One thing I can say is that Martinez consistently makes hard outs, reminding me of Cliff Floyd in that sense.  The ball comes off his bat hard.

He has a nice approach at the plate, where he seems to zone for his pitch early in the at bat and lay off pitcher’s pitches.  However, he does not exhibit much command of the at-bat when behind in the count.  The thing is, I have not yet seen him against anyone that I consider to have major-league stuff. 

He appears to be just adequate in the field.  He
can get to balls, and he has an average– to above-average arm.  However, in an outfield with Carlos Beltran and Carlos Gomez, Martinez is clearly the left-fielder.  He does not have the arm of either of those two, and he does not get to balls as quickly either.  In fact, I would rank Lastings Milledge ahead of him for fielding ability.

On the basepaths, though he is not slow, if he develops David
Wright’s instincts, it’s possible he could steal 20 bases, but he is by no means a pure speed guy.

Ultimately, being that Martinez is 18 years old, I would not give him up for the first pick in next week’s draft, to say the least.

…Zwierzynski is a financial analyst by day, minor league obervationalist by night, and contributes scouting reports all season long for MetsBlog.com…

During the stretches, Willie Randolph patted a few players on the behind and made occasional small talk.  At times, he had his glove on like he was ready to take infield.  He pounded it and even fielded some fake ground balls in his head.  He gives off an aura of a man who simply wants to play baseball… 

At the end of the stretching routine, the pitchers broke off into five separate groups to work on fielding bunts, while the catchers headed to Traditions Field to hit.  Wagner and Glavine did not participate in the bunt drills, and the stretches were the last time I saw them…

The position players who had already reported to camp remained on Field Two to take batting practice.  Brett Harper put on a power display as he hit several balls into an adjacent practice field…

Each group shagged fly balls for the other, during which, David Wright casually chatted with fans.   One fan thanked him for showing up early and Wright replied that he couldn’t field ground balls in the snow and that he wanted to be out there…

Scattered among the fields were groups of pitchers, which appeared to be sorted by established middle relievers, like Chad Bradford; non roster guys, like Jose Parra; Triple-A pitchers ready for the major-leagues, like Brian Bannister; and Double-A minor-leaguers like Mike Pelfrey and Philip Humber…

The pitchers went from fielding bunts to laying down bunts.  Alay Soler was the most coordinated of the group.  His physical build is large and husky, but not necessarily fat, such as Bartolo Colon…

As most of the players were heading to Field Two for the day’s final wrap-up, a slight shriek from the crowd became louder.   Pedro Martinez had appeared…

An announcement was made that Martinez was heading to Field Five, and every single member of the media scurried to watch him play catch for ten minutes in right field with Randolph…

…Joe Zwierzynski is a financial analyst by day, minor league obervationalist by night, and contributes scouting reports all season long for MetsBlog.com…

Upon first glance, it is easy to see that Lastings Milledge is an athlete.  His overall size suggests more of a leadoff hitter’s body than a pure slugger’s physique, but his body is defined and his ‘cut’ forearms stick out immediately.  Walking up to the plate, Milledge likes to hold the bat in the middle of his frame and rapidly twist it with his wrist.  The quickness of his swing is impressive and left me thinking about how there might be lightning in those wrists…

At the plate, Milledge bends his knees effectively shortening his strike zone.  However, he’s is not up there to walk.  He’s clearly a free swinger who is looking to hack at fastballs.  Some hitters, such as John Olerud, have quiet swings that are the model of efficiency, but Milledge does not have such a swing.  Every piece of his body is moving.  That suggests to me that he is not going to be able to adjust when he’s fooled because there are so many aspects of his swing that he’d need to adjust since he commits every part of his body to the swing.  When he does make contact, the ball comes off the bat hard with the force you’d expect from the pre-swing routine.  However, he showed no ability to hit the breaking ball.  From behind the plate, his lack of recognition on this pitch was disturbing.  It left me wondering how a pitcher could ever throw him anything but a breaking ball…

As advertised, Milledge does run with an extra gear.  He’s not ‘Jose Reyes fast,’ but he is ‘30 steal a year fast.’  On the bases, he doesn’t exhibit a lot of poise and intelligence.  After a double to right field, with Wayne Lydon at the plate, Milledge was faking a steal every pitch.  It wasn’t subtle, and it wasn’t fooling anyone.  It almost looked like a bad Little League act.  On the fourth or fifth pitch, Lydon pulled a two hopper right to the third basemen.  Milledge did not hesitate one bit and went for third running directly into the tag.  The third basemen looked shocked at the fortune he had received to tag a guy out that had just ran right at him.  It was easily the most head scratching, ‘what are you thinking,’ type play that I have seen…

In the field, and overall, I get the sense that Milledge feels entitled to the status he has received.  He doesn’t seem to make throws unless he has to, opting to lazily lob the ball back to the infielder.  Even running, it looked like he kicked in the extra gear only if he felt he needed it.  Maybe I am being a bit harsh, but guys like Jose Reyes or David Wright don’t ever seem to do anything half speed… 

