As the New York Mets look for their first series sweep of the year tonight against the Atlanta Braves, the Mets 4 minor league affiliates (currently in season), completed their own affiliate sweep today going 4-0 on Sunday afternoon, wrapping up a very good week for 3 of the 4 clubs. The excitement in the third week of baseball stems not only from the games themselves, but also the arrival and departure of some very notable players.
In what was undoubtedly the biggest promotion of a Mets home grown prospect since Wright or Reyes, Ike Davis was called up to the New York Mets on Monday the 19th and has not disappointed. 
Ike is batting a cool .350 in 20 AB over six games, including one Mammoth homerun out to the newly named Shea Bridge, while collecting two RBIs. Mike Jacobs was subsequently DFA'd and made his arrival in Buffalo known, going 3 for 6 today with a homerun in his first game for the Bison. Two other top 10 Met prospects, Brad Holt (P) – Binghamton and Jeffrey Marte (3B) – Savannah returned from injuries and played their first respective games. More to come on them later in the article.
BUFFALO BISON 
(Triple A, International League)
RECORD: Overall – (10-7) 2nd place in Northern Division — Week 3 – (4-3)
BATTING RANK: 5th out of 14 teams
PITCHING RANK: 3rd out of 14 teams
Despite losing Mr. Davis to the Mets early in the week, the team actually jumped up from 11th to 5th place in the league in batting with a .272 team batting average. The team has continued to pitch very well as a whole with a team ERA of 3.26 allowing a total of only 55 earned runs on the year. Buffalo is the only team to have pitched a complete game in the league, which came from R.A Dickey. Individually, the players are all coming into their own after a few slow starts from some of the bigger names. Thole and Tejada were both below the mendoza line after the first few weeks, but have shown some promise raising their averages. Tejada especially has jumped from .080 to .233 in 7 games. FMart continues to show signs of life as well raising his average to .268. Fernando has not played since Friday night, and although I have not heard any information on him regarding an injury, this may be something to keep an eye out for. Hopefully we'll see him in the lineup tomorrow night, as an injury-free season for Martinez is crucial in his development. One other note – Manny Acosta was promoted to big leagues and is currently being used out of the pen in replacement of Igarashi who was placed on the 15 day DL due to a hamstring injury.
MVP of the Week: The batter of the week goes to lead-off man, Jason Pridie who's seen his average raise .56 points to .306 on the season. Over this period Pridie is 12 for 30 (.400) with 4 extra base hits including one homerun and 9 RBIs. His strikeout totals are still higher than he would like but he is showing that he could be a very valuable asset on the Mets bench over such guys as Cattalanotto and GMJ.
Pitcher of the Week: Goes to veteran knuckle-baller, RA Dickey. Dickey had two starts this week and went 8 innings while allowing only 2 ER in each start. The most impressive stat for me is that in those 16 innings, he has only allowed one walk and has recorded 7 strikeouts. Whether or not Dickey is capable of producing these numbers still in the majors is yet to be determined and he will most likely not receive the chance this year as guys like Takahashi, Gee and Nieve would most likely get the call in case of injuries.
Week in Preview: The Bison conclude a 6 game road trip with the series finale tomorrow in Pawtucket, before returning home for an 8 game stand against the Durham Bulls and Louisville Bats.
BINGHAMTON B-METS
(Double A, Eastern League)
RECORD: Overall – (10-8) 2nd in the Eastern Division — (Week 3) – (4-3)
BATTING RANK: 1st out of 12 teams
PITCHING RANK: 11th out of 12 teams
Like their big brother Bison, the B-Mets completed the week with a 4 and 3 record. This is a very streaky team in regards to both hitting and pitching as evident by their team rankings. They are capable of putting large chunks of runs on the board at one time scoring 25 runs over a two game stretch against Portland early in the week. At the same time they are very capable of having large chunks of runs put on the board against them as well giving up 10 runs the next night against the Fisher Cats. They appear to be pitching better as of late and one of the main reasons they have been so poor, is the starting rotation experiment with Eddie Kunz who has gotten lit up in starts with an ERA over 10. Zack Lutz and Nick Evans continue to dominate at the plate. After being named Player of the week last week, Evans has shown absolutely no signs of slowing down. Lutz is currently tied for 1st in the league with 5 homeruns and Lucas Duda leads the league with 18 RBIs, followed closely in second by Nick Evans with 16 ribbies. One of the bigger stories for Binghamton was the return of highly touted pitcher, Brad Holt. Holt was obviously on a short least, pitching only 2 innings. He allowed 1 earned run on 3 hits including 2 Ks. I don't think that there is any doubt that having Holt back in the rotation will help out their overall team ERA.
MVP of the Week: Goes to Captain Kirk Niewenhuis! Capo has been red hot raising his average to .321 over the last week from .275. He has gone 12 for 32 (.375), including a 5 for 6 night in Portland with 2 doubles a homerun and 4 RBIs. Kirk's stock has really risen since last year, even being added to the Met's top ten prospects list by many scouts.
