Mets minor league report

Jon Niese joined Triple-A New Orleans on July 30. The 21-year-old lefthander hasn’t skipped a beat in four starts since the promotion. Niese, the organization’s top pitching prospect, will take a 3-1 record and 3.12 ERA into Monday night’s start for the Zephyrs. After three straight wins to open his Pacific Coast League career, Niese allowed two solo homers at Iowa on Wednesday but nonetheless completed seven innings. “It really isn’t much of a difference between Triple-A and Double-A,” Niese said, before adding: “In Triple-A the hitters take more pitches. Double-A guys are going up hacking, swinging at the first available pitch.” At one point, Niese seemed a likely addition to the rotation, but John Maine appears to have put rotator cuff difficulty behind him, while Pedro Martinez has successfully returned from groin discomfort to make the rotation the Mets’ strength right now and unlikely to be disrupted. GM Omar Minaya recently hinted that the Mets may not even call up Niese ... (link)