Alex Ramirez has emerged as one of the top prospects in the Mets system with his incredibly hot start to the season. With four more hits on Sunday, he is showing no signs of slowing down. He extended his league lead in hits (he has 47, while his closest competitor has 37) and ranks in the top five in the league in doubles (2nd), triples (1st), average (2nd), slugging (2nd), and OPS (3rd).

AAA: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (13-22) 3, Syracuse Mets (13-22) 1  Box Score

• Tzu-Wei Lin SS: 3-for-4, R, HR, RBI, CS, .222/.300/.444
• Juan Loyo C: 1-for-2, BB, K, .500/.667/.500
• Mark Vientos 3B: o-for-4, 2 K, .202/.308/.438

The Mets’ offense couldn’t get anything going on Sunday as they scored just one run on five hits. Lin had over half of the team’s hits and, with his sixth inning home run, was produced their lone run all by himself. Vientos’ recent resurgence experienced a brief bump in the road with his hitless game, but he is still hitting .286/.412/.714 for the month. His strikeout rate, however, remains at a career high of 30.7%.

• LHP Thomas Szapucki (L, 0-3, 3.00 ERA) 5.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, ER, 2 BB, K
• LHP Andrew Mitchell (0-0, 3.95 ERA) 1.0 IP
• RHP Stephen Nogosek (1-0, 1.54 ERA) 1.0 IP, K

Szapucki continues to have himself a successful season in Triple-A and has allowed no more than three runs in any of his first six starts of the year. The trajectory of his start was a major departure from his previous five, as he entered the game with a 15.75 K/9 and had at least four strikeouts in every start, but he still managed to get outs by pitching to contact.

Mitchell had a very efficient seven-pitch (six of which were strikes) perfect inning. Fresh off of a brief MLB cameo, Nogosek continued his strong season with a perfect inning of his own. He now has a 14:2 K:BB ratio over 11 2/3 innings this season.

AA: New Hampshire Fisher Cats (15-17) 5, Binghamton Rumble Ponies (11-21) 4  Box Score

• Francisco Álvarez DH: 2-for-5, RBI, K, .245/.342/.441
• Brett Baty LF: 1-for-4, R, 2B, BB, 3 K, .284/.366/.466
• Ronny Mauricio SS: 1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, .267/.309/.457

Mauricio got the Rumble Ponies on the board early with a two-run double in the top of the first, but the Binghamton lineup was largely held in check from that point forward. A solo home run by Jeremy Vasquez in the sixth and a RBI single by Álvarez in the eighth accounted for the rest of the scoring in the game. Álvarez had been mired in a month-long slump, but has shown signs of life in recent games, going 8-for-19 over the last five games. Still, his prestigious power has not manifested itself in a long time, with his last home run coming on April 17, so it would be good to see that reemerge before declaring the end to the slump.

In many respects, Mauricio looks like the same player he was in 2021 – lots of power and poor plate discipline – but he has done a good job of cutting down on strikeouts so far in May. After striking out in 27.5% of his plate appearances in April, he has only struck out 18.5% of the time in May. Baty’s .832 OPS is the highest of the trio of top prospects in Binghamton, but his .405 BABIP is also far and away the highest of the three.

• RHP Jose Chacin (0-0, 1.32 ERA) 2.0 IP, BB, 3 K
• RHP Trey Cobb (2-1, 0.68 ERA) 3.0 IP, 3 H, 6 K
• RHP Yeizo Campos (L, 2-1, 6.88 ERA) 1.0 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, BB, 2 K

Chacin has gotten off to a fantastic start to this season and received a quick promotion to Binghamton from Brooklyn after just four starts. He has allowed no more than two runs in any start this year. Sunday’s outing seemed to get off to a similarly strong start, but, despite pitching into at least the fourth inning in every start this year, Chacin was removed from the game after two innings and 31 pitches. No reason was given for his removal. With another strong outing on Sunday, Cobb has a 19:2 K:BB ratio in 13 1/3 innings pitched.

