If you like all of the pitching storylines this spring for the Mets, then today’s game is for you. The Mets will have Sean Manaea make his spring Mets debut this afternoon. Manaea is a key part of raising the overall floor of the Mets rotation from last season to this year. Then José Buttó will pitching in his second game this spring, looking to build on his last start as he competes with Joey Lucchesi and Tylor Megill for the final rotation spot.
Things get real interesting after Buttó’s outing as top prospects Christian Scott and Mike Vasil look to get some spring training action. Both are projected as rotation options for the Mets later in 2024. Then Jorge López and Brooks Raley both get some time to show off the Mets back of the bullpen. So many pitching stories to follow!
Tuning into today’s game may be a bit novel. The Marlins will be broadcasting the game on their official page and the Mets radio crew will be calling the game locally. Good luck to everyone trying to sync their internet streams of the game to the audio from the Mets radio broadcast!
Three Things To Watch For:
- Sean Manaea’s first start: Manaea pitched in 37 games last year making 10 starts for the Giants totaling 117 2/3 innings with a 4.44 ERA, 3.90 FIP, 1.241 WHIP and a 95 ERA+. His last four games in September were all starts where he had a 2.25 ERA, 3.21 FIP over 24 innings of work. His season was marred early by a stretch of five games, four starts, where he allowed 23 runs (17 earned) over 14 2/3 innings. After that stretch he pitched 91 2/3 innings with a 3.44 ERA. The Mets are hoping to get that version of Manaea this season.
- Top Prospects get to pitch: Christian Scott made noise this off-season as he started showing up on top-100 prospect lists for the league. He’s coming off of a season where he had a 2.57 ERA over 19 starts (87 2/3 innings) mainly between Binghamton and Brooklyn. Mike Vasil last season had a 3.71 ERA over 10 starts in Binghamton before making 16 starts in Syracuse where he he allowed a lot more runs due to a bump in his walks. His strikeout rate between both leagues were nearly identical. Both players project to start in Syracuse this year (barring a massive surprise / turn of events). Hopefully the Marlins still have major league hitters in the lineup when they get on the mound today.
- Alonso and Álvarez lead the offense: Alonso comes into today’s game with a 1.611 OPS from hitting 4-for-9 with three doubles and a homer this spring. Álvarez has a 1.625 OPS that is buoyed by a homer and three walks already this spring (for comparison he walked only twice last spring over 14 games).
Let’s Go Mets!
