We'll start our yearly offseason fantasy coverage with another look at impact rookies. Last year, we profiled Kris Bryant, Noah Syndergaard, Carlos Rodon, Joc Pederson and several others. It may be hard to believe after seeing Mets LHP Steven Matz pitch in the postseason that he will still be a rookie in 2016, but he only pitched 35.2 regular season innings, so is under the threshold for "graduated" status. Matz steadily worked his way up the Mets organizational ladder after being drafted out of HS in 2009. He is now 24 years old. He is a big lefty at 6'2", 200 lbs. He features a FB that averaged 92.1 MPH last year and touches 95. He commands it well. He compliments that with a nice curveball and a changeup.
Throughout his minor league career he displayed excellent command with K rates above 8/9 and BB/9 of under 3. This continued after his promotion last year. He missed some time last year with a lat tear and then a sore back but ended up with a line of 4-0, 2.77, 35.2 IP, K/9= 8.58, BB/9= 2.52, GB/FB= 1.35. His FIP and xFIP numbers were not as good, still very acceptable in the 3.60 range.
Matz should take his place in a rather spectacular Mets rotation next season along with Matt Harvey, Jake DeGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler. I would not bet on him having the worst numbers of that esteemed group. I will be looking for him next spring when I need a back-end starter for my fantasy team.
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AFL update posted yesterday: http://sjgiants.mlblogs.com/
ReplyDeleteFinally, Mac Williamson possesses the third-best batting average in the AFL currently at .375 (White Sox prospect Adam Engel leads the league at .397). Williamson collected three hits in a game last Monday before a two-hit contest on Friday. Williamson has walked (11) more than he’s struck out (10) this fall and his .455 on-base percentage is fourth in the league. Williamson has been especially lethal when getting ahead in the count (.520 AVG, 13 hits in 25 at-bats).
Who knows, maybe Williamson beats the odds and makes the opening day roster and starts his rookie year. His AFL performance looking pretty gosh darn good after his AAA slump.
Other Giant prospects were reviewed, some of them quite favorably, in the blog post. But I think only Williamson has even an outside shot of the AFL participants of making the team. I think Meija goes AAA next year after a successful half-season in AA and his solid performances in the AFL.
Bseball Ref say that Matz exceeded his rookie status -- are they counting post season? If so, he has 50.1 innings, wow, could he lose his rookie status by pitching in the World Series?
ReplyDeleteSeems to be some confusion as to Rookie status rules. One source clearly said postseason does not count. BA clearly says he retains his eligibility in their Mets Top 10 Prospects. Another article ABOUT BA's Met's Top 10 Prospects says he could lose eligibility if he pitched X number of innings in WS Game 4. I was going by BA listing him as a Mets Top 10 Prospect.
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