After this past weekend’s offensive explosion in Iowa, Chip Ambres earned PCL Player of the Week honors.  The 27 year old Ambres hit .586/.625/.966 with two doubles, three home runs and ten RBI.  It’s the second weekly honor for a Zephyr after Philip Humber won a Pitcher of the Week award.

 

Stars of the Day:
AAA: Anderson Hernandez & Jake Gautreau
AA: Off

A+: Nick Evans/Jeremy Simmons & Brandon Nall
A: Hector Pellot & Francisco Pena

 

AAA – New Orleans (Pacific Coast League)

@ Round Rock Express 5, Zephyrs 3

 

            Jason Vargas (4-4, 4.80) was saddled with the loss for allowing four runs in six innings.  He only gave up five hits, but two of those were home runs. 

            Anderson Hernandez (.264/.310/.361) was 2-5 to extend his hitting streak to four straight games.  In posting a .467/.490/.622 June line, Hernandez has hit safely in nine of the month’s ten games.  Ambres (.308/.395/.567) ran his own hit streak to nine with a 1-4.  Jake Gautreau stayed hot with a 2-4 effort. 

 

 

AA – Binghamton (Eastern League)

Mets

 

            Off.  The B-Mets host three games against Reading this week.

 

 

A+ -- St. Lucie (Florida State League)
@ Mets 8, Daytona Cubs 7

 

            Nick Evans slugged the Mets back into the game, but Dan Murphy’s ninth inning single concluded the comeback to send the Mets to their fifth straight win Monday night.  Evans (.304/.357/.520) drilled a two-run shot in the first, and with the Mets down 7-3 in the eighth, brought St. Lucie back within a run with a three-run jack.  (I like everything about Evans statistical profile: 10 doubles, 5 home runs, 12 walks and 16 strikeouts in 31 games.  He’s killed lefties to the tune of .364/.417/.697 in 33 AB.)  Down a run in the ninth, Sean Henry led off with a single to center and moved up to second on a Jose Castro sacrifice.  Dustin Martin drove home Henry with a single up the middle to tie the game.  Martin then stole second and scored on Murphy’s single to left.  Castro (.319/.360/.386) who was 2-3 has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games.  His on base percentage is supported by nine hit-by-pitches and just five walks.  It turns out that HBP is actually a repeatable skill from hitters.  As a switch-hitting shortstop, he’ll certainly add second base to his list of skills and at the very least profile at the utility level. 

            Tobi Stoner’s second FSL start (3 IP, 7 R) wasn’t as good as his first, but the bullpen of Jeramy Simmons and Brandon Nall shut down the Cubs for the final six innings.  Simmons didn’t allow a base runner in four innings, fanning three, while Nall (3-2, 2.76) scooped up the win.  Nall, who was pushed to the Binghamton bullpen to start the year struggled there, but has been effective for St. Lucie. 

 

 

A – Savannah (South Atlantic League)
Sand Gnats 10, @ Charleston River Dogs 5

 

            Hector Pellot’s 4-4 effort with a double and two RBI from the top of the order helped snap the Gnats six game losing streak.  The twenty-year old 2B is hitting .265/.352/.379 with 24 stolen bases in 37 tries.  Note that his batting average is nearly 60 points lower than Castro, a level ahead of him, but this OBP and SLG are nearly identical.  Francisco Pena (.256/.324/.331) was 3-5 with a double and two RBI.

           

 

 

Toby Hyde has written Toby’s Mets Minor League Report since 2004.  Please pass this along to friends, family, co-workers, enemies and most importantly Mets fans.  To subscribe to the email newsletter, sign up here: http://groups.google.com/group/mets-minors?hl=en. Archives are available at http://metsminors.metsblog.com.