Adam Rubin reports that Rainy Lara, who has won two of the last three South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week awards for the Savannah Sand Gnats, has been promoted to the St. Lucie Mets. In a corresponding move, Lara will take the rotation spot of Marcos Camarena, who is heading from St. Lucie to Savannah.

Despite getting the loss against Charleston last night, Lara has been tearing up the SAL. Through eight starts with the Gnats, he’s compiled a 4-2 record, 1.42 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, 51 strikeouts, and six walks in 50.2 innings pitched.

His name is all over the SAL pitching leader board; Lara ranks first in ERA, third in innings pitched, tied for fourth in strikeouts, tied for first in WHIP, and is only one victory off the league lead.

It’ll be interesting to see how Lara performs at the next level; we have seen a lot of good pitching performances through first month and a half of this season in the minors, but Lara is certainly near the top. He joins fellow prospects Noah Syndergaard, Matthew Bowman, Hansel Robles (although he’s currently on the disabled list), and Alex Panteliodis in the St. Lucie rotation. Jenrry Mejia is also rehabbing in St. Lucie. That will give fans some good pitching to watch down in the Florida State League.

Congratulations to Rainy on his promotion! He had quite the week; it began with his second pitcher of the week award, and ends with a promotion. I’d say that’s a pretty good week.

Thoughts from Mitch Petanick

We knew this was only a matter of time. With the way Lara has dominated the SAL, and being named pitcher of the week two times in the first six weeks of the season, this was almost inevitable.

Lara dominated the Low-A hitters, and he had little left to prove in Savannah. I don’t think High-A will present much of a challenge for Lara either, but it is just another step on the ladder towards the major leagues. Lara doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but will keep the ball in the strike zone and mix up his pitches well. There may be a bit of an adjustment period, but I don’t see Lara having trouble at this level if he sticks with what got him here.

It was a well deserved promotion for Lara — now we will see how long it takes to promote Kevin Plawecki and Jayce Boyd, who are also deserving of promotions.