Call-Ups: New York Mets, Lucas Duda and Jenrry Mejia

Once again it is collaborative post time here on Call to the Pen. This month’s topic is September call-ups. To get the ball rolling, I posed the following question to each of our Lead Writers, “Which player do you want your team to call-up in September and why?” It is a simple question but I think you will find the responses to be very diverse.

Taking the path less traveled this month, I decided to post each team’s write-up individually instead of grouping them by league or division as we have done in the past.

Representing the New York Mets and Rising Apple is the site’s Lead Writer, Adam Garnett. Check out what he has to say after the jump.

Adam’s Take*:

*Adam’s entry was composed and submitted on August 24th.  I have updated stats where applicable.

First off, let’s start off by saying that the Mets farm system is not what one would call … dynamic. Though Ike Davis and to some degree Ruben Tejada have made major contributions at the big league level this year for the Amazins’, there really is little buzz about anyone currently cutting their teeth in the minors. Outfield prospects Lucas Duda (0.304 BA, 23 HR and 87 RBI in 115 games in Double and Triple-A) and Kirk Nieuwenhuis (0.270 BA, 17 HR and 74 RBI in 117 games between Double and Triple-A) have put together admirable offensive campaigns thus far and surely have enhanced their prospects for a September call up. But, the guy I most want to see in Flushing the last month of this lost season is a guy who actually started the year in the big leagues with the Mets. That would be one Jenrry Mejia.

I know hindsight is 20-20, but the Mets obviously botched Mejia’s growth process by including on their opening day 25-man roster and throwing him into the bullpen. To make matters worse, no real role was established for this young 20-year old fireballer and he wasted the first 2 1/2 months of the season struggling with his command and confidence. Mejia logged 27.2 innings in 30 games out of the bullpen, compiling a 3.25 ERA with 17 Ks and 15 BBs before finally being shipped to Double-A Binghamton to stretch out his arm as a starter. About a week after his demotion, Mejia suffered a posterior cuff strain in his throwing shoulder and was shut down for over a month. Since returning to action, Mejia was very good in six starts at Binghamton, pitching to a 1.32 ERA with a 26-14 K/BB ratio. He got bumped up to Triple-A Buffalo and started on the 30th.  In that outing he pitched 8.0 innings of 1 run, 5 hit baseball while walking 1 and striking out 9.

Even though Mejia struggled some while up with the big club, it was clear by watching the radar gun pop at 98 MPH and seeing his cut fastball make good hitters look silly that he had a special arm. Now, with the Mets all but out of the playoff hunt, it is time to see what this kid can do as a starting pitcher. Let him toe the bump five or six times in September and dream of what a Jon Niese/Jenrry Mejia combo at the top of the Mets rotation might look like in three years.

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My Notes:

Duda and Mejia were both called up today.  Duda takes the place of the recently traded Jeff Francoeur, while Mejia will join the rotation and start his first major league game on Saturday.