Over at Baseball America, Brad Holt makes his third appearance on the weekly Hot Sheet, with another impressive week with the Cyclones. Holt posted a line of .75 ERA in 12 innings, while striking out 15. He is the only draft pick for the Mets that has made the Hot Sheet this year. Of Holt, they write..

“Holt has been a model of consistency, yielding good reason for his meteoric rise up draft boards this past spring. He is third in the NY-P in ERA and he probably wouldn’t even need to make another start in order to finish as the leader in strikeouts. Better yet, Holt is using his breaking ball and his changeup more often, and judging by the results, he is getting comfortable using his secondary stuff”.

Wow, who would have thought Holt would make this kind of splash.

If you are wondering, Ike Davis’s season line is .239 with 0 homers and 13 RBI, and Reese Havens is .263 with 3 homers and 11 RBI. Clearly, both hitters have had a hard time adjusting to the wood bats.

I had the pleasure of covering the Cyclones game against the Staten Island Yankees for WGBB. Toby Hyde was there, as you already probably know, doing work for SNY. I had a chance to interview Brad Holt before the game and recap my observations of some prospects at my radio show blog. If you’re interested take a look.

Brad Holt Interview

Silva’s recap of 8/4 Cyclones Game

If you haven’t seen Toby’s appearance yet on SNY, I would recommend going to his site, MetsMinorLeagueBlog.com. He really did a great job outlining the farm system and his thoughts on some Mets prospects.

Over at Baseball America, Mets supplemental second round draft choice Brad Holt checks in at No. 9 on their weekly hot sheet. Of Holt, they write..

A supplemental first-round pick out of UNC Wilmington, Holt delivered his best professional outing yet by pitching seven shutout innings and striking out 10 in a game against State College. Holt struck out the game’s first four batters and retired the leadoff batter in each of the first six innings. His first start did not go well, but since then Holt has allowed three earned runs in 20 2/3 innings, as hitters are struggling to catch up to his 94 mph fastball.

Mets farmhands Mike Carp, Fernando Martinez, and Wilmer Flores have also made it throughout the year.

I was a little surprised when the Mets chose Holt, with a pitcher like Tim Melville still on the board. Holt has pitched very well of late, and although its a small sample, he could be on his way to adding to our pitching depth. Melville has yet to throw an inning this year due to his signability issues, so it is looking like the Mets made the right call on this one.

First-round pick Brad Holt had an impressive start in Brooklyn yesterday, tossing five innings of no-hit ball, earning his first professional win.

A rehabbing Ryan Church went 3-for-3 as the Brooklyn Cyclones beat the visiting Aberdeen IronBirds on Thursday, 4-2.

“I felt good, after the first it was all up and down, I felt fine,” Holt said of the stint. “My breaking ball was good, everything was working.”

Holt was the 33rd overall pick earlier this month, he struck out six and walked one in his second career appearance. He faced 17 batters and induced six grounders and three fly balls in his home debut.

“I used a little bit of everything,” he said. “Fastballs down, in and out, both sides of the plate. I showed changeups every now and then. I threw a couple breaking balls, but, basically it was the same [as in college]. I just keep attacking with the fastball.”

Read more about Holt’s start on Mets.com

According to Jon Heyman from Sports Illustrated, the Mets have come to terms with first round pick SS Reese Havens on a $1.4 million dollar bonus.  Heyman adds that $1.4 million is roughly slot money for where Havens was taken, 22nd overall.   

Also, according to Heyman the Mets are close to signing 33rd overall pick Brad Holt.  They are also into negotiations with their fourth pick Javier Rodriguez, while they have not begun negotiations with Ike Davis.  Davis was their first pick in the draft, 18th pick overall.  Davis and Arizona State Sun Devils have been playing in the College World Series

The Mets selected RHP Brad Holt from the University of North Carolina, the 33rd overall pick, in compensation for losing Tom Glavine to the Braves.

From his UNC player profile…

2007: Named CAA Pitcher-of-the-Week (4/9) … Started 15 games … Fashioned 5-5 mark … Set career-highs with 53 strikeouts and 76.1 innings … Struck out career-high seven over seven innings of two-hit, shutout baseball at Hofstra (4/6) … Picked up win against nationally-ranked Texas Christian (2/24) … Held George Mason to one run on six hits in seven innings (5/19) … 2006: All-CAA Tournament … Made eight starts in 14 games … Limited VCU to two runs, one earned, in 8.2 innings in conference tournament … Drew opening game start in NCAA Regional against Winthrop … Fashioned 3-3 mark … Added wins against Duke and LaSalle … At Albemarle: NCPreps.com 1A All-State honors … Earned All-Watkin Valley Conference honors four times … Four-time All-County selection … Louisville Slugger Second-team All-America selection … Played in North Carolina State games … Listed as 19th best prospect in state by Impact Baseball and 26th by Baseball America … Four-year starter for Bulldogs … … Set school record with 404 career strikeouts … Coached by Gary Weiker … Personal: Full Name: Bradley David Holt … Born Oct. 13, 1986, in Albemarle, N.C. … Son of John David and Wanda Holt.

Scout.com had Holt as their 31st best prospect and wrote the following about him…

Holt continues to fly under the radar because he doesn’t pitch for a big program, but his big arm will likely fit nicely as a supplemental round pick.

ESPN.com projects him as a reliever, in the setup role…

Holt shows consistent arm strength and holds it through his starts as well as any starter in this draft, sitting 93-96 mph every week from his first inning to his last. The velocity is easy; the ball comes out of his arm well and has good downhill plane and some life to it. He pitches almost exclusively off his fastball, throwing offspeed stuff less than 25 percent of the time. His curveball, which has a short downward break and moderately tight rotation, is his best secondary pitch; it could become an average offering, but it’s a one-plane pitch. He has a changeup, but he guides this mediocre offering to the plate. He takes a long stride forward off the mound, holding his velocity even from the stretch when he doesn’t stay over the rubber at all, and has just a little bit of violence at the end when his head snaps slightly. If he had a better changeup or could handle a splitter — his arm slot might be too low for it — he’d have a chance to be a back-end starter. But as a one-and-a-half-pitch pitcher, he’s more likely to work in the bullpen when he reaches the majors.