After week four came to a close in the MiLB, the four organizations for the New York Mets didn’t have their best outings. While many struggled, these players emerged as the Mets Minors Players of the week.
Tripe-A Syracuse Mets
The Syracuse Mets seem to be turning their play around just a bit as they’ve won four out of their last six games on the road. This week alone, the Mets line-up received a significant boost by the former Yankees draft pick, Mason Williams. Throughout five games, Williams reached base safely twelve times with five extra-base hits, including a home run. The 29-year-olds stat line for the week was .474/.545/.842 with an OPS of 1.388 and six RBI’s.
As for qualified players on this Syracuse roster, Williams leads the team in AVG, OBP, SLG, and OPS over the course of nineteen games. His season slash line after his great week moved to .373/.458/.569 with an OPS of 1.036.
Williams has been promoted to the big leagues and went 1-for-3 with a walk and a great catch in center field during his New York Mets debut.
https://twitter.com/metsfarmreport/status/1399063644831469572?s=21
Jared Eickhoff was borderline unhittable in his past two starts this week. The big righty from Olney Central College tossed twelve scoreless innings in line for two big wins for the Syracuse Mets. Throughout his two starts, Eickhoff allowed only seven hits, walking two and striking out ten. He continues to be the ace in this Mets staff as his season record moves to 4-and-0 with opponents only hitting .250 against him.
Eickhoff has been bitten by the home run ball this season, giving up seven round-trippers in his first four starts. After giving up zero this week, he seems to be trending in the right direction and getting better each start.
Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies
After starting his season in Brooklyn, Jake Mangum found himself wearing some different threads this week up in Binghamton. The Hail State native has been incredible since his bump to Double-A, hitting .393/.393/.571 with an OPS of .964 over his first seven games. Mangum seems to be finding his power stroke in recent weeks as he’s blasted three home runs and three doubles over the course of 16 games.
Before this season, Mangum hadn’t hit a home run in his career and totaled a slugging percentage of .297 last season. If Jake can turn back into his Mississippi State form and hit for power and average, Mets fans could potentially be looking at an exciting player.
Start your morning by watching Binghamton Rumble Ponies center fielder Jake Mangum hitting a three-run homer.
His third long ball of the season.
— MetsMinors.Net (@Mets_Minors) May 26, 2021
Rumble Ponies reliever Jared Robinson had two great outings this week for Binghamton. The six-foot lefty tossed four and ⅔ scoreless innings, only allowing two hits and striking out five batters in the process. His batting average against this week was .125 but had a WHIP of 1.07 after allowing three walks. Robinson has a high strikeout rate but gets himself into trouble with the walks. If he can limit the base-on-balls and keep the base paths clear, he could potentially lower his 5.56 season ERA and become a reliable arm out of Binghamton’s pen.
High-A Brooklyn Cyclones
Even though the New York Mets top three hitting prospects all hit together in this Brooklyn line-up, things couldn’t seem to get going for them. This week the Cyclones best player was power-hitting second basemen, Luke Ritter. On the week, Ritter played in three games, going 4-for-10 with a solo home run. On the season, Luke is slashing .246/.274/.449 with an OPS of .723 and four round-trippers.
Ritter has a lot of power but strikes out in high clips. To be more productive, he needs to limit the k’s and put more balls in play. This Cyclones offense needs to pick up quickly before falling even further behind in the High-A East division.
Luke Ritter ordered an oppo taco for one. 🌮@BKCyclones | #AmazinStartsHere pic.twitter.com/TBMzLsR3iN
— Mets Player Development (@MetsPlayerDev) May 30, 2021
The Brooklyn Cyclones pitching wasn’t much better than its hitting this week. One bright spot was right-handed reliever Hunter Parsons who tossed four and ⅔ scoreless innings. The 23-year-old totaled four strikeouts after allowing only three hits and one walk. These were Parsons’s first two appearances at the High-A level, and he looked dominant, even getting the Cyclones out of a bases-loaded jam. His season ERA between the two classes is 1.20, with a total of twenty-three strikeouts. Parsons is an excellent addition to this struggling Brooklyn team.
https://twitter.com/connornewcomb_/status/1397350504448024577?s=21
Low-A St. Lucie Mets
Jose Peroza has shined for the St. Lucie Mets this week as he’s hit the cover off the ball. Peroza played in five games, going 7-for-15 with two homers and ten RBI’s, finishing the week with a slash line of .467/.619/.933. After his monumental week, he increased his season numbers to .262/.438/.426 with an OPS of .864 and twelve RBI’s. If Peroza can continue to trend in the right direction for the Mets organization, this would be their third solid third base prospect, including Brett Baty and Mark Vientos.
The St. Lucie Mets split their doubleheader today.
José Peroza hit two home runs and knocked in six runs.
Shervyen Newton and Cole Kleszcz each hit their first home run of the season. pic.twitter.com/riqq4OffBq
— MetsMinors.Net (@Mets_Minors) May 30, 2021
Mets former 12th round pick Matt Cleveland had a great week out of the bullpen for the St. Lucie Mets. The 6’3″ righty tossed five and ⅓ scoreless innings, only allowing two hits and striking out eight. Cleveland was a starter back in 2019 for the Brooklyn Cyclones but converted into a bullpen arm here in 2021. The conversion seems to be working well for so far for Cleveland, as these were his first three outings of the season for him.
