The Mets will officially promote Nick Evans straight from double-A Binghamton to the big leagues on Saturday.  Evans, as Brian Moritz writes in the Press & Sun Bulletin, was told during ninth inning of Friday night’s game against Reading.  Evans initially thought he was being yanked from the game as a reprimand for a lapse in attention and lack of hustle in which he tossed a fair ball into the stands because he thought it had landed foul, costing his team a run.  Regarding his promotion, an excited Evans told Moritz, "I did not have a clue, a hunch or a hint that this was coming …It's just the most out of the blue feeling." Like Evans, I’m surprised, too.  Like Evans, I’m pleased.  The right-handed hitting 22-year-old was batting.292/.356/.538 with eight doubles, five triples and eight homers and was ninth in the Eastern League with a .894 OPS.  Notably, alongside strong power production, Evans was doing a fine job controlling the strike zone, walking 17 times and striking out 32 times in 171 AB.  Evans’ EQA (a Baseball Prospectus stat that measures total offensive production normalized to make .260 MLB average) was 8th in the EL at .273.    

            Evans crushed lefties at a .349/.414/.683 pace in 63 AB this year.  This is not a fluke of small sample sizes; he banged out a .354/.440/.596 line against lefties in St. Lucie in 99 AB last year.  Carlos Delgado has hit .200/.238/.333 against lefties in 60 AB in 2008.  I’d like to see Evans play first against nearly all southpaws.  Conveniently, the Mets will see two lefties in the final two games in Denver – Jeff Francis and Jorge De La Rosa. 

            A high school third baseman, Evans played 21 games at third for the Mets rookie ball affiliate in 2004, but in the subsequent three seasons, 05-07, he played first exclusively.  This year, Evans has played at first base roughly two thirds of the time, in leftfield one third and mixed in a few games in at third.  Baseball America had Evans ranked as the Mets 20th best prospect entering the season. 

            By the way, the stories about Friday’s game at Coors should not be about a manager.  They should be about the players, particularly the stars, who did not play well let alone approach star level.    Wright: 1-6, 3 K.  Wagner: blown save.  Beltran: 0-5.  Reyes: 1-5, RBI and an inexcusable baserunning mistake getting picked off second after a heady athletic play to get there in the first place.  Oliver Perez: 8 walks. 

            Happy Birthday Dad. 

 

Stars of the Day:

AAA: Valentino Pascucci

AA: Nick Evans & Mike Carp & Salomon Manriquez

A+: Lucas Duda & Josh Thole/Stephen Clyne

A: Greg Veloz/Scott Moviel

 

New Orleans (AAA – Pacific Coast League)

@ New Orleans Zephyrs (22-25, -4.5) 2, Albuquerque Isotopes (24-23) 1 (10 innings)

 

            Valentino Pascucci led off the bottom of the tenth inning with a screaming line drive homer down the leftfield line to beat his former team.  Pascucci (.293/.385/.671), who led the PCL with 34 jacks last year has eighth in 82 AB for the Zephyrs after hitting 1 in his first 82 AB for Lehigh Valley to start the season. 

            Tony Armas (2-4, 2.34) was excellent over seven shutout frames, fanning nine and walking just two.  Carlos Muniz (2-2, 1.80) gave up his fourth run of the season, which tied the game in the eighth, but recovered to contain the Isotopes through the top of the 10th, fanning three, without any further damage.  

 

Binghamton (AA - Eastern League)

@ Binghamton Mets (23-23, -7.0) 8, Reading Phillies (19-26) 6

 

            Binghamton grabbed a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third, helped by a few walks and never trailed again.  The Mets added four in the fifth helped by a C Salomon Manriquez three run jack to build a 6-1 advantage.  LF Nick Evans, hopefully in his last game ever at NYSEG Stadium, was 2-4 and scored two runs.  1B Mike Carp was 2-5, with a double, scored a run and drove home a run. 

            Closer Eddie Kunz gave up two runs on four hits in the ninth to make things a little more interesting at the end.  The earned runs were the first he’d allowed in the entire month of May, a span of 10.1 IP. 

 

St. Lucie (A+ - Florida State League)

St. Lucie Mets (10-38, -19.0) 9, @ Sarasota Reds (23-25, -8.0) 7

 

            Lucas Duda’s three run homer capped a seven-run second inning that gave St. Lucie a 7-0 headstart.  However, by the end of the fifth, the Reds had evened the score at 7-7.  In the sixth, Jose Valentin lined a two-out double to right to put the Mets back out in front.  Both 2B Luis Rivera (2-6) from the leadoff spot and DH Josh Thole (2-3, BB) hitting behind him scored twice. LF DJ Wabick was 2-5. 

            Dillon Gee couldn’t finish the fifth and make himself eligible for the win.  Tim Stronach won despite not pitching effectively.  On the other hand, Stephen Clyne shut down the Reds over a season-high 2.2 innings with two strikeouts.

            Paid attendance in Sarasota on this Friday night was a modest 307. 

 

Savannah (A – South Atlantic League)

@ Augusta Greenjackets (28-20) 7, Savannah Sand Gnats (19-29, -13.0) 2

 

            Scott Moviel was solid, but the Gnats offense was gnat-sized.  Moviel, who’s pitched much better in May than in April, gave up three runs on six hits in six innings, fanning four and walking one. After a 1-4 record and a 9.68 ERA April in which opponents hit .380 against him with a 1.63 K/BB ratio, Moviel has improved those numbers in May to 2-2, 3.90, .257, and 2.85.  

            2B Greg Veloz (.238/.280/.315) was 3-4 at the top of the lineup and scored both Gnats runs.  1B Jose Jimenez was 2-4 with an RBI. 

 

Toby Hyde has written Toby’s Mets Minor League Report since 2004.  Please pass this along to friends, family, co-workers, and Mets fans of all types.  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.