At 14-4 and five games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the East, the New York Mets have been baseball's biggest early surprise. Matt Harvey is MATT HARVEY again, Lucas Duda is scalding left-handed pitching and Bartolo Colon continues to defy what the royal we know about age, obesity and athletic ability — I mean, did you see Bartolo tag out A.J. Pierzynski, unassisted, on a pick off move? It's unfortunate for yours truly, because they're rendering my everyday substitution of "mets" for "mess" unfunny and, frankly, useless. In spite of the early success, most projection systems still think the Washington Nationals will win the AL East, but the Mets are brandishing two secret weapons down on the farm: Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz. Rafael Soriano and Dillon Gee, plainly put, aren't going to cut it, not when there are better options. We looked at Syndergaard in detail last week, digging into his first two starts of the season — both of which yielded mediocre results. Syndergaard missed his start this week due to sickness, and even caused a stir, presumably from bed, by hammering trolls on twitter for calling him "soft."

 

 

Matz stepped in for Syndergaard, moving his rotation turn up a day, and delivered six-plus no-hit innings against the Reno Aces Friday night. Unlike Syndergaard, Matz has been excellent over his first four starts at Triple-A and looks poised for a major league debut: 22 1/3 IP, 13 H, 5 ER, 12 BB, 19 SO, 2.01 ERA (2.68 FIP), 1.12 WHIP. Friday was especially refreshing because Matz has struggled with walks and allowed just one free pass to the Aces. I watched a few innings of his start Friday and his fastball/changeup combination is lethal. At 6-foot-2 200-lbs, Matz doesn't look the part of a flame-thrower, but that's exactly what he is. His fastball will sit in the mid-90's with excellent life and sometimes register as high as 98. Interestingly, the lefty didn't make his pro debut until 2012, three years after he was drafted, due to complications with Tommy John surgery. Now fully recovered, Matz has shot up the Mets' organizational depth chart, and based on the early returns, he's ostensibly leap-frogged the more highly-regarded Syndergaard. That doesn't mean he's going to be better than Thor, but rather that he's probably better prepared for the major leagues. If the Mets keep up the #winning at the major league level, there's a good chance Matz will be up in short order. It's probably time to stash him in deeper formats. He doesn't need to be owned in standard leagues just yet. 

Check out this GIF of Matz zipping a fastball by one of the minor league's hottest hitters, Peter O'Brien:

Pitchers 

The curious case of Jon Gray: 3.17 SIERA, 4.34 FIP, 9.00 ERA. Gray was supposed to square off Saturday with fellow struggling prospect Noah Syndergaard, but the game was postponed due to rain. So far, Gray has battled bad luck and poor command. Like many-a PCL park, Albuquerque is a terrible place to pitch, although it's probably good practice for what lies ahead of him in Denver. Still, a .444 BABIP against can't last too much longer. 

By skill-based ERA estimators, Julio Urias has been the best pitcher in the Texas League to date. His good-but-not-great 3.07 ERA doesn’t tell the whole story. His 1.63 FIP is the best in Texas league (small-sample-size warning) and his 2.58 SIERA is second best — 27-year old Andy Ferguson is first. I watched Urias’s start against the Correa-less Corpus Christi Hooks and thought he pitched better than the boxscore suggested. He was victimized by a two-out, three-run double in the fourth inning. To make matters worse, the hit came on a 0-2 curveball, hung like a Christmas ornament. It's incredible to think Urias could be the best pitcher in Double-A at the tender age of 18. He shows three plus pitches and will likely be the first teenager in the major leagues since Bryce Harper. His ceiling isn't that of an Ace because he doesn't project to have a super-dominant out pitch — but he could hold his own in a big league rotation... right now. 

Two Tampa Bay pitching prospects continue to dominate. Brent Honeywell had a no-hitter through 5 2/3 innings in his Midwest League start Wednesday, an excellent follow up to his six-inning nine-strikeout performance last week. The lanky right-hander has a big fastball that he commands surprising virtuosity and pairs it with a screwball that has been described as “unhittable.” The offering is also said to be a family heirloom, as he learned it from his father, who learned it from the legendary, cy-young winning reliever, Mike Marshall. He’s got a great name and great story, both of which we’re sure to hear a lot about once he gets closer to the majors. He will earn a promotion to Florida State League in short order if he keeps it up. Blake Snell still hasn't allowed a run in four Florida State League starts and looks poised for a promotion to Double-A. The only cause for concern here is he's walked nine batters in his last 10 innings after issuing just two free passes over his first 11 innings. 

