Everybody is always talking about the great, young pitching the Mets have in their minor league system, but June was quite the hitting month for many of their kids down on the farm.

Norfolk

Victor Diaz [OF R R 6' 0" 200 24 12-10-1981] - June spilts were .292/.306/.479. Diaz was drafted by the Dodgers in the 37th Round of the 2000 amateur draft and signed as a draft-and-follow a year later out of Grayson County (Texas) CC. He was acquired by the Mets in the Jeromy Burnitz deal. After the 2004 season, Baseball America ranked Diaz as the Mets eighth best prospect. Scout.com ranked him No. 10. In 2006, Diaz got off to a slow start after returning from his Shea assignment in April. Since then, his numbers have steadily improved. Monthly batting averages have been .188 in April, and .233 in May. No one has questioned Diaz’ ability to excel in the minors. His career stats speak for themselves: .309/.357/.491

Jeff Keppinger - June’s numbers were .338/.419/.419. Jeff Keppinger was three-time MVP of his high school baseball team in Georgia, and was named Georgia's MVP in 2000 and 2001, as well as being named Second-Team All-American by Baseball America in 2001. Keppinger was selected in the 4th round of the 2001 by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and came to the Mets in 2004 from the Pirates organization in the Kris Benson trade. Baseball America named him as having the best strike-zone discipline in the Mets system. 2004 was a hectic year for Jeff. He played for 3 minor league teams (Altoona/AA, Binghamton/AA, and Norfolk/AAA), plus finished the year playing for the Mets, where he batted .284 in 33 games. 2005 was spent entirely at AAA Norfolk, where he hit .337. OnDeck lists Keppinger as the Mets 32nd top prospect.

Binghamton

The June splits for Michel Abreu were outstanding [.345/.396/.440]. Michel (pronounced “Michelle”) Abreu was signed by the Mets on 2-3-06. Abreu had a very successful career in Cuba, where he hit .356 (23 HRs 82 RBIs) in his final season there. He defected from Cuba in February 2004, and was first signed by the Boston Red Sox ($425,000 signing bonus) but his contract was voided after the team found out he had lied about his age. Abreu told the Sox he was 26, when he actually was 30. Born on 2-8-75, he is now 31. He was Cuba’s leading home run hitter for 4 straight years, primarily plays 1B, but also can play LF and 3B.

Wilson Batista - Batista hit .333 in June, with a .550 slugging percentage. The Mets signed Batista as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2000.

Batista has played the past three years in the Mets system, starting out in 2003 at Kingsport and Brooklyn. He moved on in 2004 for a full season with Capital City (.259, .359 OBP) and split time in 2005 with Hagerstown (.238) and St. Lucie (.274). Batista has a very good batting eye and excellent speed.

St. Lucie

Jay Caligiuri batted .353 in June and slugged a .618 percentage as well. Caligiuri played college ball at Cal State Los Angeles, and was the Mets' 13th round pick in the 2001 amateur draft. He was immediately assigned to Brooklyn where he turned in an all-star season (.328/.397/.475). He returned to Brooklyn in 2002 (.286) and was promoted mid-season to Capital City (.235). The entire 2003 season was spent on the disabled list with a foot injury, followed by a 2004 season spent in St. Lucie (.238). Caligiuri played for Binghamton in 2005, and his 15 home runs were third best on the team. He also was third in RBI production. He is considered a solid player who can hit for power.

Rashad Eldridge had a huge first month for the Mets, batting .316 and slugging .474. Eldridge was a fifth round pick by Cleveland in the 2000 draft, but left the Indians system at the end of 2001 and played five years in the Texas organization, rookie through AAA. He has posted a career .268 minor league batting average through 2005, and was signed on by the Mets on 6-6-6 after being released by Texas’ AAA team, Oklahoma. St. Lucie.

Another hot June was played by Corey Coles, with splits of .372/ .463/ .449. The Mets drafted Corey Coles in the fifth round of the 2003 draft. He had attended the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, the same school Chase Lambin went to (he also was a part time closer while in college). He was signed by the Mets on 6-10-03 and was assigned to Brooklyn. Coles started slow, was demoted to Kingsport, and returned to the Cyclones, where he played 64 games in 2004, batting .278. Scout.com listed him that year as the 47th top Mets prospect. In 2005, Coles played in Hagerstown where he had a wonderful year, playing both part and full time and hitting .307. He was also named to the Florida State League all-star game in 2006.

The return of Jesus Flores continues in June, where our top catcher prospect hit .343/ .413/ .612. Flores came to the Mets as a free agent and was tagged a “hot young catching prospect” from the day he arrived at the VSL Mets camp. In 2004, He posted some impressive numbers with the GCL Mets (.319/.368/.532), and both Baseball America and Scout.com had him ranked as the 9th best Mets prospect that year. Flores broke his thumb in a 2005 St. Lucie spring training game and went on to have a miserable season (.216/.250/.339) He started equally bad this season, but began to pick it back up in May. OnDeck now ranks Flores the 26th top Mets prospect

Hagerstown

Drew Butera had his best month as a pro, hitting .311/ .400/ .511. Butera was originally selected by Toronto Blue Jays in 48th Round of the 2002 draft, but chose to play college ball instead at the University of Central Florida. The Mets drafted Butera with their 5th round pick in the 2005 draft and assigned him to Brooklyn, where he hit a disappointing .217. Drew is the son of former Major Leaguer Sal Butera.

Watch out, Elvis is in the building. OF Elvis Cruz turned in some outstanding June numbers: .422/ .435/ .489. Cruz was originally signed as an un-drafted free agent, in 2001, by the Seattle Mariners. 2002 and 2003 were spent with the rookie league Arizona Mariners, and Cruz played 2004 at Everett, posting a disappointing .208. The Mets signed Cruz in 2005 and assigned him to Hagerstown. He is the younger brother of former-Met farmhand Enrique Cruz.

One of the Mets top 1B prospects, Nick Evans, put together a fantastic June, hitting .342/ .414/ .632. Evans came to pro-ball straight out of St. Mary’s High School, Phoeniz, Arizona. The Mets chose Evans in the 5th round of the 2004 draft and received a $217,500 bonus on his signing day. He immediately reported to the GCL Mets and hit .258 in 50 games. Scout.com ranked him the 34th Mets prospect that year. In 2005, Evans played a ‘full’ season for the short-season Brooklyn team, hitting .252/.302/.407. Baseball America ranks Evans as the 30th prospect in the system. OnDeck has him 28th.

OF Jonel Pacheco also put up some great June numbers, hitting .318/ .357/ .455. Pacheco was signed by the Mets, in 2004, as a free agent. He spent the remainder of the year with the VSL Mets, where he was the top offensive threat. 2005 was spent playing a full season with Brooklyn, and Pacheco hit .274 with 6 HRs and 30 RBIs in 54 games

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