Pitcher of the Week: Although not overpowering this week, Scott Shaw has been on the receiving end of 2 B-Met victories this week, now with a personal record of (3-0). Shaw has pitched 11 2/3 innings this week giving up a total of 5 runs. The second of his starts (on Saturday) was increasingly promising as he lasted 6 2/3 cut down his # of walks.
Week in Preview: Binghamton is in the middle of a 6 game homestand and they welcome in the Portland SeaDogs tomorrow for a 3 game set. Binghamton just took 2 of 3 from them in Maine this past week. Next they will be traveling to Akron Ohio, to take on the Aeros for 3 before finishing the trip in Erie.
PORT ST. LUCIE METS
(Single A Advanced, Florida State League)
RECORD: Overall – (7-9) 5th in the South Division — Week 3 – (3-4)
BATTING RANK: 4th out of 12 teams
PITCHING RANK: 12th out of 12 teams
St. Lucie is really having a rough go at it with their pitching. They are the bottom-feeders in both Team ERA at 5.11 and runs allowed at 97 in 16 games (16 of which have been unearned). As mentioned in my first post, the rotation has a lot of potential with some young raw arms, but right now they are just getting hit early and hard. Their offense has been surprisingly good to start the year, leading the league with 14 team homeruns, spread out amongst 9 different players. Richard Lucas who has been gaining a lot of praise from scouts down in florida as of late and leads the team with 3 homers. He had, up until today, been in a dismal 0-20 streak but broke out of that today against Bradenton with 4 hits including a homerun and 2 RBIs. Andy Green made his return on Saturday and is batting .333 in two games.
MVP of the Week: Goes to the big Australian first baseman, Stefan Welch. Over the last week, Welch has gone 10 for 25 hitting at a .400 clip. He has had at least 2 hits, scored 1 run and driven in 1 run, in each of his last three games. On the year, he is batting .353 w/ runners in scoring position in 17 opportunities with 11 RBIs.
Pitcher of the week: For two weeks in a row, the 25 year old closer Manuel Alvarez gets the honors. Last week he recorded 4 saves. This week he recorded another save but also got 2 wins. He is the league leader in ERA, at 0.00 in 11 1/3 innings and 3rd with a WHIP of 0.78. If he keeps putting up #'s like this, he won't be leaving this spot any time soon.
Week in Preview: The Mets finish their series with the Marauders tomorrow in St. Lucie before going on a short 3 game road trip to Charlotte and then return home for a 3 game set with the Miracle of Ft. Myers.
SAVANNAH SAND GNATS
(Single A Low, South Atlantic League)
RECORD: Overall – (12-6) 1st in the Southern Division — Week 3 – (6-1)
BATTING RANKS: 5th out of 14 teams
PITCHING RANKS: 2nd out of 14 teams
Savannah has been on an absolute tear as of the last week. Before their current series with Hickory started this weekend, the Sand Gnats had been on an 8 game road trip and went 6-2. This includes a 4 game series against the Augusta Green Jackets who happen to share 1st place with Savannah at 12-6. The Gnats took the first 3 games of the series before losing the finale. During the 3 wins, the Gnats outscored the Jackets by a score of 36 to 11. An impressive offensive performance especially in the house of the league leaders. The pitching staff continues to impress led by James Fuller and Mark Cohoon, eaching sporting ERAs under 2. Lefty pitcher Darin Gorski has pitched great as well, returning now to the bullpen after getting a chance to start last week.
After not hitting any homeruns over the first 2 weeks, the Gnats put up five over the past week, including two from Stud Wilmer Flores. 2/3rds of the starting lineup is batting over .270, led again by Flores. Catcher Kai Groanuer and centerfielder Rafael Fernandez continue to rake each batting over .300 followed closely by speedy OF Zapata and 2B Alonzo Harris. The Gnats did receive a boost when 3rd base prospect Jeffrey Marte returned to the team after missing the first few weeks with an injury. Marte has had a very rough time though to start as he is only 1 for 19 in his first 5 games of action. When he gets going, the tandem of Flores and Marte is going to be very fun to watch.
MVP of the Week: No surprise here, Wilmer Flores is an absolute animal. Flores is currently in amidst of a 10 game hitting streak in which he is batting an impressive .381. Amazingly prior to today's game, he had doubled in 5 straight games as well. He leads the team with 17 RBIs and continues to impress everyone who comes across his path.
Pitcher of the Week: Much like Mr. Flores, James Fuller continues to get it done since the beginning of the season on the mound. Fuller earned 2 more victories this week and is now 3-1 on the year. In 14.2 innings this week, Fuller gave up 3 ERs while striking out 12 and walking only two. We'll see this time next week if he can stay here for a 3rd week in a row.
Week in Preview: Savannah will remain at home with two more games against the Hickory Crawdads. After that the Lexington Legends come in for 4 game series.
As always, for more information about all of the Met's Minor league affiliates come check out the Minor Mets section of the Metsparadise forum for all game and series threads as well as a whole lot more.
