Pulling for the Binghamton Mets on a day-to-day basis makes it a lot more fun checking in with the Las Vegas 51’s.  Almost everyday, three of every four players of the 51’s starting nine, cut their teeth in Binghamton.

The satisfaction multiplies when Las Vegas is putting together postseason worthy baseball campaigns as they did last season, and appear to be doing once again.  The 51’s 11-5 victory Saturday, puts them 14-games over .500, almost playing .600 baseball, a full 9.5 games ahead of their closest Pacific Coast League’s Southern Division competitors.

Saturday night some of the Binghamton alumni were in rare form.  A trio from last year’s B-Met pitching staff, handled all of the pitching duties against the Memphis Redbirds.  Noah Syndergaard started and worked 6.2 innings.  Thor was the victim of two long balls and allowed five runs, all earned, which certainly wasn’t his best outing.  Syndergaard’s progress so far is reminiscent of Matt Harvey in the beginning.  Harvey’s raw potential and athleticism captured and held everyone’s attention each time he pitched and same can be said about Thor.

John Church, a little talked about relief pitcher, took over for Syndergaard and retired the only batter he faced, before giving way to Chase Bradford.  Bradford arrived in Binghamton late in the 2013 season and pitched almost perfectly out of the pen.  When Jeff Walters was elevated to Las Vegas last spring, B-Mets manager Pedro Lopez named Bradford as the new closer.  The right-hander had nearly reached double digits in saves before being summoned to Las Vegas due to a Walters injury.  Bradford earned his first Triple-A save throwing two scoreless innings.

Last year’s B-Met slugger Cesar Puello, has been having a tough go of it so far in Vegas.  Perhaps Saturday’s two-hit, five RBI effort will be a turning point for the outfielder.  Puello’s B-Mets bruise brother, Cory Vaughn, has launched the Triple-A stage of his career in impressive fashion.  Sometimes a change of scenery is just what the doctor ordered, and it appears to be the case with Vaughn.  Nothing was working well for Vaughn in his Binghamton stay this spring.  Cory hit only .190 with three home runs and 10 RBI in 174 at bats.  The outfield prospect is hitting an even .300 with a pair of home runs and nine RBI in just 60 at bats so far with the 51’s.

Matt Reynolds turned some heads with his middle infield play, and his sizzling bat in Binghamton.  Reynolds hit .355 which was tops in the Eastern League this season.  His two hits on Saturday night in Las Vegas brought his Triple-A average up to .300.

It’s easy to understand why 51’s manager Wally Backman might like his Las Vegas second baseman Daniel Muno.  Muno was the everyday second-sacker for Binghamton in 2013.  He plays the game with the same passion and aggression as Backman did in his days as a Met.  Muno too had two hits on Saturday with one being his seventh double of the season.  His average is now at .260 on the season.

Although B-Mets fans got only a tiny sample size of the rehabbing Travis d’Arnaud, all Mets fans are following the young catching prospect’s progress in Las Vegas.  D’Arnaud continues to tear it up since his demotion from the Mets.  The catcher had another multi-hit game going 2-for-5 with both hits being doubles.  His average is now holding steady at .453.  In 53 at bats in Las Vegas, d’Arnaud has 24 hits with 14 being of the extra-base variety.  His on base percentage is .491 while slugging .943 giving him an OPS of 1.435.  Those are numbers leaving most Met fans anxiously awaiting d’Arnaud’s return to Citi Field.