Hitters

(Last 10 Games)

Corey Seager is (still) the hottest hitter on the planet. He had his best perfmance of the young season Saturday night, going 3-for-4 with two home runs — impressively, one of them was off a lefty. A promotion in 2015 seemed remote heading into the season as the Dodgers traded for Jimmy Rollins to take over for Hanley Ramirez and then added Cuban Free Agent Hector Olivera to the already crowded house that is third base in Los Angeles. In spite of all these obstacles, Seager may well hit himself into the Dodgers lineup. In an interview with the OC Register, this past week, President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman said Seager will begin to take reps at third base in the minor leagues. The article includes some candid quotes, especially by Friedman's standards.

“The idea is at some point, whether it’s this year or next year, to the extent that we have an injury and he’s our best option if he’s only played shortstop, that obviously limits him to an injury happening at that one position,” Friedman said. “Giving him reps at another position only helps him and helps us.”

Friedman wouldn’t say if Seager would be considered an option to jump to the major leagues this year but the experience at third base will “not cut off that possibility.”

“I wouldn’t anticipate (Seager will stay in Double-A) all season. I don’t know exactly how long,” Friedman said. “We’ll get together at the end of the month and talk about all of our guys and get a sense for where the next best step is. But I wouldn’t anticipate all year.”

It sounds like a promotion to Triple-A Oklahoma City is imminent. As we saw with the surprise promotion of Addison Russell last week, when a player is playing out of position in the minors, a big-league promotion typically isn’t far off. Seager has an advanced approach and the only real weakness scouts cite is his tendency to chase sliders at the bottom of the zone. Baseball America expects Seager to "become one of the best players in baseball in the near future." 

The Cubs' big-league club has been showered with media coverage of late thanks to the promotions of uber-prospects Kris Bryant and Addison Russell. What's scary is, there's more on the way. The Tennessee Smokies, the Cubs' Double-A affiliate, boasts what is possibly the best lineup in the minor leagues. Three players in particular appear to be taking big leaps forward: Dan Vogelbach, Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora. Vogelbach has been hitting the lights out so far this season, slashing a robust.460/.571/.780 with three home runs and seven doubles. Perhaps most impressive is the plate discipline the portsider is showing — he has 13 walks against just three strikeouts. The problem of course is Vogelbach profiles as a 1B/DH, and a good one, but the Cubs have no room for him. He could be high-end trade bait come midsummer.

Schwarber is off to a strong start himself, slashing .359/.480/.615 with two home runs and 10 walks against 10 strikeouts. The question for fantasy owners, of course, is whether or not Schwarber sticks at Catcher. The Cubs seem to think he will, and if he does, he should become a fantasy stalwart. He has the potential to hit .275 with 25 home runs if things break right, which is valuable at most positions. Albert Almora's prospect star faded a bit last season as the slick-fielding centerfielder refused to take a walk, hitting just .234 with .250 OBP upon being promoted to Double-A last season. The good news is Almora has taken five walks already in 2015, more than a third of the amount he took in 524 PA in 2014 (14). Almora has strong skills as a pure hitter and if he's really taken a step forward in selecting pitches to hit, watch out. 

Bizarro Corey Seager, Carlos Correa continued his assault on Double-A this past week. Correa now has 12 extra base hits in his first 14 games — nine doubles and three homers. He's striking out in 25 percent of his plate appearances, which, upon further review, shouldn’t give too much pause. Five of Correa’s 15 strikeouts have been looking and his overall contact percentage is 78.6 percent, which is slightly better than league average. He’s also swinging at just 39% of the pitches he’s thrown, which would put him in Mike Trout/ Joe Mauer territory at the major league level. Suffice it to say that Correa’s plate discipline is far from being a major concern. 

Peter O'Brien is making his case at Triple-A for a promotion to the D'Backs roster. He cracked 5 home runs in six games last week and is striking out much less than he has in the past. He's becoming an outfielder, but he'll have Catcher eligibility if he's promoted, making him a sneaky pick up in deeper formats. Unlike Schwarber, O'Brien has only a microscopic chance of playing Catcher at the big league level, although he's a nice, high-end emergency Catcher which makes him a pallatable 25-man roster candidate. 

Questions? Twitter: @WordSmithSilva