A few other random notes…

Brett Harper is a monster.  He’s huge.  Looks like he’s fairly selective, but his swing doesn’t seem prone to the outside pitch.  I’d like to see how he develops, though.  I can see where the power comes from immediately…

Also, I haven’t given up on Aarom Baldiris.  I still think he’s heady, and I think he’ll be a plus fielder at second base.  I saw the potential earlier in the season, and now I think he’s a bonafide second basemen.  Though he had a difficult season this year, I still see him as being a Miguel Cairo type in the majors.  His bat speed looked good.  He hit a down-and-in pitch over the fence, and he looked just like Edgardo Alfonzo doing it…

…Joe Zwierzynski is a financial analyst by day, minor league obervationalist by night, and contributes scouting reports all season long for MetsBlog.com…

I’ve seen him get hits, but none were of the
bat-speed variety.  That can be a good and bad thing.  First
it means he is likely doing a great job of hitting where each pitch
is.  But, it also might not translate against guys with better
stuff…

Also, I’d be weary of putting a guy at second on the infield of Shea Stadium, so early in his switch from shortstop to second…

He’s
a guy that I really want to see have a full year of success before I
truly believe in him.  I’ll stick to my ceiling with him being
Cesar Izturis…

note: the previous statement was initially submitted last month…

For more on Zwierzynski’s observations on the Mets minor leagues, click here: JoeZ

…Zwierzynski writes…

While
attending the Binghamton Mets game against the Trenton Thunder last
Friday night, I had the pleasure of meeting a scout assigned to follow
the Mets organization.  This scout was extremely helpful and
honest and has helped to enhance my scouting report on Brian
Bannister.  I would like to publicly thank him – he said he wanted
to check this site out on a regular basis when I told him of the
content – as he was the easiest scout to talk to that I’ve ever met…

Brian Bannister…

Bannister
took to the mound versus Trenton sporting numbers that were dominant, a
6-1 record and a sub 2.00 ERA.  Bannister throws between 87-89 mph
consistently and touched 90 mph once…maybe twice.  His four-seam
fastball is straight, but he locates it well.  It is an average
pitch, at best, due to its lack of velocity…

Bannister’s best
pitch is his cut fastball.  It comes in at about 85-86 mph with
late movement.  He used it well against hitters from both sides of
the plate.  His changeup is decent, and compliments his other
pitches very well.  It doesn’t fade very much, but with it being
80 mph, it does its job…

His two breaking pitches – a curveball
and slider – need quite a bit of refinement, with the slider possibly
being scrapped altogether.  The curve has a ‘10 to 4′ break, and
it isn’t sharp and he never threw it for a strike – though, I’ve read
that he usually does.  Its an average pitch if he throws it for
strikes, and nothing more than a throwaway pitch if he can’t.  His
slider doesn’t move sharply and is flat.  With his curve
not working, though, I’d prefer it over the slider…

The
unidentified scout thought Bannister could be a backend guy in the
Major Leagues at best.  There is, however, a decent chance
Bannister could get to the Majors because of his confidence, overall
command, pedigree, and ability to throw different pitches to keep
hitters from sitting on his fastball, the scout said.  And I agree…

However,
with the nature of the Mets organization, I wouldn’t give Bannister
much of a chance to ever pitch at Shea on a regular basis.  He
might be a backend guy somewhere else, of course.  I could see him
moving to Norfolk for a year and becoming an emergency call up, but
currently he has Jae Seo and Aaron Heilman, who are better and also
more experienced, ahead of him…

If Bannister is used in a trade this summer, it wouldn’t upset me at all… 

…Zwierzynski writes…

I
had the opportunity on Tuesday to pop in and see Yusmeiro Petit. 
I only got to see him pitch a few innings behind the plate, and the
rest of it was from the side due to his low pitch counts. 

Yusmeiro Petit…
 
The first thing behind the plate that you notice about Petit is his arm action…

Funky
type pitchers can be categorized as ’slingers,’ while some can throw
over the top, and some can short arm it.  I’m not sure there is a
current category to describe what Petit’s arm action looks like from
behind the plate.  The only way I can describe it is to say that
it’s certainly true that he can make his stuff seem faster than it
is.  He lived at 87-89 mph and it felt like it was in the low 90’s
range…

However, his fastball is very straight, so he can’t live
out over the middle of the plate.  He is going to be a pitcher
that will need to move the ball around and hit corners to be effective
in the major leagues…

I didn’t see a slider in the few innings I
watched.  Everything was either fastball or change-up.  What
I loved is that the fastball at 87-mph and the change at 80- to 82-mph
looked very similar.  And there was no change in the arm action…

Most
describe his change-up as average at best, but I absolutely loved
it.  Petit’s arm action can really help if he not only changes
locations in and out, but also if he changes planes up and down. 
The potential is there for great things if his control is good and he
learns hitter tendencies.  If not, even despite the arm action,
his stuff is still hittable…

