Danny Muno is on pace to play his 82nd game of the season this week — a first for the Mets’ Double-A second baseman.
Muno maxed out at 77 games during a four-year collegiate career at Fresno State when, in his freshman season of 2008, the Bulldogs won the College World Series. After he was drafted in the eighth round in 2011, he played 59 games for the Brooklyn Cyclones, winning the short-season New York-Penn League batting title with a .355 average.
Then, in mid-May last year, Muno was popped for 50 games after testing positive for an anabolic steroid while playing at High-A St. Lucie. The two halves of Muno’s season were remarkable for the contrast in his power numbers (before: five homers in 38 games, .461 slugging; after: one homer in 43 games, .358 slugging) and patience figures (before: 7.1 percent walk rate, .339 on-base percentage; after: 20.6 walk rate, .431 on-base).
That second-half profile is more indicative of the player the 5-foot-11, 175-pounder from Long Beach, Calif., has been in his age-24 season at Binghamton and the one Baseball America rated as having the best strike-zone discipline in the Mets’ system.
Through 76 games, Muno had 57 walks (second-most in the Eastern League) and 55 strikeouts in 327 plate appearances, good for a 17.4 percent walk rate and .383 on-base percentage on top of a meager .240 batting average. What power the switch-hitter flashes comes as a lefty: 16 of 19 doubles and all six homers, including two in a July 4 fireworks show.
“I’ve been working with our hitting coach, Luis Natera, to shorten everything up and not try to do too much,” Muno said after driving in all seven B-Mets runs in a 7-6 victory at New Hampshire, according to milb.com. “I was pressing, struggling, and in turn, that was making my swing longer.”
* The gem of the Mets’ 2011 draft class, Wyoming high school outfielder Brandon Nimmo, has been in a rut at Low-A Savannah. The 20-year-old went into last night with eight hits and 23 strikeouts in his past 52 at-bats. His last extra-base hit came on June 15. The lefty swinger is still figuring out southpaws, carrying a slash line of .196/.275/.217.
* Yankees right-hander Dellin Betances is settling into a groove in his reinvention as a reliever at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He went into the weekend with a 2.45 ERA in 29 1/3 innings out of the bullpen, with 17 hits, 36 strikeouts and, crucially for the 6-foot-8 giant who has struggled with his mechanics and command, an acceptable 10 walks. He was unscored upon in his past six appearances covering 10 2/3 innings (four hits, two walks, 14 Ks), most recently nailing down a pair of no-sweat, one-inning saves.
* A real boner in the Low-A Midwest League on Monday, the Merkle variety: Tie game, bottom 9, two outs, bases full of Lansing Lugnuts, knock through the middle by Chris Hawkins, runner comes home, celebratory scrum on the infield. Except the overjoyed runner at first base, Santiago Nessy, never made it to second, and Great Lakes center fielder James Baldwin alertly threw to second for the force out. Lansing went on to lose in 10 innings.