Since he has been drafted, Patrick Mazeika has been a hit-first catcher. In the beginning of his career, that had proven to be true, but to his credit Mazeika had made continued strides defensively. What was curious was how he had not made the strides in the power department despite his having the potential.
For example, over the first 20 games of the 2017 season, Mazeika had slugged .555 with a 953 OPS. That wasn’t the only time Mazeika flashed some power. He’d have a similar outburst in August of that year, and he hit .354/.425/.538 over the final 19 games of last season. What was interesting about that outburst was it was seemingly the first time in his career he went on a power tear without splitting time between catching and first base.
It would seem that once again Mazeika is on one of his power tears. With his home run last night, Mazeika has not hit a home run in three straight games, and he has hit a homer in four out of his last five games.
#Mets catching prospect Patrick Mazeika went 3-for-4 with a season-high 7 total bases and his 3rd homer in 5 days for Binghamton today.
He's always been a guy that just knows how to put the bat on the ball and it's certainly nice to see a little pop as of late. pic.twitter.com/37gX4leu1v
— Jacob Resnick (@Jacob_Resnick) May 15, 2019
With this current home run tear, Mazeika is now the hottest bat in the Mets minor league system. Aside from the home run tear, Mazeika has a 15 game hitting streak. During the hitting streak, he is hitting .356/.406/.644 with five doubles, four homers, and 19 RBI. That includes five multi-hit games and his having multiple RBI games in four of his last five games. Kevin Boles would tell Nicole Menner of WBNG 12 News he attributes this to Mazeika having a better approach at the plate:
We’re starting to see some impact to his pull side. Obviously, he had the grand slam last night, another home run today. There’s some really good signs. He looks like he’s a little more balanced with his lower. He’s putting together a real nice approach these days.
Mazeika is now third among Eastern League catchers in homers and OBP and second in slugging and OPS. In addition to the hitting, he continues to improve his work behind the plate. He has thrown out 42 percent of base stealers. He’s also working well with the pitching staff. It should be noted Anthony Kay‘s last gem, in what was his best start of the season, came with Mazeika behind the plate.
With Tomas Nido now firmly entrenched as the backup catcher at the Major League level, there is an opportunity for a catcher to distinguish themselves and to get an opportunity to prove themselves in Syracuse. If Mazeika keeps hitting like this and he keeps working well with the pitching staff, he should get that opportunity.
