The Mets have promoted 1B/C Mike Jacobs from AA Binghamton to the Major Leagues. Jacobs, who has a 22-game hit streak in the Eastern League, got the call today and is en route to Shea from Portland, Maine.
The lefty slugger who turns 25 the day before Halloween hit .321 with 25 HR and 92 RBI for Binghamton, splitting time between first base and catcher. In recent weeks Jacobs has been catching a lot more.
The Mets' organization Player of the Year in 2003 after posting numbers of .329, 17 HR and 81 RBI, Jacobs was slated to start the 2004 as Norfolk's starting catcher. After only a handful of games there, he was sidelined with a partially torn labrum and missed most of the year.
Near the end of spring training this year, he was somewhat surprised to learn he'd be returning to Binghamton to play first base — as the team wanted him to get experience there, in part to protect his shoulder. That lasted until July when the organization moved slugger Brett Harper up from St. Lucie, who became the starting first baseman, with Jacobs taking over full-time duty again at catcher.
The move is curious — if only because the Mets have a current hole at first with Doug Mientkiewicz recovering from a bruised back — and may have an opening at catcher next season with Mike Piazza's contract expiring after this year. There was no word on who would be moved from the roster.
All Jacobs knows is this; he's going to the big leagues.
"They just told me to be ready." Jacobs told Gotham Baseball. "I don't care what they want me to do, I'm just so excited to get the opportunity.
NEW YORK -- On a night the Mets prepared to welcome one star back to their lineup, they learned another would be absent.
Carlos Beltran's return to New York's batting order was countered by the realization that catcher Mike Piazza had suffered a small fracture to the pisiform bone on his left hand, which helps connects the pinky to the wrist.
The injury was suffered in the seventh inning of Tuesday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the fracture was revealed by an X-ray, Mets manager Willie Randolph said.
Randolph said the Mets would have to wait "a couple of days" for the swelling in Piazza's hand to go down and then reevaluate his situation.
"It's not in a real bad spot," Randolph said. "It's not a major bone area. ... Some guys might be able to play through it."
Still, with Ramon Castro the only other bona fide catcher on New York's roster -- Miguel Cairo and Chris Woodward are considered emergency receivers -- GM Omar Minaya said the Mets were "evaluating [a Minor League callup] as we speak."
"I can't see us going a couple of days without a backup catcher," Minaya said.
Maine has a good swing for a pitcher but on anything that moves, he has no chance. And if it's a fastball, it has to be up in the zone. Basically, the pitcher has to hit his bat. - Mike Pelfrey
Amazinz wrote:3-Run HR. Not a bad way to start your career.
I was at the game a couple years back when Bubba Trammell did the same thing. Right after it, they flashed on the scoreboard that he was the first player to hit a HR in his first at-bat as a Met since Mike Bordick had done it the day before.
What do you guys think about Pedro and his comments concerning Jacobs?
Jacobs survived another day without being returned to the minors, and Pedro Martinez may be partially responsible.
After homering in his first major league at-bat Sunday, Jacobs was informed he may be sent to Triple-A. Martinez overheard and voiced a complaint with Mets' brass. Jacobs stayed with the team, started the next two games at first base and was spared a demotion Tuesday when the Mets designated reliever Danny Graves for assignment.
The move paid off for the Mets when he homered Tuesday night at Arizona.
"It's just not right," Martinez told the New York Daily News. "It could frustrate a kid when you have a top prospect like that and you bring him up and he hits a three-run homer that puts us back in the game and you send him back down. As a person that's been there, it's frustrating."
Maine has a good swing for a pitcher but on anything that moves, he has no chance. And if it's a fastball, it has to be up in the zone. Basically, the pitcher has to hit his bat. - Mike Pelfrey
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by Rirruto » Wed Aug 17, 2005 4:44 pm 
