Jenrry Mejia pitching report from 8/27/09

This was the second time I saw Jenrry Mejia pitch for the Binghamton Mets in the Eastern League. This performance against the Portland Seadogs was far worse than the previous outing I saw from June, 6th. In this piece, you will read on how a kid lost confidence in his secondary pitches as the game went on.

1st inning: Mejia started out slow with his fastball hitting 91-93 before hitting 94 and 96 MPH later in the inning. Mejia threw a couple of changeups at 84 and 86 MPH and threw one nasty curveball that froze a hitter for a strikeout with 11-5 tilt at 78 MPH.

2nd inning: In this inning Mejia's fastball sat at 93-95 ranging from 91 up to 96 MPH. He also threw a couple of nice changeups in the mid 80's, getting a double play on Lars Anderson in the 2nd on a changeup. In this inning, Mejia only threw curveball at 79 MPH.

3rd inning: This was the inning where Mejia began to show signs of why a 19 year old kid was rushed too quickly. He got Yamaico Navarro to groundout, but allowed a hit to Jason Place just over the glove of Ruben Tejada. Mejia proceeded to walk Iggy Suarez and completely lose confidence in his secondary pitches. Mejia gave up a few more hits and allowed three runs in this inning. He also snapped off some poor curveballs at 75 and 77 MPH that were high with little break. He did manage to throw one solid curveball at 82 MPH, but that was his last one of the night. Mejia threw a few changeups in the inning from 83 to 87 MPH, but once there were runners on base, he completely stopped throwing the pitch. Mejia's fastball ranged from 92 up to 98 MPH, and sat in the 94 to 96 range.

4th inning: In the 4th inning, Mejia used only his fastball. Mejia lost a touch of velocity on the pitch in this inning. He sat mainly at 93 and 94 MPH and only hit above 95 MPH twice, maxing out at 96. He allowed a couple more hits and hit a batter as well. Mejia would have allowed more than one run in this inning if not for a great defensive play by Ike Davis throwing a rope to third to get Ryan Kalish out trying to advance following a base hit.

My take on Mejia from my notes was that he had a lack of trust in his curveball. His fastball was often high and out of the zone. He showed bad body language and shaky composure on the mound. My concern was that he completely stopped throwing his secondary pitches in the third inning once runners got on base. Also noted, is that Josh Thole was not the catcher for Mejia in this game compared to the first outing. I'm not sure if his finger injury was impacting him in this outing, and he struggled like this in the AFL as well. My gut thinking is that he needs at least another year in AA in 2010.

Ryan Westmoreland 2010 season preview

Ryan Westmoreland is one of the top prospects in the Redsox farm system. He was highly regarded in the 2008 draft, but scared off many teams by potentially going to college at powerhouse Vanderbilt. Boston drafted Westmoreland in the 4th round and paid him two million to sign. Westmoreland made his minor league debut in June for the Lowell Spinners of the New York Penn League. I saw Westmoreland play in one of his first games of the season. He showed excellent bat speed, plus plus running speed, and a good eye at the plate. Westmoreland got hurt late in the season but he should be well by spring time. 2010 will be Westmoreland's debut in full season ball. He needs to show a few things before vaulting into a top 20 prospect, health, power, his plate discipline that is good, and how good of a fielder he is after missing some much time from the field. Westmoreland is forecast to play for low-A Greenville next year. I honestly think he will have a strong year next year.

Fearless forecast: .290 30 2b 10 3b 18 HR 80 RBI's 77 BB's 110 K's 35 SB 4 CS.

Wade Davis August 23, 2009

I decided to go to Syracuse to catch the Durham Bulls vs. the Syracuse Chiefs. I wanted to see how good Jennings, Hellickson, and Davis were. In this entry I am going to write about Wade Davis start. He was fair in this outing. I am not sure but I think a hour rain delay may have hampered him in this outing. In this outing Davis sat at 92-93, threw his curveball in the high 70's to low 80's, and threw a hard changeup/2 seamer at 85-87.

1st inning: Davis struggled with his command greatly and threw 26 pitches in the inning. He sat at 92-93 and hit 94 a handful of times. He threw 3 curveballs in the inning and none of them looked like a plus pitch. He only thew a couple of high 80's changeups.
2nd inning: Davis lost a touch of velocity this inning and sat at 91-92 hitting 93 twice including getting a strikeout on a high 93 MPH fastball, but his curveball was from plus to an average pitch and he threw four of them in the inning ranging from 78-83 MPH. He threw two changeups 84 and 87 MPH.
3rd inning: This was a very quick inning for Davis as the chiefs were aggressive going after his fastball which was down to 90-91. He threw four pitches the whole inning all fastballs.
4th inning: Davis velocity was up and down this inning as he threw a fastball anywhere from 88 to 94 MPH, the 88 MPH fastball could have been his cutter or two seamer. Davis only threw one curveball in the inning and it was an above average pitch at 81 MPH. He threw one changeup according to me and that was at 83 MPH.
5th inning: Davis lost his top end velocity in this inning and ranged from 88-92 MPH mostly in the 88-89 range, while throwing two curveballs 78 and 79 MPH, and one change up at 85 MPH.
6th inning: Davis upped his velocity in this inning hitting 93 and 94 MPH at times and hit 95 MPH. He also mixed in some curveballs but threw an absolute hanger at 81 MPH that got crushed for a HR. He also threw some fastballs in the 88-89 range, and didn't throw a single changeup this inning.

From what I based on this start was that Davis doesn't have one plus pitch currently, but possibly has two above average pitches right now in his fastball and curveball. Davis didn't show much of a third pitch in this outing which made me think he has a ceiling of a 3rd starter, but could be a good guy to have in the bullpen if he incorporates more velocity on his fastball and refines his curveball a bit more.