A+ (Game 1): Wilmington Blue Rocks (15-14) 3, Brooklyn Cyclones (13-16) 2  Box Score

• Warren Saunders 3B: 3-for-4, R, 3B, CS, .245/.322/.358
• JT Schwartz 1B: 2-for-4, RBI, .255/.381/.362
• Shervyen Newton SS: 1-for-4, 2 K, E, .143/.333/.214

With 11 hits in Sunday’s first game, the Cyclones had plenty of opportunities to score. Unfortunately, they went just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and were limited to just the two runs. Newton has struggled to put the ball in play in his first few games with Brooklyn, as 11 out of his first 18 plate appearances with his new team have ended in a walk (4) or a strikeout (7). Saunders is hitting .429/.500/.643 in five May games.

• RHP Oscar Rojas (3-1, 2.45 ERA) 1.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 K
• RHP Junior Santos (0-4, 5.01 ERA) 4.2 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 6 K
• RHP Jesus Vargas (L, 2-1, 2.03 ERA) 1.2 IP, 3 H, ER, 4 K

Rojas started this game on Saturday evening, but between delays caused by bad weather and a 28-pitch first inning, he only pitched in the one inning. Despite the rocky outing, Rojas has still had a very good season and has a 29:4 K:BB ratio in 25 2/3 innings pitched. The game was suspended due to the poor weather after the second inning and picked back up in third with Santos on the mound. Perhaps starting from the third inning took some pressure off, because Santos had the best outing of his season. He tied his season high with six strikeouts and was one out shy of his season high for innings pitched.

A+ (Game 2): Wilmington Blue Rocks (16-14) 4, Brooklyn Cyclones (13-17) 1  Box Score

• JT Schwartz 1B: 2-for-4, .265/.385/.367
• Brandon McIlwain DH: 1-for-3, 2 K, .260/.341/.397
• Jaylen Palmer CF: 1-for-3, RBI, BB, K,.139/.279/.167

It was another rough outing for the Cyclones’ offense. They had just eight hits – all singles – in the game and somehow had a worse showing with runners in scoring position (2-for-12) than they did in the first game. Their lone run came on Palmer’s sixth inning single. That hit nearly gave the Cyclones a late lead, but McIlwain was thrown out at the plate.

• RHP Daison Acosta (0-4, 7.88 ERA) 5.0 IP, H, 2 BB, 4 K
• RHP Sammy Tavarez (0-0, 2.45 ERA) 1.0 IP, ER, K
• RHP Evy Ruibal (L, 0-1, 6.52 ERA) 0.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, BB

It took six starts, but Acosta finally had that outing that he needed to get on track during his return from Tommy John surgery. This was both Acosta’s first scoreless outing and his longest of the season. His four strikeouts set a season high, and he only needed 60 pitches to make it through the five innings.

St. Lucie Mets (23-10) 5, Lakeland Flying Tigers (13-19) 4  Box Score

• Alex Ramirez CF: 4-for-5, R, RBI, CS, .362/.394/.562
• William Lugo 3B: 2-for-5, RBI, K, .276/.336/.438
• Justin Guerrera 2B: 2-for-4, R, 3B, RBI, 2 K, .213/.292/.335

The Mets had 12 hits in Sunday’s ten-inning game and often made the most of their scoring opportunities, going 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Ramirez continues to rake, as he had yet another multi-hit game. The league has shown no signs of being able to adjust to him: his .390/.400/.661 May slash line is even better than his .338/.390/.479 April one.

If there’s one criticism you could have against Ramirez, it’s that he hasn’t been particularly patient at the plate, but if you can collect hits with such regularity with a swing-happy approach, there’s little incentive to work the count. A promotion may be needed soon to genuinely challenge Ramirez. Lugo has gone under the radar a bit this season, but his .356/.420/.511 has solidified him as one of the main contributors in the St. Lucie lineup.

• RHP Christian Scott (0-0, 7.36 ERA) 2.0 IP, H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
• RHP Jaison Vilera (0-1, 10.30 ERA) 3.0 IP, 3 H, ER, 2 BB, 2 K
• LHP Nathan Lavender (W, 4-1, 0.60 ERA) 2.0 IP, H, BB, 4 K

Scott struggled with his control in his first start of the season. He needed 39 pitches to make it through two innings and only threw 23 of those pitches for strikes. Lavender has a 14.4 K/9 this season and has allowed just one run in 15 innings pitched.