213 Miles From Shea

The Mets and Marlins play game two today on Fox. Last night the Marlins
took a quick 3-0 lead on the Mets but the Amazin's roared back with two
quick runs, and then scored another two runs to put the Mets in the
lead for good. Today is a big day for the Mets as they get part of
their rotation back with Niese as he replaces Perez who was placed on
DL (or purgatory, whatever you prefer).

Niese will be making his first start since May 16th. On the season he
is 1-2 over 41.1 innings and has an ERA of 4.79 and in his last three
starts he has pitched 12.1 innings and had an ERA of 8.76. He has
pitched twice against the Marlins this year and has allowed 8 runs, 5
earned over 8 innings of work. The Fish have these numbers off of Niese:

The Marlins starter will be Nate Robertson (4-4, 4.30 ERA) and in his
last three starts he has pitched 17 innings and has an ERA of 4.15.
That number is the result of of one great start where he allowed no
earned runs over 6 innings and did terrible in two other starts. He has
had success against the Mets in his two starts against them with a 2-0
record over 10.2 innings with a 2.53 ERA. The Mets have these numbers
against Nate:

Lets Go Mets!

So far we have looked at a couple of right handed pitchers, so lets take a look at a hitter for a change. While the best hitter was reviewed in the second part of this series, Bryce Harper, there are some other names that are catching some attention, including Zach Cox.

Cox is primarily a third basemen but he played a bit a second (actually this is something that we'll discuss later). Anyway Cox plays for Arkansas. He was actually drafted in 2008 by the Dodgers in the 20th round (607th overall). In high school he hit .449 while hitting 33 homers. First let's take a look at his college stats:

Deck McGuire is one of the pitchers that expected to go early in the Draft as well. If his name sounds familiar to you, that's because he is featured on Mets.com as a player the Mets are probably interested in. The 6-6 right handed pitcher is currently at Georgia Tech. He had a very impressive campaign at Deep Run High School where he went 10-1 in his senior season with a 1.35 ERA while recording 129 strikeouts. Here's a look at McGuire's stats, once again thanks to Amazin Avenue who also a profile on McGuire that can be found here:

By looking at his stats, a few impressive numbers pop up. The first is his innings pitched. He has had a good amount, and fairly consistent amount of innings over the last few years. His K/BB ratios also look pretty good, especially last seasons, which is about 4 K's per BB.

The scouting reports point to his command as a reason to be picked. His ceiling isn't as high as the other draftees that will be drafted early (meaning he probably won't be a star) but these same reports say that he is a safe pick, that he will be in the majors soon and he projects to be a third starter in the rotation. This is mainly due to his fastball. It maxes at about 93 mph however it doesn't have a lot of movement on it. He also has a slider (described as a power slider) and a changeup.

What is nice about McGuire is that he is close to coming to the majors and that he seems to be fairly consistent. The problem with that is though when you thave the 7th pick, there's a part of any organization that might want to take a risk on a guy who isn't as developed by has a much higher ceiling. That being said, if this guy is going to become a third starter, well thats cool with me.

Some quick hits to go with your Saturday Morning Peanut Butter Crunch:

The Mets try to get back on the right track tonight as they return to the comforts of home and Citi Field for another homestand, starting off with the Marlins. The Marlins have really had the Mets number this year as they beat them at home in April and then swept them in a four game series in May. In the division, the Marlins right now stand a half a game ahead of the Mets and as we all know, in order to win a division, you need to beat the division.

The Mets will try to take their first step in the right direction relying on the unpredictable knuckleball of R.A. Dickey, who has been nothing but good news for the Mets since he has come up. In his first three starts he is 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA over 19.0 innings. He has had very limited exposure to the current Marlins lineup, and these are the numbers that those batters have against him:

On the other side of the rubber will be Sanchez (5-2, 2.89) who pitched very well agaisnt the Mets earlier this season (7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER). In his last three games Sanchez has been dominent posting 3 wins (decision wins) with a 0.90 ERA. The Mets have these numbers against Sanchez over his career:

Lets Go Mets!

