Down on the Farm Part 2

In Buffalo, New York, the Bisons are 41-39 sitting 4.5 games out of 1st place. The Mets Triple-A club has been treading water in the International League due in part to the lack of top notch prospects and mediocre pitching. As a team Buffalo is batting .273, third highest in the league, which is impressive considering the lack of talent. Pitching wise, the Bisons are near the bottom of the league in most of the major categories.

One of only a few bright spots on this staff has been journeyman Pat Misch. The 29 year old left-hander started 7 games for the Mets last year in a spot start role and has spent all of this season pitching in Buffalo, going 7-3 with a 3.46 ERA in 15 starts. Pat was the only Bison selected to appear in the Triple-A all-star game.

Prior to the season, Dillon Gee received a good amount of hype and it was earned taking into account that he pitched very well since he made his pro debut. So far this year, Gee is 7-5 with a ballooning 5.00 ERA. He had a solid start to the season and many people wanted Dillon to see innings on the big league club. Judging from this last month, it seems as if Dillion caught Ollie Perez-itis, he either gives up one run and looks dominant or get wacked for six plus and hits an early shower.

The Buffalo staff is loaded with low ceiling type pitchers, journeymen and prospects that can’t really figure Triple-A out. Take a guy like Dylan Owen, who has all the potential and has been dominant at every minor league destination but he’s struggled since being promoted. Owen is definitely the guy on Buffalo with the highest ceiling, hopefully he’ll mature into a solid back-end of the rotation talent.

Offensively, let’s keep it short and sweet, since there are only a few guys worth mentioning at the moment. One of my favorite minor leaguers is the big 6’5”, sweet swinging lefty, Lucas Duda. In 2010 Lucas is batting .291 between 45 games in Binghamton and 14 in Buffalo. Duda has raw power, he’s a contact type hitter with a good OBP, but he is horrible against lefties and has a high strikeout rate.

The biggest name in Buffalo is the always injured Fernando Martinez. He has plenty of talent but we never get to see it. He’s struggled this year, but has only played in 40 games. I’m not a fan of Martinez and I thought he should have been traded many, many, many, many rumors ago.