Mets vs. Puerto Rico Postgame Notes
Mets lost 6-1 to team Puerto Rico … who cares, the game means nothing and I should hope the PR All-Stars can beat a Mets’ split squad that is further decimated by players gone to WBC teams.
One good thing about the loss, is the fact that Carlos Beltran looked good and drove in a few runs.
Some notes on the game:
- Lastings Milledge swings REALLY hard, and has good bat speed. He does look like he’s got the goods to be a Major Leaguer, and I now understand the comparisons to Gary Sheffield.
- Kaz Matsui looks OK, he made a few nice plays in the field. Also, he did something mostly unnoticeable in the 4th , with Milledge on 2B: while batting RH, used an inside-out swing to push an inside pitch on the ground to the right side to move Milledge to third. (Wright drove him in on the next pitch with another ground ball to the right side.) That’s something I never saw him do, and it is defintely one of the “little” things he needs to do, and Willie Randolph notices. However, he still looks absolutely awful from the left side of the plate; in two of his at-bats, he looked like he was merely waving at pitches, not swinging.
- Mike Pelfrey is the real deal.
- He has GREAT mechanics; reminds me of Seaver/Koosman: very fluid, lots of leg power, not much strain on the arm
- He showed a good hard fastball, spotting it on the outside of the plate
- Good composure and confidence. He looked good vs. what was essentially All-Star competition; he faced Bernie Williams, Alex Rios, Carlos Beltran, Javy Lopez, and Pudge Rodriguez (who he struck out looking) — not a slouch in the bunch.
- Only negative: threw too many balls. But it’s early in spring training, hopefully he’ll have better command as he continues to compete. I’d also like to see his off-speed pitches.
- I think we may see him later in the year, making a few starts in August/September. He could move as quickly as Mark Prior did.
- Fernando Martinez made his pro debut
- This is an outfielder that the Mets signed out of Dominican Republic as a 16-year-old for $1.4M, including $100,000 toward his studies. He has been compared to a young Ted Williams (hmmm, so was Straw man)
- He definitely looks like an athlete, and is a big boy for 17 years older; in fact, he looks a lot older than 17
- That is, until he got up to hit. In only one at-bat against a very tough pitcher (Fernando Cabrera of Indians) and was clearly overmatched. But hey, it was his very first pro at-bat, and he’s only 17!
- Brett Harper looks like a big lug who loves the low pitch. He might be the reason the Mets didn’t mind trading Mike Jacobs — not because Harper will hit 11 HRs in 100 Abs, but because he looks like a very similar player/hitter: LH 1B, lowball hitter — and put up similar numbers in the minors (though not as high a batting average). If I were Mets management, and was able to look at things objectively — which means dismissing Jacobs’ outburst as an aberration of Shane Spencerlike proportions — then I couldn’t justify keeping both Harper and Jacobs in the organization. And since Jacobs’ stock shot up from last September’s performance, it made sense to trade him while his value was high.
The next televised game is Monday afternoon at 1:00 pm on ESPN again, against the Indians. So for those of you who don’t have jobs, enjoy the game!
About the Author
Joe Janish began MetsToday in 2005 to provide the unique perspective of a high-level player and coach -- he earned NCAA D-1 All-American honors as a catcher and coached several players who went on to play pro ball. As a result his posts often include mechanical evaluations, scout-like analysis, and opinions that go beyond the numbers.
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