Hello phiago,

I wouldn't fret too much about Pelfrey's bad outing; he was facing a pretty good prospect-laden club with the Indians' AA Akron Aeros ballclub.

Most would consider Brad Snyder and Kevin Kouzmanoff to be at least solid regulars if not more.  People have also mentioned Pat Osborn, Jonathan Van Every, and Eider Torres as being possible contributors to a big-league club as well.  

Joe Inglett is also considered to be a possible contributor as well and he has a good amount of AAA experience as well; the only reason he's back at AA is to get more repetitions at SS to judge his value as a super-utility player (the Indians have veteran Jose Flores as AAA Buffalo's starting shortstop, so Inglett was blocked from getting regular work at SS at AAA Buffalo.  

The only way he would get the needed repetitions was to head back to AA Akron.  Keep in mind that Inglett has hit over .300 at AAA as well, so he may be the most experienced hitter Pelfrey has faced in his young professional career.  Plus, Pelfrey did retire him 1 out of 3 times, so that's not too bad for a highly-regarded pitching prospect with limited professional experience.)

Plus, those prospects I mentioned above also have a good amount of AA experience, as all of them seen a fair number of games at Akron last year, so Pelfrey struggling against more advanced hitters than he has seen is not that unusual.  

Plus, no offense to Mets fans, but I don't think most people consider Mike Pelfrey to be the next Mark Prior; he's good, but not as good as Prior, so I think a period of adjustment for Pelfrey is not unusual and should not be unexpected.

Give Pelfrey some time - if he's as good as projected, he'll probably figure out AA soon enough.  Plus, except for Bannister's injury, the Mets have no room in the rotation for Pelfrey at this point anyway.  The Mets can afford to be patient with him.

Just my 2 cents. :-)

Take care and have a great day!

You're welcome!  I check out the Akron team often, for obvious reasons. :-)

No bragging intended, the Indians' farm system is a bit deeper than the Mets, so some of Pelfrey's troubles in his last start was due to some quality young talent at the AA level, so I wouldn't worry too much about Pelfrey.  It's just going to take him some time to make the necessary adjustments, which virtually all young pitchers have to make when they reach the next level, and especially at AA.

I think Pelfrey's mental toughness will also be tested by what you say about the Mets' system - no offense and bad defense.  If Pelfrey is as good as advertised, he'll probably be mentally tough enough to handle a weak offense and bad defense.  He just has to concentrate on what he is doing on the mound.

Like I said in my earlier post, there were some positive signs from Pelfrey's outing against the Aeros - he did get Inglett once, and Inglett has extensive AAA experience, let alone AA experience.  Plus, he struck out Torres, Van Every, and Larkin (another possible utility guy at the ML level) once each, so Pelfrey had his moments against more advanced competition.  Just give him some time to get acclimated to AA (and eventually, AAA.)

Take care and have a great day!