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MMN Recap: Álvarez Blasts Fourth Home Run Of The Season

By Daniel Muras

April 18, 2022 No comments

Photo by Ed Delany of MMN


Columbus Clippers (9-3) 4, Syracuse Mets (1-10) 3  Box Score

Despite only recording six hits, the Mets’ offense had plenty of opportunities in Sunday’s game, but they went just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. Following a phenomenal 2021 season, Lee has struggled to start 2022, but he reached base three times in this game and has had a hit in the last three games. It is interesting that he has predominantly played center field this year when last year he was mostly in right field, although this may just be because there is no other clear option in center on the current roster. Blankenhorn has had an impressive power surge to start the season as he now has three home runs in the first seven games of the year. Mark Vientos was hitless with four strikeouts.

The Mets have only won one of the their first eleven games of the season and the pitching staff is mostly to blame for this. They have the worst ERA in the league and have allowed 7.3 runs per game. In this context, only allowing four runs feels like a victory, even if that wasn’t the ultimate result of the game. Montgomery continues to have a solid season with Syracuse; he has an excellent 12:1 K:BB ratio through 12 innings pitched. Holderman gave up his first run of the season on a sixth-inning home run. Nogosek has struck out seven batters without walking anyone over 5.1 innings to start the season.

Binghamton Rumble Ponies (3-5) 9, Bowie Baysox (4-4) 6  Box Score

The Rumble Ponies’ offense only had one run through the first four innings, but would explode for eight more runs over the final four offensive frames of the game. Six of the team’s ten hits in Sunday’s game went for extra bases, including home runs by Álvarez, Jake Mangum, and Luke Ritter. With two more extra base hits in this game, Álvarez’s power numbers in the early days of the season are truly something to behold. He has only played six games, but seven of his nine hits have gone for extra bases and his four home runs rank him second in the league. Perhaps the only minor issue one could take with the early part of his season is that he has struck out 25% of the time. Baty’s performance has been lost a bit in the hype, but, even with an unsustainable .550 BABIP, he has been fantastic as well.

Kisena started on Sunday and, while he did allow several baserunners and threw 39 pitches before exiting, it was not immediately clear why he was removed from the game. He had two runners on in the second, but had not yet allowed a run to score. It may have just been a pitch count issue, or it also could have been due to injury. Montes de Oca has not allowed a single hit over the four innings he has pitched this year. The sample size is way too small make much of his improved control, but it is good nonetheless to see he walk rate drop from 7.2 to 4.5 BB/9 while his strikeout rate has increased.

Brooklyn Cyclones (6-3) 6, Jersey Shore BlueClaws (1-8) 1  Box Score

Everyone contributed to the Cyclones’ win on Sunday: each player in the lineup reached base at least once and the team’s ten hits were spread out among seven different players. McIlwain has clearly emerged from being a relatively obscure minor league free agent signing a year ago to now becoming the early star for the Cyclones. He has had success getting hits and stealing bases over the first week of the season, but flashed his power for the first time with a big home run to left field to get the Cyclones on the board in the second inning.

A week after a disastrous first start of the season, in which he was knocked out of the game in the first inning, Ocampo was unhittable over three innings on Sunday. While not allowing a hit is an improvement, Ocampo was plagued by walks during his outing and just half of his 56 pitches were strikes. Hejka has looked strong over the first week of the season, striking out five and walking none over three scoreless innings.

St. Lucie Mets (7-2) 5, Clearwater Threshers (1-8) 4  Box Score

Home runs by Lugo and Omar De Los Santos powered the Mets to victory on Sunday. Lugo has struggled with strikeouts throughout is career and, despite his very strong slash line so far, he has still struck out in exactly half (14 of 28) his plate appearances. Ramirez, on the other hand, struggled with strikeouts last year but has dramatically improved in that category this year. He has struck out in just 13.9% of his plate appearances in 2022. He also now has an eight-game hitting streak, having recorded a hit in each game he has played this season. Consuegra has also impressed so far, even though his well-regarded power has not shown up yet outside of a few doubles, including one on Sunday.

2021 draft picks Ziegler, Seymour, and Lavender shone in Sunday’s game for St. Lucie. Ziegler, picked in the second round of last year’s draft, was nearly flawless in his second start of the year. His lone blemish came on a home run in the fourth inning, against the last batter he would face before coming out of the game with 60 pitches. He struck out rehabbing major leaguer Odubel Herrera twice in his start. Seymour’s first appearance of the season was a four-inning start, but he was much more dominant in his single-inning appearance on Sunday. He only needed eight pitches to strike out two batters and finish a perfect inning.

Lavender followed with two perfect innings himself, in which he threw 19 of 22 pitches for strikes.

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Written by Daniel Muras

I fell in love with the Mets during the 2006 playoff run and became obsessed with the Mets minor league system while looking for a brighter future during the 2009-2014 era. I hope to provide interesting analysis of the minors and am excited to have the opportunity to write for MMO and MMN.

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