We’ll go through each affiliate to recap their month.

The Buffalo Bisons finished April 2012 in second place in the IL North, at 14-10, 1.5 games behind the Pawtucket Red Sox. The Bisons are second in the IL in bating average and third in OBP, SLG and runs scored as part of a .281/.355/.450 line.   The Herd’s 30 homers are tied for first on the circuit.

Despite ranking near the bottom in the IL in strikeouts (12 of 14), the Bisons are third in the IL in ERA (3.04) because they have allowed the third-fewest hits (185).

No Fuss Lutz
How does a .333/.425/.556 month sound with eight extra-base hits, 10 walks and 20 strikeouts? Thanks to Mets’ injuries 25-year old Zach Lutz even found some big league time where he made his MLB debut and was 1-for-8 in picking up his first MLB hit. A third baseman throughout his minor league career, Lutz picked up his only MLB start at first, and looked a little awkward there. His lack of defensive versatility hurts his bench value, so the Mets might consider exposing him to other positions in AAA in the near future.

The Old Guys Hit
34 year old Bobby Scales: .413/.522/.600 – 17 BB, 8 K – 21 games. Scales’ .413 OBP leads all full-season minor leagues.

32 year old Vinny Rottino: .315/.356/.435 – 8 2B – 7 BB, 14 K – 24 games. He’s worked exclusively in left field, but the Mets will begin working him back in at catcher, the position that he says is his “favorite” and where he is comfortable. Mike Nickeas, you have been warned.

33 year old Valentino Pascucci: .306/.392/.565 – 4 2B, 6 HR, 12 BB, 28 K. Ho hum, another .950 OPS in AAA for “The Big Guy” as Bisons’ broadcaster Duke McGuire calls him.

The Jordany Story
After playing second base for Buffalo on the first two nights of the season, the Mets and Bisons moved Jordany Valdespin out to centerfield after Kirk Nieuwenhuis was promoted to the Mets to take Andres Torres’ place.  His play in centerfield, not surprisingly for a guy who has spent a month at the position, remains a work in progress. He has the athleticism to play out there, but does not yet have an outfielders’ feel for reads off the bat or the long arm stroke for throws. At the plate in 17 games in AAA, he hit a rather pedestrian .276/.321/.368 in 76 AB with five walks against seven strikeouts and just three extra-base hits.

So what’s he doing in the big leagues? First and foremost, with Ronny Cedeno on the shelf, Valdespin is the best back-up shortstop option. The Mets are clearly not comfortable with Justin Turner, who has played just two MLB games at short stop, and only 53 games at short in the minors, as the team’s only back-up shortstop option.   Valdespin is primarily insurance for Ruben Tejada, who happens to be two years younger than Valdespin. At the same time, Valdespin is a second another left-handed bat off the bench alongside Mike Baxter. He is merely the sixth outfielder behind Lucas Duda, Nieuwenhuis, Torres, Baxter and Scott Hairson.

A number of commenters have raised the issue that Valdespin needs to be playing everyday to continue his development. It’s a reasonable argument, but it falls short here. At some point, a prospect’s development becomes secondary to helping the big league team. In this case, Valdespin is providing big league depth while allowing the Mets to weather an injury without making a 40-man roster move. His positional flexibility allows the Mets roster flexibility.

 
The Big Two – Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia
Lets start with the simple one first: Familia is just not throwing enough strikes. In 21.2 innings in 2012, he has issued 22 walks. For the year, he has thrown 56% of his pitches (261 of 463) for strikes where MLB average is 62%. Primarily, this is about locating his fastball. The Mets were working hard with Familia in spring training to repeat a cleaner delivery to improve his command. Obviously, the lessons have not taken yet.

Is the early-season cold a viable excuse? Not for more than a walk an inning. Also, even though it’s cold in Buffalo, it’s plenty cold in many MLB destinations early in the season including New York, Philadelphia and Washington.

Harvey has put together two good outings in a row and seems to be locating his fastball better and using all four of his pitches. He’s getting swings and misses with a hard-mid 80s breaking ball. In his last 13 innings: 15 K, 3 BB and 3 runs on eight hits.

The Mets insist that they will be patient not just with Harvey and Familia, but with all of their pitching prospects. Do not expect to see Harvey anytime soon in Queens. With 26 innings at AAA this year, and 59.2 at Binghamton last year, he’s at 85.2 above a-ball. If the team’s goal is really 130 upper-level innings, he will need another month and a half in AAA or the middle to the end of June. The only way he gets to the bigs faster? Pure domination.

Bullpen Help Soon?
The Mets promoted Josh Edgin to Buffalo on April 23 and he’s allowed just one run on three hits with five strikeouts in his four innings of work in AAA. For the year, between AA and AAA, the big, hard-throwing lefty has fanned 10 and walked four in 10.1 innings while yielding two runs. It’s not just that he’s missing bats; Minor League Central counts him with a 69% gb rate.

Position Player of the Month
Bobby Scales

Pitcher of the Month
Chris Schwinden. His line at Buffalo: 4 GS, 2.05 ERA, 22 IP, 14 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 1 HR, 9 BB, 13 K. It’s not terribly sexy, but he allowed fewer runs than Jeremy Hefner and Garrett Olson and neither Harvey nor Familia deserved it. The ‘pen guys like Fernando Cabrera, Chuck James and Jack Egbert have nice low ERAs without accompanying pretty K/BB ratios.