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Minor League Week Recap: Guillorme Keeps Getting On Base

By Joseph Hill

March 19, 2018 No comments

Luis Guillorme/Photo by Ed Delany

This week, things continued to slow down for most of the minor leaguers in Mets camp as they started to face tougher competition. Many players were also sent to minor league camp, as the Mets started to clear things out for the Major Leaguers.

After an off-day on Monday, the Mets got right back into the action on Tuesday with split-squad games. Tim Tebow continued his unimpressive spring by going 0-4 with four strikeouts. As a result, he and relievers Kevin McGowan, Marcos Molina, Corey Oswalt, Gerson Bautista, and Jamie Callahan were all sent to minor league camp.

On Wednesday, seven more cuts were made, with Chris Flexen, Tyler Bashlor, Peter Alonso, Zach Borenstein, Kevin Kaczmarski, Patrick Mazeika, and David Thompson also being sent to minor league camp. The Mets can still borrow any of these players at any time to play in Major League camp if they want.

Phillip Evans, a guy who is currently on the border between starting the year on the 51s or the Mets, continued to get a lot of playing time, and continued to produce solid results. He went 5 for 19 this week, and has a very nice .878 OPS in 38 at-bats this spring.

Amed Rosario, who is still trying to prove he can hit in the Majors, heated up this week, going 5 for 16 with a home run and a double. He hasn’t lit the league on fire this spring, but after a slow start he has a solid .747 OPS in 34 at-bats.

Another guy enjoying a very good spring is Luis Guillorme. We all know about his defense, but he just keeps getting on base, as he went 3 for 6 with seven walks this week. He now sports a .455 OBP on the spring. His defense, while still very good, has looked just a little bit shakier lately, with a couple errors this week playing shortstop. It’s nothing to be too concerned about though.

Gavin Cecchini continued to receive playing time after a blazing hot start, but cooled off mightily, going just 1 for 13 with six strikeouts. Ty Kelly continued his disappointing spring, going 2 for 11 and bringing his OPS to .567, while Peter Alonso went hitless in two at-bats in a spring that has shown that his bat is not Major League ready.

Matt den Dekker had a nice week, going 3 for 10 with a triple and two walks, but is still having a very rough spring, batting .167 with a .508 OPS. Tomas Nido continued his decent spring by going 1-3 with a walk.

Top prospect Andres Gimenez got an at-bat this week, going 0 for 1. David Thompson got an at-bat as well, recording a hit in his and stole his third base of the spring.

JJ Franco, son of former Met John Franco, even got an at-bat, going 1 for 1. Tyler Moore and Patrick Biondi also got just a few at-bats each, going 0 for 3 and 0 for 2, respectively. Biondi, while not in the Mets’ plans for the near future, has enjoyed a solid spring and has actually received a somewhat surprising amount of playing time. John Mora also got an at-bat and went 0 for 1.

Catcher Jose Lobaton, who is almost certainly ticketed for Triple-A to begin the season, had a rough week, going 1 for 10 and making two errors. He is batting just .222 with a .620 OPS for the spring, which is about in line with is career MLB stats. He could serve as a good mentor for Nido in Triple-A.

Kevin Kaczmarski and Patrick Mazeika got what could possibly be their last Major League at-bats in what has been a rough spring for both of them, going 1 for 4 and 0 for 4 respectively to bring their OPS’s to .416 and .490.

On the pitching side, Robert Gsellman got hit around a bit more (six hits in 3.1 IP) but got a save on Sunday and has a solid 3.75 ERA.

Lefty Matt Purke, who like Gsellman is battling for a spot on the Opening Day Roster, continued to look a little shaky, as he gave up three hits and two runs in two innings of work to bring his spring WHIP up to 2.20.

Corey Taylor has had a nice spring (2 runs in 7 IP), and pitched 1.2 innings last week while allowing a run. Drew Smith, while he has not been used a lot, had a scoreless inning on Saturday to lower his ERA to 6.75 following some prior shaky outings. Paul Sewald also pitched well (1 run in 3 IP) and has had a very good spring as he looks to secure his spot in the Major League bullpen.

The newest Met A.J. Griffin had two poor outings, giving up seven hits and four runs in 2.1 IP. Hansel Robles also pitched poorly, giving up three hits, three runs and two walks in four innings.

Unlike Griffin, Robles has a shot at making the Opening Day roster, but his continued inconsistencies this Spring Training (10.80 ERA) may force him to work on some things down in Vegas in order to prove himself.

Jacob Rhame, who is one of Robles’s main competitors for a spot on the Opening Day roster, gave up two runs in two innings this week, and has had a decent spring giving up four runs in eight innings. Rhame does have nine strikeouts compared to only one walk in that span.

With Robles performing poorly but a recent hiccup by Rhame, it will be interesting to see how things pan out for guys like Robles, Rhame, and Purke, who all come with pros and cons. Edges in Spring Training performances may come down to be a deciding factor for them.