Some notes from recent minor-league games I\u2019ve hit up, with more to come later this week \u2026<\/p>\n
Two of the main prospects the New York Mets acquired in pitching trades at the deadline are now on their Double-A Binghamton roster, and I saw both infielder Jefferson Rojas and right-hander Gary Gill Hill in action on Tuesday morning at Reading (Phillies\u2019 affiliate).<\/p>\n
Hill, acquired from Tampa Bay in the Freddy Peralta deal, was a projection pick out of high school. He was still 17 when the Rays took him in the sixth round in 2022, but his success in the minors to date is largely about his command and feel for pitching because his stuff hasn\u2019t really ticked up yet. He pitched well twice through Reading\u2019s lineup on Tuesday, but the third time through, hitters were all over his dead-straight 91-94-mph fastball, and he doesn\u2019t have an average second pitch to keep them off it. He\u2019s throwing a sweeper now as well as a true slider; the latter pitch is 85-89 but short like a cutter, while the sweeper has better shape and about 10 miles an hour less in velocity.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a lot more in the tank here, especially because his delivery is really inefficient \u2014 he doesn\u2019t take much of a stride, straightens his front leg really early, lands hard and doesn\u2019t finish the breaking stuff out front. He should be able to throw harder than this, especially on that sweeper, and he has to get his breaking pitches down more than he is right now. He doesn\u2019t walk many \u2014 zero in this outing in 22 batters faced \u2014 and other than throwing a few sliders to lefties when he should be going changeup, he showed pretty good feel for what he was doing. Right now, I wouldn\u2019t have him as a big-league starter, but I also think he has mid-rotation upside if the Mets are really aggressive about changing things up.<\/p>\n
Rojas, acquired from the Cubs for Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor, was the DH in this game, so I didn\u2019t get to see him field, because that\u2019s how the DH works. He has outstanding bat speed, using it once to homer on a pitch he caught way out in front and still managed to drive out the other way, but he also went after some pitches well out of the zone and struck out in his other three plate appearances. There were five homers in this game, all by Binghamton hitters, as Reading is a launching pad, so keep that in mind when looking at this box score<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mitch Voit, the Mets\u2019 2025 first-round pick, led off for Binghamton and had his first hitless game since August 13, and just his third since he was promoted to Double A at the start of the month. He looked great at second base, but at the plate his bat looked a little slow \u2014 it doesn\u2019t help when Rojas is batting two spots after you \u2014 which became an issue later in the game when Reading brought in a little velocity.<\/p>\n One note on Reading: Shortstop Bryan Rincon has had a real breakout season this year in his first go-round in Double A, with 20 homers already (his previous season high was eight) and a .267\/.402\/.501 line that has him up 98 points of OBP and over 200 points of SLG from 2025. Reading is a great home-run park, but Rincon doesn\u2019t have much of a home\/road split.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to be a 20-25 homer guy in the majors, but he is clearly hitting the ball much harder now, and there will probably be 15-20 homers in his peak seasons. With his eye and his plus defense at short, he looks like he could be an everyday player. He probably should be in Triple A by now, even if it\u2019s just to get him a look at the better pitching there before he goes to that level next year.<\/p>\n Keith Law on the Astros’ GM firing<\/p>\n Keith Law<\/p>\n That Reading game started at 11 am, so I doubled up and drove down to Double-A Harrisburg (Nationals\u2019 affiliate) for the night game against Chesapeake (Orioles\u2019 affiliate), which had a great pitching matchup of two lefties: Caden Hunter (Orioles) and Alex Clemmey (Nats).<\/p>\n Hunter was Baltimore\u2019s sixth-round pick last year out of USC. He started the year in Low A, which was no challenge at all for him as an advanced college product. Since then, however, he\u2019s continued to miss bats in High A and now Double A, punching out eight in five innings in this outing to raise his strikeout rate at the level to 32.7 percent. Hunter is a true three-pitch guy who was 93-96 with his four-seamer and showed two above-average secondaries in his changeup and slider. The changeup is his best pitch, 85-88 with excellent deception, and he uses it enough against righties that he can get misses on the fastball up and away to them because those hitters are late enough to pick up which pitch he\u2019s throwing. I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s a true plus pitch here for big-league hitters yet, so right now I\u2019d say he\u2019s a definite big-league starter but trending more towards a third\/fourth starter than an above-average one.<\/p>\n