|
Meet the Mets team nobody cares about, your 2008 Kingsport Mets.
K-Mets To Go With Experienced Players To Open Season Tuesday
By Ron Bliss
TriCitiesSports.com
June 15, 2008
KINGSPORT -- The Kingsport Mets have, perhaps, the most-experienced manager they have ever had in Nick Leyva so it's not surprising that he will go with the experienced players when the 2008 Appalachian League season begins Tuesday night against the Greeneville Astros.
"The first few games,'' said Leyva as the K-Mets met the media on Sunday, "we will go with the guys we've had down in extended (spring training). We'll weed the new guys in. We don't know how much they've been playing. Some of these guys' seasons ended in the middle of May. Some maybe longer than that. We have to bring them on and we don't want any sore arms or sore legs.
"Right now, the individuals we've had down at extended are going to have the majority of playing time.''
With that in mind, Leyva will open with a catcher who has two years of pro experience -- Jean-Luc Blaquiere from Quebec, Canada; first baseman Stefan Welch, a second-year player from Rosslyn Park, Australia who hit .288 with the GCL Mets last year; the second baseman from the extended spring club, Ignacio Medrano (.294 with the GCL Mets last year); prized shortstop prospect Wilmer Flores, who was also in extended with the team; Richard Lucas, who was a regular with the Gulf Coast Mets last season (.264) at third; left fielder Rafael Fernandez, who played briefly with the GCL Mets last year and was 5-for-8; center fielder Pedro Zapata, who hit .325 with the Santo Domingo Mets last year; and Gabriel Zavala, who hit .285 with the GCL Mets last year, in right field.
Dan Stegall, a seventh-round draft pick last year who hit .226 in Kingsport in 66 games, will be the DH.
"We'll go with Raul Batis, a lefty, on the mound,'' said Leyva. "Those guys have been around and they know what we're trying to teach.''
Batis was 2-1 with a 4.73 ERA with the GCL Mets last season. He struck out 24 batters in 26.2 innings last season and pitched as both a starter and a reliever last year, closing two games.
Pitching coach Marc Valdes, who was in the same position here last year, said 6-10 right-hander John Holdzkom, who was 1-0 with a 3.60 ERA last year in Kingsport, will "piggy-back" with Batis in the game.
"We don't want a guy going too long starting out,'' said Valdes, who said right-hander Oscar Melendez, who was 2-5 with a 5.51 ERA with the Venezuelan Mets last year, is slated to start the second game and right-hander Guillaume Leduc, another Canadian from Quebec, will get the start in game three. He was 1-1 with a 2.21 ERA with the GCL Mets last season.
The K-Mets have a number of draft picks ranging from 12th-round pick Mark Cohoon, a lefty from Mansfield, Texas; No. 16-round pick Travis Babin from Santa Clarita, Ca.; 18th-round pick Collin McHugh, a right-hander from Naperville, Ill.; 19th-round pick Zachary Rosenbaum, from Huntersville, N.C.; and 25th-round pick Eric Turgeon, a UConn pitcher from Palm Harbor, Fla., to choose from as well.
"When my team in Bristol won it in 2002,'' said Leyva, who managed there in 2006, as well, and also in Johnson City in late 1970s, "we had some older kids, just like we do here. I know what to expect and that's why I feel so good about this ball club. We have a lot of the same things with this club that I had with that one.''
The highest draft pick sent to Kingsport will start out watching and observing.
Charles "Dock" Doyle, a fifth-round pick out of Coastal Carolina who was a second-team All-American after hitting a team-best .370 with 16 home runs and 72 RBI, as well as 22 doubles, will not start Tuesday night.
"Our catchers are going to be calling the pitches and the first two games he will be sitting with the catching instructor and calling pitches,'' said Leyva. "Then we will work him in. Out of the first 10 games, he will probably catch six of them and DH in two others.''
Added Leyva, who was a major league manager with the Philadelphia Phillies from 1989-91 and most recently coached third base for the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League last season, said winning is important and he hopes do that by teaching good, fundamental baseball.
"I told the guys, I don't mind getting beat, but I hate to lose,'' said Leyva. "If we get beat because the other team just flat out beat us, I will tip my hat to them. But I don't like losing games (his team should win). We try to develop players, but we also recognize it is important to win games and we hope to do that.''
* The opening game will be U.S. Army Night at 7 p.m., Tuesday. Gates open at 6 p.m. On Wednesday, June 18 it will be Kingsport City/Gate City Little League Night and on Thursday night, it will be Bloomingdale/Colonial Heights Little League Night. The K-Mets host the Greeneville Astros all three nights. On Thursday, June 26 it will be All-area Little League Night with all area teams welcome as the K-Mets play host to the Pulaski Mariners @ 7 p.m..
|
