What the Mets prospects can work on in Triple-A

PORT ST. LUCIE — Mets general manager Billy Eppler gave some insight into the club’s decision-making process Monday when he said owner Steve Cohen told him to make the best baseball decision when it came to keeping scuffling DH Darin Ruf.

Fans had a hard time reconciling this with the baseball decision made over the weekend to option third baseman Brett Baty and third baseman/first baseman Mark Vientos to Triple-A Syracuse. Based on numbers alone, the duo had outperformed some veterans in Grapefruit League play. But it’s spring training, so the numbers don’t tell the whole story.

Baty, Vientos, catcher Francisco Alvarez and shortstop Ronny Mauricio all made great strides this spring and will continue to make them in Triple-A, where they do still have things to prove. They can become leaders on the field and off, build confidence and they can help Syracuse win.

They can also develop some consistency in their at-bats, their routines and especially defensively. Consistency is an important element the Mets are looking for from all of their prospects, but from these four especially.

For Alvarez, it’s about his setups. His pitch framing improved and he was tasked with catching the Mets’ top arms, but refining some small details will help the pitchers.

“I think for Alvy, it’s about being consistent with his setups and what he does on every pitch and just kind of being the same,” catching coach Glenn Sherlock told the Daily News. “You hear a lot of things, like do this and do that, but he needs to be himself. He needs to stick with something and just get really good at it. That was something we worked on with him, being consistent with his setups, not moving so much, getting up and down as far as the umpire goes. But he did a really good job. He has good hands, he’s very strong. He did a good job at framing in spring training.”

Sherlock continually reiterated how excited the organization is about their 21-year-old power-hitting catcher. The plan was always to start Alvarez in Triple-A with two healthy catchers in Omar Narvaez and Tomas Nido, the Mets had no choice but to send Alvarez to Syracuse because there weren’t enough games to go around.

The Mets don’t want to carry three catchers and they don’t want him to DH and ignore his catching responsibilities at a crucial point in his development. So they sent him to the minor leagues with a list of things to work toward.

“I think just handling the pitching staff and building up his endurance,” Sherlock said. “Concentrating on being an everyday catcher and catching a lot of games this year. In Triple-A, they’re going to play 150 games this year so he’s going to catch a lot of games. This is going to be a really good experience for him.”

Baty and Vientos had similar springs. They both started off hot at the plate and then cooled down toward the end. Their final numbers were great, with Baty slashing .325/.460/.425 with an .885 OPS and one home run, and Vientos going .278/.310/.481 with a .791 OPS and two home runs.

“I feel like I played well and I put together competitive ABs, like I try to do every night,” Baty said last week before the roster move was made. “I’ve played pretty consistent defense these last couple of weeks and really just showed that I made a lot of improvement over there.”

Close friends on and off the field, Vientos was able to show Baty around Miami, close to where he grew up in Plantation. They’ve been close for a few years now, despite the fact that they’ve been competing against one another at third base.

But now Vientos will be across the diamond at first base with the Syracuse Mets and he’ll have an opportunity to have continuity at one position.

“I’m pretty comfortable at first base,” he said. “I played a good amount last year and the year before, but as you get more reps at the position I get more comfortable.”

Baty made it a point to observe players like Eduardo Escobar, Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor and made changes to his pregame routine after seeing how some of the veterans structured their days. He plans to stick with them.

The speed of the game was impressed upon Baty and he feels as though he’s become more aware of it this spring and is better equipped to manage it.

“Really shoring up just the catch first and slowing the game down,” Baty said. “Not being in a rush over there and knowing how much time I have. If you look at all of the elite fielders, they all know how much time they have. It might be a bang-bang player over there, but they always know the exact amount of time they have before the runner gets there. That’s what I’m kind of focusing on.”

The fact that the Mets have four homegrown prospects who are nearly ready for the big leagues is a good indicator of the organization’s development processes. Fans may not like these decisions, but the Mets are confident that having patience now will lead to success in the future.

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from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/dVRqNT1