Mets hurlers highlight Thursday's cuts

Major League teams continued to trim their rosters Thursday, with five Top 100 prospects -- the Mets' Matt Harvey and Jeurys Familia, the Astros' Jonathan Singleton, the Padres' Rymer Liriano and the Brewers' Jed Bradley -- among those being sent down for more seasoning.

Ranked as the Mets' No. 2 and 3 prospects, Harvey and Familia combined to make just three appearances for the club this spring. Harvey did not allow a run while striking out two over four innings, while Familia had a tougher time. In his only outing, the 22-year-old right-hander surrendered four runs in 1 2/3 innings.

Though the cuts were expected, Harvey -- who is also ranked as MLB.com's No. 38 overall prospect -- was still disappointed when he learned the news.

"I'm not happy about it," Harvey told MLB.com. "But I can't make the decision, so I'm going to go out there wherever I'm throwing and do the best I can, and keep working and try to get to the level I want to be at."

Singleton, who is rated as the Astros' No. 1 prospect after coming over in the deal that sent Hunter Pence to Philadelphia, was another youngster sent to Minor League camp. The 20-year-old first baseman hit .333 with four homers for Class A Advanced Lancaster after the trade, then batted .400 (4-for-10) in Spring Training.

"I was extremely impressed with him in instructional league when I came down after the season," Astros manager Brad Mills told MLB.com. "I saw how he played first base, I saw how he swung the bat, I saw his athleticism. And he did nothing but raise my opinion of him, how he performed here. No matter who he stepped in against, he had some good at-bats."

The Astros also optioned the team's No. 6 prospect, Paul Clemens, who was part of the package the team received for Michael Bourn last year.

"He has a bright future in this organization," general manager Jeff Luhnow told MLB.com. "He impressed everybody [Wednesday]. I was sitting with the Cardinals' scouts and they were asking a lot of questions about him. There were a lot of wows."

In Padres camp, Liriano never had a chance of making the big league club but still impressed in his limited time with the team. The organization's No. 3 prospect batted .400 (6-for-15) with a double and three RBIs, though he surprisingly did not steal a base after swiping 66 between Class A and Class A Advanced last year. San Diego also reassigned No. 7 prospect Robbie Erlin, who was one of the players acquired from Texas in exchange for reliever Mike Adams last year.

Meanwhile, the Brewers sent down both their first-round hurlers from the 2011 Draft, Bradley and Taylor Jungmann. Neither pitcher fared too well in his limited spring experience, as Bradley surrendered two runs in two innings and Jungmann gave up five -- four earned -- over 2 2/3 frames. According to manager Ron Roenicke, cutting the team's No. 2 and 3 prospects was about getting them more opportunities to pitch.

"We just didn't have the innings to try to get them," he told MLB.com. "They need to get ready."

No. 6 Nationals prospect Eury Perez was another notable name sent down Thursday, even though he hit .333 (6-for-18) with four runs in big league camp. The 21-year-old outfielder played 119 games at Class A Advanced Potomac last year, batting. 283 with 45 stolen bases.

"Eury Perez is just scratching the surface," general manager Mike Rizzo said. "He is one of our guys that we feel down the road could be our long-term answer in center field. He is a guy that is going to go back to the Minor Leagues and work on his craft."