2016 Mets Righthanded Pitcher: Gabriel Ynoa (2016)

-
Gabriel (Gomez) Ynoa was born on May 26th 1993 in La Vega, Dominican Republic. The six foot two right handed pitcher was signed by the New York Mets out of high school in 2009 as an amateur free agent.

He pitched winter ball in 201 & then for the Mets in the Rookie League in 2011. By 2012 he was in Brooklyn with the A ball Brooklyn Cyclones going 2-3 with a 3.00 ERA.

In 2013 he was promoted to the Savannah Sand Gnats, where he went 15-4 with a 2.72 ERA 7 struck out 106 batters. Topps named him the South Atlantic Player of the Year and he was also the league's Most Outstanding Pitcher.

 He began 2014 at St. Lucie going 8-2 getting promoted to AA Binghamton where in 11 games he went 3-2. Overall he was 11-4 with 106 strike outs combined with both teams. In 2015 he was an even 9-9 with a 3.90 ERA.
In 2016 he started for Frank Viola & Wally Backman at AAA Las Vegas. Pitching in the known hitters ballpark, he went 12-5 with a 3.97 ERA. He is not known as a big strike out pitcher, striking out just 78 batters in 154 innings pitched.

But it must be noted, Ynoa's control is impeccable, in nearly 800 innings in the Mets minor league system, he has only walked 134 total batters. A 1.5 per nine innings pitched is quite an accomplishment for a youngster.

In mid August he was brought up to the Mets big league staff to make up for all the injuries to Mets starters. He debuted on August 13th earning a win in relief, at Citi Field as the Mets downed the San Diego Padres.

The next day he finished up a Mets 5-1 win over the Padres, allowing a run.

 On August 17th he served up three earned runs in Arizona, in a Mets 13-5 loss to the D-backs. He was back down at AAA for two weeks returning as a September call up. After a brief scoreless appearance in Cincinnati on September 6th, he gave up runs in his next two relief appearances.



On September 18th, he got his first big league start & struck out eight Milwaukee Brewers in a 3-2 win, where he allowed just one run in 4.2 innings.

His next start came in Philadelphia where he only pitched two innings, allowing two runs as the Mets went on to a 10-5 victory, maintaining a wild card lead.

His next relief appearance came in Miami the day after Jose Fernandez was killed in a boating accident, in an emotional game where the Mets took a 7-3 loss. He made another start on October 2nd with no decision.

 He finished off his first big league season at 1-0 with 17 strike outs seven walks in 18 innings of work in ten games.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Remembering Bobby Ojeda's Tragic Boating Accident (1993)

-
Image
Steve Olin, Tim Crews & Bob Ojeda March 22 nd 1993: was an off day from Spring Training, for three Cleveland Indians pitchers; Former Mets 1986 World Champion pitcher; Bobby Ojeda, Tim Crews & Steve Olin. The three friends, took out an 18-foot open-air bass boat & went out fishing & gator hunting in the darkness of the evening on Lake Nellie in Clermont, Florida. Tragedy struck, when the boat rammed into a private dock that jutted out some 250 feet into the still waters. Two other Cleveland Indians personnel had arrived to meet the fishing party just as the horror took place. They heard Bob Ojeda saying they needed help. The two men jumped into the water and called out for someone to call 911. 27 year old pitcher; Steve Olin was killed instantly. 31 year old pitcher; Tim Crews was alive but was struggling to breathe suffering from massive head wounds. Bobby Ojeda was in & out of shock, he was suffering from head lacerations but was coherent. The
Read more

Remembering Vixen Founder / Guitarist; Jan Kuehnemund (1961-2013)

-
Image
centerfieldmaz was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of Jan Kuehnemund, the founding member of the all female metal band Vixen. Jan was a fantastic guitarist, song writer & women pioneer in Heavy Metal. I am a huge fan of hard rock all girl bands & Vixen were one my long time favorites. Janice Lynn Kuehnemund was born November 18th, 1961 in St. Paul Minnesota. The female guitarist formed one of the first all female Metal bands in Minnesota with singer Janet Gardner while in high school in 1980. By 1985 they moved the band to Los Angles California, to be part of the Heavy Metal scene. In 1987 the classic Vixen line up of Jan Kuehnemund (lead guitar) Janet Gardner (vocals/ guitar) Share Pederson (bass) & Roxy Petrucci (drums) formed & released their debut album the following year. Vixen 1988 In a world of all male Heavy Metal bands during its heyday, Vixen were groundbreaking in being an all female metal band. The Runaways, with Joan Jett & Lita Ford
Read more

The 1970's Oakland A's Ball Girls- (MLB's First)

-
Image
In the days of the early seventies the Oakland A's won three straight Championships & changed the face of baseball forever.  The team's controversial owner was known to be cheap in paying his star players & known to meddle in the teams on field affairs. He drove managers crazy & even had Dick Williams resign after winning his second straight World Series. But Finley also revolutionized baseball in many other ways. He was instrumental in getting the designated hitter in the American League & have the World Series played at night, so fans could attend after work. He gave his players fancy names like Catfish, Blue Moon & True Blue.  When his star Reggie Jackson refused to shave his beard, he encouraged the whole team to grow facial hair by paying them $200 each.  The A's team even grew their hair long, a sign of the times. But before that baseball players had not had facial or long hair since the 1800's.  He introduced bright colored yello
Read more

The Odd Couple TV Show's Beloved Supporting Cast

-
Image
On this the 45th Anniversary Season of when my favorite television show of all time The Odd Couple first debuted it's time to pay tribute to the great supporting  cast. Murray Greshler was a  big hit with fans as the simple minded bumbling NYPD Officer: Murray the Cop . Murray was a long time friend of Oscar Madison & usually becomes the subject of Oscar's jokes. Some great lines referenceing Murrays nose are "N ose' Feliciano" / "Tokyo Nose" & "Come inside Murray, your sucking up all the air in the hallway".  Even Felix chimed in asking him if the other army reserve soldiers made fun of him saying "when you look up it looks like a two car garage". Murray would become one of both Felix & Oscars best friends appearing 73 of the 114 Odd Couple episodes . Murray wouldn't think twice about double parking his patrol car double parked outside the Park Avenue or Central Park West building where Felix & Oscar
Read more

Fictional Mets Infielder Chico Escuela ( of SNL) Visits Mets Spring Training (1979)

-
Image
Bill Murray interviews (Garrett Morris) Chico Escuela In March 1979, original Saturday Night Live cast member; Garrett Morris joined the Mets at Miller Huggins Field for Spring Training. At the time the Mets were still holding Spring Training in St. Petersburg Florida.  Morris was filmed being interviewed by his SNL cast mate, Bill Murray as the fictional Mets player: Chico Escuela who wore uniform #5 (cinque).  Escuela was famous for his spoof of the Latin players of the time, who did not speak much English. His famous quote "baseball been berry- berry good to me" began the previous year on SNL's weekend update. Bill Murray & Ed Kranepool It was said during the mock 1979 Spring Training interview, that Chico who was a nine time All Star second baseman, had given up his job at the Weekend Update Sports desk to make a comeback with the Mets at age 41.  Chico had fictionally written a tell all baseball book; "Bad Stuff About the Mets" which tick
Read more