We are only days away from the draft, so its time to look at some of the players that could be donning a Mets uniform soon. The Mets, as you probably have heard a million times now, have the 7th draft pick, so they can pick a player that has the potential to be a star. The only news to officially come out of the Mets front office is that Minaya says the Mets have the money to spend over their draft slot and take the player with the best available player (for example, in the bizzaro world chance that the first 6 teams pass on Harper, the Mets will probably pick him up).

Heyman of Sports Illustrated said that the Mets like Matt Harvey very much, so he seems like a good player to start looking at. Havey, the 6 foot 4 inch tall right handed pitcher comes out of UNC. Harvey was drafted 118 overall in the third round of the 2007 draft by the Angels but elected to College instead. He was a star high school pitcher who in his senior year for Fitch high school had a 0.64 ERA over 54.2 innings pitched. Baseball America in Feburary of 2007 named Harvey the #1 High School Prospect. A full description of his accolades can be found here.

He continued his success in college. While he his numbers do not look fantastic in 2009, his strikeout numbers have stayed fairly consistent throughout his time in college. Also an interesting numer is his K/BB ratio. The below are Matt Harvey's stats from College. This was posted on Amazin Avenue during their Harvey profile. As you can see, the ratio stayed fairly consitent (slightly better in 09) from 2008 to 2009, however, it got a lot better this past year, and its nearly 3 to 1.

Now time to go beyond the numbers (thanks to mlb.com). Harvey has a fastball that ranges between 96 and 97 mph and they report that there is some decent movement to it. He has three offspeed pitches that he mixes (Curveball, Slider, Changeup). According the report he has a feel for this pitches. The slider is new for him, the curveball was his out pitch in high school, but now he likes to use the silder more often instead. He still has a high draft stock because his problems that derailed him in 2009 have probably been corrected. He had some delivery issues, which if there are any lingering issues left would be his main weakness. However, he looks to be a good draft option for the Mets.

In a series that is a bit overkill, but exciting (because I love to share my overzealous love of baseball marketing schemes) we now look into the more interesting promotions in the month of June for Mets Minor League Teams:

Buffalo Bisons:

B-Mets: Nothing too interesting

St. Lucie Mets:

Savannah: Nothing too interesting as well

Brooklyn: They start in the middle of June, but they have some amazing promotions coming in June and really all season long. Just about everyone of them across the entire season will eventually be listed on this site, like the Upside Down Ike Davis bobble head they just announced for late August.. Anyway here are the June promotions.

June 19th: 10th Season Plaques. Beautiful.

June 24th: Home Replica Jersey!

Some quick hits to go with your Friday morning Strawberry Toaster Strudel:

This surprised me as much as its probably surprising you right now.

I mean I was really surprised when I heard this. I'm so surprised/shocked that I'm babbling right now so I should probably back up and explain what I'm talking about.

Last night I caught the end the Diamondback/Arizona game, when Heilman came on to pitch. Being a Mets fan, my initial reaction was something along the lines of “allright! Arizona just gave the game to the Dodgers!” When Heilman was introduced, he was announced as by far the best pitcher out of hte pen for the Diamondbacks as of late. The Dbacks bullpen, has been just awful. If you google it (with 2010) you will just see a list of terrible statistics.

Except for Aaron Heilman.

Heilman on the season has pitched slightly over 21 innings with a 3.09 ERA, which good for a reliever, but not necessarily great. However with the recent struggles of the Dbacks pen, that number is relatively great. Actually, what is beyond relatively great and is actually amazing is his last 16 outings. Over that time he has pitched 16.1 innings with, get this, an ERA of 1.10.

I guess I'm happy that he is having some sort of great revival. I am curious to see how long he will keep this up and if he may become a trading chip for the struggling Dbacks.