI which is tied for the fourth most in the Eastern League. One of the knocks on Smith last year was the fact he wasn’t pulling the ball enough, but 13 of his first 21 hits this year have been to right field.
Vinny Siena – Columbia Fireflies
The second baseman has started of the season by reaching base in all 20 games and has a .518 OBP which is the fourth best in minor league baseball. Over the past ten days he is 13 for 31 (.419) with 11 walks, 12 runs scored and six walks. He has batted in the 2nd spot in the lineup five games this year and has hit .563/.652/.813 in those games.
Ivan Wilson – Columbia Fireflies
The toolsy outfielder has started to pick it up with the bat going 8 for 19 with two homers and seven runs scored over his last five games. The recent power surge has boosted his slugging percentage to .460 for the season. He has also dropped his K% from 35.7 in 2015 to 27.5 this year despite jumping straight from Kingsport over the Brooklyn Cyclones and into the South Atlantic League.
Ty Kelly – Las Vegas 51s
All he has done over the last ten games is hit .500 (12 for 24) with five RBI and eight walks compared to only three strikeouts. For the 2016 season he is hitting .471/.578/.588 in his first 13 games in the Mets system.
Who’s Not
Brandon Nimmo – Las Vegas 51s
It has been a year long struggle for the outfield prospect that got even worse over his last seven games in which he had more strikeouts (5) than he did hits (4) in 21 at bats. For the season he is hitting only .206/.275/.238 in the Pacific Coast League where hitters dream of playing. The worst sign for Nimmo is the thing he has always done is walk but this year his BB% has dropped down to just 7.1% after being 16.1% in his stay with the 51s last year.
Milton Ramos – Columbia Fireflies
The talented defensive shortstop has shown little with the bat this season and has gone 6 for his last 33 over his past ten games. During that span he has more strikeouts (8) than hits (6) and he has a measly two extra base hits all season. For the year he is hitting .200/.273/.260 and is striking out a career high 25.5% of the time.
Stefan Sabol – Binghamton Mets
It has been a season long struggle for the Swingin Samoan who is 1 for his last 12 and has four hits in 31 at bats all year. To make it even worse he has struck out a whopping 17 times in 10 games and has only one extra base hit. His slash line for the season is down to .129/.293/.161 and he was placed on the disabled list this week.
Daniel Muno – Las Vegas 51s
Playing time has been hard to find for the infielder and went he has it hasn’t gone well at all. He is hitless with eight strikeouts in his last 16 at bats with his lone hit of the year coming on April 8th. It does get uglier since he hasn’t looked good in the field either coming two errors, giving him more misplays on defense than he has hits in 2016.
Phillip Evans – St. Lucie & Binghamton Mets
Evans received a promotion this week to Binghamton but that still didn’t wake his bat up and he has gone 1 for 11 with five strikeouts with the B-Mets. Another unfortunate guy that has more strikeouts (8) than hits (5) this year and he has yet to get an extra base hit.
Safe assumption that the shoulder injury is affecting Becerra since they are protecting him by keeping him at DH Even activating Ramirez should the need arise for someone to play the field after Biondi’s injury.
Wondering if Nimmo’s slow start is a direct result of the injury. While he was back in time for the Vegas season to start, he couldnt have gotten all the work in that a normal spring training would bring.
Also he reportedly tweaked his swing again, and while he may be becoming a bit more aggressive in his approach, it is safe to say pitchers are going to challenge him more until he proves something
Third comment in a row, but subject changes seem to warrant it…
At some point Rosario, Sienna, and Thompson have to be viewed as more than just on hot streaks, that this is who they are at the level they are at and need further developmental challenges
I was a little surprised with Ramirez but Mets have shown in past they don’t want to mess with guys getting regular reps in extended who are going to head to Brooklyn.
Great point on both the injury and swing. If I was him I wouldn’t have had made a change with the swing. What he needs to do is be more aggressive when he is ahead in the count which can’t be what he’s doing because that wouldn’t effect the K rate as much as it has ballooned.
Siena and Thompson started well last season too, with them I wonder if they can sustain it and also both of them are blocked (at the moment) in St. Lucie. You think Mets could push Thompson past St. Lucie?
They coyld, but I don’t think he has leap frogged Urena (who I think is a better bet to stay on the hot corner)
Any word on how Garcia has looked in extended?
Second year in a row with a change. Seems to be in a mindset, where immediate results are what he is looking for, and that’s not a good thing.
What surprised me was him being optioned so early. Took him away from the major league clubhouse and K Long
Still pulling for Nimmo. He missed most of ST which might explain his slow start.