Comments on: Latin Market Bargain: Jenrry Mejia

By: acerimusdux

acerimusdux — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:16:01 +0000

I’ve seen him pitch three times this year at A+ St. Lucie.
I like him a bit better than Holt, though I could understand preferring Holt. Holt has the size, mechanics, where you might bet on him in the long run. Whereas Mejia is under 6 foot (though well built), and hasn’t yet shown he can keep this up for 150+ innings in a season. Mejia will probably only throw about 110 this year. But Mejia’s secondary offering are currently ahead of where Holt’s are (and Holt’s are pretty good as well).

Mejia also normally throws a tick harder than Holt, though Holt’s FB is equally effective when he keeps it down. A 94 mph FB from the taller pitcher is probably as effective as 95 from Mejia just to the release being closer to the plate.

Mejia when I’ve seen him has sat 92-95 with the FB, and has usually touching 96 or 97 at some point. I saw one pitch hit 99. He has outstanding FB command and can move it to both sides of the plate. Very effective running it down and away to LH batters.

The change up is a two seam variation that he is taking a lot off and getting a lot of sink. An ordinary two-seamer from Mejia sits around 91-92 mph, but he’s getting a lot of sink and movement and throwing this around 87 mph. You could think of it almost as a plus slow sinker that he uses as a change of pace. And he’s up around 94-95 enough with the four-seamer that the change of velocity is enough when combined with the movement.

With the curve he is very inconsistent in his command. The first time I saw him, he was throwing it a lot, with some very nice break and movement, but having trouble at times getting strikes with it. The second time, he had trouble throwing a decent curve at all, and didn’t break off a decent one until the fourth inning. But he was actually more effective that day just because he went to the FB and CU more and was able to throw more strikes. By the third time, shortly before his promotion to AA, he had become more consistent with the break on the CB, was throwing it more consistently at 79-80 mph, and was throwing more strikes with it, though still sometimes locating poorly in the zone (leaving it up). I would call the CB above average, the quality was good enough that he was getting away with some poor location on it at this level.

He also throws a slider, which I haven’t seen many comment on. It has the same velocity as his change up, but a distinct sharp late break away from RH hitters. It may actually be a cutter variation of that pitch, but it’s a distinct pitch which he gets some swings and misses on, as well as some weak ground balls.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:17:36 +0000

Oh now I get the joke hahahaah

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:17:18 +0000

Really? I heard they were trying to keep his innings down this year to 100 or so.

By: big baby

big baby — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:44:58 +0000

it looks like the mets were thinking about calling up him to the bigs, as he strained his middle finger.

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:44:46 +0000

Saw this kid pitch in his AA debut this year. Very very composed pitcher when in trouble. His changeup is a plus pitch at 86-88, a bit fast but I heard he throws it like a two seamer but with a changeup grip. His fastball that day sat at 94 and hit 97 a few time. His curveball showed plus potential and IMO had more break than Tim Alderson’s curveball which is the best in the Giants organization, but needs to control that pitch. I very well have talked to the scout that was quoted in the NY Times last month. Raved big time about this kid and said that Brad Holt is nowhere in his league as terms of a prospect.

By: megamets

megamets — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:17:41 +0000

If Oliver Perez is allowed to pitch in the Majors then so should Mejia.

By: BlackOps

BlackOps — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 21:09:08 +0000

Or maybe he’s good.

By: PhDBrian

PhDBrian — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:17:16 +0000

Maybe his is 21 and not 19?

By: big baby

big baby — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:59:33 +0000

mejia makes me happy.

he’s currently given a couple of starts off as he’s just about to pitch as many innings as he did all of last year.

he also reportedly hit 102 on the stadium gun in his last start.

By: Pat Andriola

Pat Andriola — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:31:29 +0000

Thank you, Marc, for shining some light on a promising young talent in Binghamton. Mets fans are extremely excited about Mejia, and I think, as you highlighted, there’s good reason to be. They are also holding Mejia back on his innings a little bit as well. Here’s a link on it: http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/2009/07/03/mejia-and-thole-update/

Also, it’s nice to see something positive written about the Mets farm system, which has repeatedly been put down despite some exciting prospects apart from Mejia (i.e. Wilmer Flores, Brad Holt, Ike Davis, Josh Thole, and Reese Havens, just to name a few).