Mack Attack: July 7, 2008

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Monday, July 7, 2008

Phils: 41 losses - Marlins: 42 – Mets: 43 - Braves: 47 – Nats: 56

Orlando Hernandez tossed four innings in a rookie-level Gulf Coast League game against the Cardinals. He allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out six and walking one in a 62-pitch effort. El Duque threw an extra 15 pitches in the bullpen to build up his pitch count - Rubin

Does the “AAA” Subs Make a Difference?

Did you ever wonder if this Omar philosophy to have all these retreads at AAA actually work in a year like this one (which has had so many injuries). I mean, isn’t keeping old farts around with MLB experience suppose to fit in perfectly when your starters go down for a few games?

Well, this is a manner year for Mets injuries and the direct flight from NO/LGA has been working overtime. So, how has this paid off:

Fernando Tatis: 89 at bats .258/.287/.315
Raul Casanova: 55 at bats .273/.344/.364
Trot Nixon: 35 at bats .171/.293/.286
Chris Aguila 9 at bats .111/.111/.200
Brady Clark 8 at bats .250/.400/.250
Gustavo Molina 7 at bats .143/.250/.143
Robinson Cancel 4 at bats .250/.250/.250
Abraham Nunez 2 at bats .000/.000/.000
Argenis Reyes 1 at bat .000/.000/.000

Help me out here… am I missing something? Do see any huge influx of power and efficiency from any of these fossils?

And wouldn’t this be a good time to rethink your New Orleans roster for next season and have guys like Jon Niese, Bobby Parnell, Eric Brown, Caleb Stewart, Mike Carp, Nick Evans, and a bunch of other great young minor leaguers that can run faster to the plane, be in better shape when they get to CitiField, and spot star with a little pizzazz..?

But, of course, that’s just me…

A Look Back at the Trades:

5/25/06:

Acquired LHP Dave Williams

2 cups of coffee with Mets

Traded RHP Robert Manuel and cash

Still struggling at AA

Conclusion: A wash…

Zephyrs:

Josh Petersen was promoted to Triple-A New Orleans, filling the void created by Chris Aguila and Argenis Reyes’ call-ups to the majors

B-Mets:

Nick Evans homered and drove in a pair, but the Akron Aeros scored in five different innings for a 14-5 win over the Binghamton Mets at NYSEG Stadium Sunday. Binghamton has dropped three straight to Akron.

Akron (55-33) didn’t trail after a three-run first. Wes Hodges opened the scoring with a two-run triple off Jose Sanchez before coming in on Matt Whitney’s base hit up the middle. Brandon Chaves scored on a Sanchez (8-5) wild pitch in the second to put the Aeros ahead 4-0.

Evans got the B-Mets (48-40) on the board in the fourth, with a leadoff homer to left-center off Ryan Edell (5-5). However, Akron put the game away with a four-run fifth. Stephen Head doubled in a run before scoring on an error. Wyatt Toregas added a two-run double later in the frame for an 8-1 Akron lead. Whitney doubled in a run in the seventh and Toregas hit a three-run homer to put Akron up 12-1. Jonathan Malo, Jose Coronado and Fernando Martinez connected on three straight singles in the bottom of the seventh, the latter scoring Malo with Binghamton’s second run.Hodges closed out Akron’s scoring with a two-run homer in the eighth. The B-Mets scored twice in the bottom of the eighth. After Mike Carp walked and Ambiorix Concepcion doubled, Salomon Manriquez singled both in. Martinez led off the ninth with a double, later scoring on Evans’ double for Binghamton’s final run.

Lucy:

SP Dillon Gee (3.22) once again proved that he is the ace of the squad, throwing 8 innings of scorelss ball in Lucy’s 1-0 win over Vero Beach… look for Gee to be the first late season promotion to Binghamton to help them in their pennant race… the Mets had only 2 hits in the entire game and both were by 3B Shawn Bowman (.326)…

K-Port:

Saturday night was the first game Wilmer Flores went hitless as a professional… sent him back home (sic)…

DSL Mets:

Team Leaders:

SS Francisco De Los Santos: .333/.727/.333
LF Julio Concepcion: .313/.414/.424
OF Andres Perez: .313/.450/.313
SP Gonzalez Germen: 2-0, 0.80, 0.65
SP Armando Rodriquez: 2-0, 1.52, 0.98
RP Samuel Tavares 3-0, 0.00, o.71

VSL Mets:

Team Leaders:

SS Jose Belorin: .330/.408/.387
LF Adrian Perela: .296/.400/.481
SP Jhonathan Torrez: 5-1, 2.68, 1.01
SP Orlando Tovar: 0-1, 1.54, 1.07
RP Jhoan Burgos: 1-1, 0.42, 0.80

Minor League Bios:

Nick Evans 1B R R 6' 2" 180 20 01-30-1986

Evans came to pro-ball straight out of St. Mary’s High School, Phoeniz, Arizona.

