Logan Verrett was knocked out of last night’s ballgame against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in the third inning, but the B-Mets scored seven runs between the fifth and sixth innings to secure their 52nd win of the season. If you missed the recap here on MMN, you can see it here. How did the B-Mets get all those runs in such a short period of time? The answer to that question is off the bat of Daniel Muno.
The second baseman came up during perfect opportunities in back-to-back innings; he slugged a grand slam in the fifth, followed by a three-run homer in the next frame. The seven RBIs are a new personal best for Muno. With that career night, I wanted to get to know Muno a little better, and figured you’d want to, as well.
Muno was taken in the eighth round by the Mets in the 2011 draft. Fresh off his college season with Cal State Fresno, he reported to Brooklyn, and tore up the competition with a .355/.466/.514 line with two home runs, 24 RBIs, and 23 doubles. That immediately put him on the map heading into 2012, but a 50-game PED suspension prevented him from making any real progress through the pipeline. After posting a .280/.387/.412 line in St. Lucie, he earned the promotion to Binghamton, where he struggled to start the season, but has turned it on of late.
He squeaked into MMN’s pre-season Top 25 prospect list at no. 25. Here’s what we had to say about Muno before the season started:
Muno has no plus-tools, but is a solid player across the board. Muno has great control of the strike zone, drawing walks while limiting the strikeouts. While playing both SS and 2B, he would slot at 2B in the majors, but with the potential to be a utility guy and play all over the diamond. Muno has some gap power and some speed, and if he continues to succeed at the MiLB level seeing him in 2014 playing for the Mets in some role has some legs to it.
Muno’s 2013 season got off to a rough start, hitting .224 in April, followed by a .179 mark in May, which included only one home run. He bounced back nicely in June with a .293 average, and has already gotten the month of July off to a great start with his career night. He’s currently hitting .240/.383/.388 with six home runs, 49 RBIs, and 19 doubles on the season, but has enjoyed a .344/.523/.688 line over his last 10 games.
His slow start may prevent us from seeing him in the big leagues at the start of 2014, but if he continues bouncing back the rest of the season with Binghamton, he’ll likely only be one step away from the big leagues come next season.
(photo credit: Gordon Donovan)