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Kingsport, TN, is a small town, but they're a small town that has had a professional team for 94 years.
For 35 freakin' years they've been affiliated with the Mets. Now, they're so psyched to part of the Mets family (and who wouldn't be?) they're looking to extend for five more years. That sounds pretty unusual. I had come to believe most affiliation agreements run on two-year contracts.
I visited Kingsport once, and I watched like five innings before a rainout. Got to see Mookie Wilson twice roll his eyes and call his players out for being airheads.
Almost all top prospects skip Kingsport, but I kind of romanticize it because of that. Players there are not just struggling to be major leaguers. They're struggling even to get noticed and be considered as major league potential, and get onto a big league track.
REALLY thick accents down there. And it was both jarring and right to see Mookie Wilson grinding it down there between his two stints as a Mets coach. Jarring because it's so far from the sophistication of New York, and the manager doubles as third base coach, and has so few of the resources big league coaches have. Right because Mookie is nonetheless pretty country at heart.
The K-Mets had four stars this season. Catcher Patrick Mazeika got silly, hitting at a Cespedesian .354 / .451 / .540 // .991. Outfielder Kevin Kaczmarski did all that while adding speed to the mix. hitting .355 / .415 /.512 // .927 and stealing 20 bases in only 64 games.
The gorgeously named Nabil Crismattwent 6-1 with a 2.90 ERA, striking out 63 and walking only 12 in 62.0 innings. Thomas McIlraith went 6-1 also, somehow posting a diminutive 1.71 ERA despite inferior strikeout/walk numbers.
You'll nonetheless see them on the back end of prospect lists, where the iffy guys are found.
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