Christian Scott, Photo by Ed Delany of Mets Minors
The Peoria Javelinas saw their record drop to 6-3 in a 9-2 home loss to Mesa. Three Met prospects saw action in this game. Kevin Kendall was the only Met position player that took the field and turned in a rare 0-for-5 performance. Despite the poor showing, Kendall is still batting .320 through his first six games in the AFL.
Christian Scott got the start for Peoria, his second of the AFL season, but for the second straight start, he struggled to find his rhythm as he was knocked around for four runs in three innings. Grant Hartwig would pitch two innings of relief, pitching a scoreless seventh inning but surrendered two runs in the eighth.
Mesa Solar Sox (4-5) 9 vs. Peoria Javelinas (6-3) 2 BOX SCORE
- SS Kevin Kendall: 0-for-5, 3 SO, .320/.452/.440
It was an unusually off game for Kendall, who had been on fire in the desert thus far. Kendall was the starting shortstop and leadoff hitter for Peoria. He had an ugly game, going 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. However, he remains the most impressive Met prospect in the AFL to date, as he carries an .892 OPS and is the only Met seeing regular starting time with Peoria.
It’s good news for the Mets, who drafted Kendall in the seventh round of the 2021 MLB draft. During his brief stint with Single-A St. Lucie in 2021, Kendall batted .327 with an OPS of .872 over 31 games. After an injury sidelined him for most of the 2022 season, Kendall seems to be picking up where he left off last season.
- RHP Christian Scott: (L,0-1) 3 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, BB, 4 SO, 13.50 ERA
- RHP Grant Hartwig: 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, BB, SO, 8.31 ERA
Christian Scott would make his second start of the season for Peoria, and it wouldn’t go well. Mesa would pepper Scott with eight hits, which resulted in four runs over three innings of work. Scott would labor through 74 pitches and eventually was branded with the loss in this game. He did have his strikeout pitch working better in this game. In his previous start, he lasted 2 1/3 innings and had no strikeouts. In this game, Scott was able to punch out four.
Grant Hartwig would come in in relief, and after cruising through a scoreless seventh inning, the eighth inning wouldn’t be as kind to him. After giving up a walk and a hit, Mason Auer would smack a two-run triple off Hartwig to give Mesa a 7-1 lead.
Hartwig, who went undrafted out of college, was arguably one of the best relievers in the Met system this past season. He pitched at all MiLB levels and in 56 2/3 innings had an impressive 1.75 ERA.