The Mets chose Evans in the 5th round of the 2004 draft and received a $217,500 bonus on his signing day. He immediately reported to the GCL Mets and hit .258 in 50 games. Evans was 3rd in the Gulf Coast League in extra-base hits and runs and 5th in homers. Scout.com ranked him the 34th Mets prospect that year. In 2005, Evans played a ‘full’ season for the short-season Brooklyn team, hitting .252/.302/.407. He was named Player of the Week during the period of 6/20-6/26/05.

Baseball America ranks Evans as the 30th prospect in the system, OnDeck had him 28th, and InsidePitch put him #14. In addition, the pre-season John Sickles rating was C and Evans was ranked as the 18th Mets prospect. Baseball Think Factory said in Nov ’06 that Evans might the Mets’ ‘sleeper’ prospect. Their actual quote: “33 doubles and 15 HR at Hagerstown this year – some of that, particularly the double total, is helped by the ballpark, but it’s not all park-fueled. He was drafted as a 3B but was quickly moved to 1B; if he’d stayed at 3B he’d probably be on a lot more radars. I think he’ll add power; the question will be “how much” and “how soon”.

In 2006, Evans played a full season at H-Ball and posted .254/.320/.419. He led the South Atlantic League in games played, and was 5th in at bats.

John Sickles has him as the #14 2007 Mets prospect. In February 2007, Scout.com ranked Evans as the 9th top Mets prospect.

In 2007, Evans played the entire season for St. Lucie (.286/.374/.476 in 378 at bats, 15 HRs, 54 RBIs, 25 doubles, 64 strikeouts).

In September 2007, Evans was assigned to play in the Hawaiian Winter League (which is always a sign that the organization wants to invest more time and money in you). Also in September, Baseball America ranked Evans as the 9th top player in the Florida State League for a ‘big season’.

In November 2007, ‘Project Prospect’ listed Evans as the 70th top prospect in baseball, Baseball America had him on the ‘best of the rest’ Mets prospect list, and Scouts.com had Evans as the 9th top Mets prospect. ‘P.P.’ said:

It’s true. There simply isn’t an argument to be made that Carp out-hit Evans in 2007. Evans had a much more productive offensive season. But we’re not going to look past the fact that Carp was significantly better than Evans at the plate in 2006 and has played a level above the 6-foot-2, 180-pounder for each of the last two seasons – despite being five months younger. Our developing speed metric has them as similar runners, as well. Evans showed above-average strike-zone judgment in St. Lucie. His 2006 and 2007 power numbers are pretty similar, his contact rate just increased. A product of the 2004 Draft (134th overall pick), Evans could be big-league ready by 2009. We see him as a potential solid-average regular at the moment.

In December 2007, Jonathan Mayo/MLB.com said:

A 2004 fifth-round pick, Evans put up some pretty solid numbers in the Florida State League, with 15 homers, 25 doubles and a .476 slugging percentage at age 21. That might not sound that terrific, but it put him seventh in slugging and tied for ninth in homers.

In late January 2007, Baseball America ranked Evans as the 20th Mets prospect.

In February 2008, ScoutingBook.com listed the 238 top prospects in 2008 baseball and they ranked Evans as 139th, stating:

The Mets 5th round selection in the 2004 amateur draft, Evans always put up solid numbers, but really broke open in the summer of 2007. Firmly taking hold of his future as middle of the order power bat, Evans hit .286/.374/.476 in 378 ABs for St. Lucie. His blossoming as a power threat has scouts not only relisting him over the Mets other 1B prospect, Mike Carp... they're looking at a 30-homer, 100RBI future in the middle of the Mets lineup.

Also in February 2008, Rotoworld ranked Evans as the #10 Mets prospect, saying:

Evans replaced Carp as St. Lucie's first baseman and posted the same kind of line that Carp did in 2006. Carp was a year and a half younger at the time, but at 21, Evans was hardly old for the FSL. Also impressive was that he went from a 99/45 K/BB ratio in 511 at-bats in the Sally League to a 64/54 mark in 378 at-bats. Unfortunately, most of the right-handed hitter's success came against lefties (.354/.440/.596). He hit just .262/.351/.434 against righties. He's probably not going to blossom into a 25- or 30-homer guy, so he'll need to do a much better job of hitting for average versus righties going forward. Since he and Carp do cover up each other's weaknesses pretty well, there's a slight chance they could form a cheap platoon for the Mets in 2010. It'd be a more likely scenario if they were Giants or Royals.

In June 2008, BA did a post-draft adjustment of their top 10 Mets prospects and Evans was ranked #10, with the comments: “10. Nick Evans, 1b - Another Double-A masher (.295, nine homers), he destroys lefthanded pitching.”

In June 2008, Baseball America wrote:

Double-A Binghamton 1B/LF Nick Evans (Mets) proved he wasn't quite ready for prime time by hitting just .174/.208/.304 in a 23 at-bat big league trial this season. That's OK. He's still just 22 and is turning in a fine season in the Eastern League, where he ranks second in slugging (.566) and fourth in extra-base hits (32), despite spending a couple weeks in the Nationals League. He batted .407/.448/.741 (11-for-27) last week, with two homers, a double, a triple, seven RBIs, six runs, two walks and four strikeouts .