With less than a week to go until Opening Night for the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies begin their season against the Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox), they announced their roster for the start of the 2023 season. Here is who will be suiting up for Reid Brignac’s squad:
PITCHERS
- RHP Daison Acosta
- RHP Manuel Alvarez
- RHP Jose Chacin
- RHP Nolan Clenney
- RHP Justin Courtney
- RHP Dylan Hall
- RHP Dominic Hamel
- RHP Troy Miller
- RHP Luis Moreno
- RHP Dedniel Nunez
- RHP Hunter Parsons
- RHP Marcel Renteria
- RHP Junior Santos
- RHP Sammy Tavarez
- RHP Alex Valverde
- RHP Mike Vasil
When you look at these Rumble Ponies pitchers, what stands out immediately is the 1-2 punch in the rotation of Hamel and Vasil. Hamel was the Mets Minor League Pitcher of the Year a season ago and will be making his Double-A debut after going 10-3 with a 3.25 ERA and having 145 strikeouts to 54 walks in 119 innings for Brooklyn and Low-A St. Lucie.
Like Hamel, Vasil will be making his Double-A debut this year. He had a decent performance against the Braves towards the end of spring training and he held opposing hitters to a .195 batting average at Low-A and High-A last year. The 2021 eighth round pick is one that should be on fans radar going into the year.
The rotation had three top prospects in Hamil, Vasil, and Junior Santos. The 21-year-old right-hander had his first season of 100 or more strikeouts last year in Brooklyn (105 in 116 2/3 innings of work), and he allowed just four home runs over the course of 23 starts.
In the bullpen, Lavender is a name that is on the rise. The 23-year-old left-hander will be making his Double-A debut and he held opponents to a .193 average at Brooklyn and St. Lucie in 2022, and he had a good showing during some spring training games earlier this March (0.00 ERA in four appearances).
CATCHERS
The catcher group is highlighted by Senger, who received a non-roster invite to spring training this year. The 25-year-old is back at Double-A this year afrer having a slash line of .238/.313/.362 with five home runs and 31 RBIs a year ago. You would think if Francisco Alvarez gets the call-up to the majors during the year that Senger could be in line to go back up to Triple-A.
O’Neill is back at Double-A after playing eight games at the end of last season with the Rumble Ponies (6-for-19, 2 doubles, 1 home run, 5 RBIs).
Mena will be at Double-A for the first time this year after he finished tied for fifth amongst Cyclones hitters last year in RBIs (35).
INFIELDERS
Going around the infield, one addition to the Mets system that should be fun to watch in Gomez. The 26-year-old first baseman has good left-handed power as evident by the 26 home runs he hit a year ago at High-A Everett (Seattle Mariners) to go with a .793 OPS.
Schwartz, 23, led the Cyclones in doubles (25) and hits (109), was second in RBIs (49) and third in walks (46) a year ago to go with a .756 OPS.
If you are looking for a cool story in the infield, Wyatt Young has shown good versatility in the minor leagues with his ability to play three different infield positions. The 15th Round pick in 2021 is back at Double-A after some there last year, but he had a good end to the year last season with Triple-A Syracuse (.352/.446/.437 in 19 games).
OUTFIELDERS
Rudick had the chance to play for four different affiliates in 2022, but he never played for Binghamton,. This year, the 13th round pick in 2021 will get his chance to suit up for the Rumble Ponies. Last year, he had 17 stolen bases in Brooklyn, which was the second-most of any player on the team.
Jordan hasn’t shown off a lot of power since being drafted in the 11th Round in 2021, but he showed good plate discipline last year as he was one of seven Cyclones hitters to have at least 40 walks.
Three of these five outfielders (Rudick, Jordan, Mcllwain) all had over 10 stolen bases for the Cyclones a year ago, so speed should be something to watch in terms of running down flyballs in the outfield.
