After three consecutive road games the Mets finally come to Clover Park today to take on the Astros. The 2024 spring Mets (not that any of this actually matters) have been streaky. After dropping the first game of the spring the Mets went on to win their next four. They’ve now lost their last three. The spring schedule for the Mets has been packed this season and the Mets have played everyday since games started last Saturday. Tomorrow the Mets have their first off-day of the spring. They won’t have another day with no games until March 18th.
The big story the Mets this weekend has been the youth movement on the mound. Friday we saw Blade Tidwell take the mound. He struck out four over 1 2/3 innings while allowing three runs. Yesterday Christian Scott and Mike Vasil both made their spring debuts. Scott allowed a run off of a hit and a walk and struck out one over an inning of work. Vasil allowed a hit and no runs with a strikeout in his one inning. The youth movement continues today as Dominic Hamel is scheduled to pitch!
Three Things To Watch For:
- Dominic Hamel: Hamel rounds out the group of four pitching prospects to pitch for the Mets this weekend. Out of the four, Scott, Vasil and Hamel each have a serious chance to see time in the majors at some point this season. Last season Hamel pitched exclusively in Binghamton starting 25 games (26 games total) with 124 innings tossed. He had a 3.84 ERA and 1.266 WHIP. His strikeout rate. 11.6 K/9 was a tick higher than 2022 (11.0) despite Hamel moving up a league.
- Brandon Nimmo’s spring debut: Brandon Nimmo takes a longer ramp-up approach to spring and we finally get to see his spring debut this afternoon. Nimmo has quietly become one of the best hitters in baseball over the last few years. Since 2018 his lowest OPS+ was 111 and twice he has had an OPS+ above 145. Last year he had a career high in homers, smacking 24 of them while matching his career high for doubles (30) set the previous season. As his homer numbers went up, so did his strikeouts (146, a career high) but his walk rate didn’t diminish.
- Adrian Houser’s second start: Houser will make his second start of spring this afternoon looking to build off the positive vibes from his first game. Earlier in the week he pitched two innings allowing a hit and nothing else while striking out one batter. We are looking to see how deep Houser goes today as he continues to build up arm strength for the regular season.
Let’s Go Mets!