Before I offer up an opinion on how
he stands, it is relevant to say that I think he’s a pitcher you need
to see multiple times to get a true feel of.  I left the ballpark
hoping that Philip Humber would be a better prospect as the best
pitching prospect in the organization…

I don’t see Petit as
having ace stuff, but rather middle of the rotation type stuff with a
worst case scenario career of being similar to Steve Trachsel in terms
of numbers.  There is no doubt in my mind that he will pitch in
the major leagues, it’s just that I don’t see his ceiling that high at
the moment…

Best case scenario would be a ‘Greg Maddux-type’
pitcher given his lack of true velocity – and how many pitchers can
have that comparison made?  However, he is young and he’s the type
of pitcher I would move slowly through the minors.  True power
pitchers can be promoted without seasoning, but finesse pitchers should
be handled with care…

With that being said, if I were running the
organization, he’d be in AA this year and AAA next year – unless he
just flat pitches lights out.  I guess the best way to categorize
how I feel about him would be to talk about his trade value.  If a
true All-Star became available, Petit isn’t untradeable.  But he’s
also not someone that should be moved for an average middle-reliever,
either…

After a few days of thinking, I’d be torn on whether or
not I’d give up Yusmeiro Petit for Octavio Dotel right now.  I
like Petit, but I don’t think he can continue the ’sub 2.50 ERA, ten
strikeouts per nine innings pitched’ type results at a higher level…

On Lindstrom, Zwierzynski writes…

Everything
I had read on Matt Lindstrom up until today spoke about his electric
arm and lack of command.  Well, the latter is certainly
true.  I watched Lindstrom behind the plate, four rows
up.  He could not throw one breaking ball/offspeed pitch for
a strike.  Lindstrom could potentially get by without command
of an offspeed pitch if his fastball was registering in the mid 90s as
advertised.  However, on this particular day, Lindstrom was
pitching at 89-90 mph, topping out maybe four or five times in the
92-93 range.  Anytime he went over 90, it wasn’t for a strike…

As
most scouting reports state, his fastball is easy to see and does not
have much movement as it.  It’s tough to evaluate his slider since
he doesn’t throw it for strikes.  The pitch has decent
movement, but it was fairly easy to determine the difference between
his fastball and off-speed stuff right out of his hand.  I can’t
see Matt Lindstrom being a major league pitcher unless he dramatically
improves his command…

If you read the scouting reports, Lindstrom
sounds comparable to Kyle Farnsworth.  I tend to see guys one
level below their listed reports on the radar gun.  For instance,
Scott Kazmir lived at 93 mph, which wasn’t quite the 97 as
advertised.  That one level below advertised is quite common in
our world of over-hyping prospects.  However, Matt Lindstrom lived
two levels below advertised right from the first inning.  For now,
I can’t advertise him as a top ten prospect.  I’d see him more in
the 20 to 30 range because his lack of command will keep him far from a
big league mound at this point…

Note: The following day, the
B-Mets announced that Lindstrom will miss his next start due to
stiffness in his right arm, an injury that may have affected the drop
in velocity during his performance on Monday…

On Baldiris, Zwierzynski writes…

Unlike
Lindstrom, whose scouting reports were deceptive, everything I’ve read
on Aaron Baldiris is right on.  Here’s a guy that knows how to
hit.  His hands are relaxed during the pitcher’s windup, and he
moves his bat to where the pitch is with ease.  He’s one of those
guys whose main tool seems to be his baseball IQ…

His advertised
lack of power is evident in a few ways.  First, he doesn’t have a
power swing.  This conceptually compares to Edgardo Alfonzo,
who would hit certain fastballs out of the ballpark on occasion,
but for the most part in known for his intelligent hitting of pitches
that weren’t dead down the middle.  Baldiris reminds me of
Alfonzo in that sense.  He’ll never go deep to the opposite field…

Balidirs
is an average height and is skinny.  For both of those reasons, I
can’t see him ever returning to third base, and he just doesn’t look
the part of a corner infielder.  Baldiris did steal a base Monday,
but going along with the high baseball IQ evaluation, the steal came
off the pitcher and not due to any blazing speed…

In the field at
second base, two plays stood out in evaluating him.  The first was
an error on a potential double play ball that he booted.  The ball
was mid-chopper that he played like a third basemen trying to knock it
down, as opposed to a second baseman trying to quickly get a
force at second.  The second play was a beautiful backhanded flip
ranging to his right behind the bag to start a wonderful double
play.  So, in one game he looked like a converted third baseman,
while in the next he looked like a natural second baseman…

Continuing
with the baseball IQ theme, I can’t see the switch to 2B being a
problem long term.  If he never develops power, he could easily be
a Miguel Cairo-type role player in the majors.  If he does, then
he could be a borderline all-star at second.  I’d side towards the
Cairo evaluation, though, because he seems to be more of the small type
player over the type of guy that will fill into a certain body
type…