For the second day in a row the Mets hit the road and play a team that is not named the Cardinals, Astros, Marlins or Nationals as they head across to Florida to take on the Yankees in Tampa.
Yesterday was a pretty good day in Mets land. The Mets beat the Tigers 10-5, hitting three home runs. Harrison Bader had his second homerun of the spring, raising his spring OPS to .859. Brett Baty hit his third home run of spring. Zack Short had a grand slam to put the game out of reach for the Tigers.
A couple of hours after the game the Mets announced that they signed J.D. Martinez to a one-year, ending a long search for a DH. Martinez completely changes the Mets lineup and finally provides Pete Alonso with significant protection. The Martinez signing now makes it more difficult for DJ Stewart and Jiman Choi to break with the team out of camp. The signing also makes finding playing time for Mark Vientos difficult.
Three Things To Watch For:
- Tyler Stuart gets a start! Tyler Stuart last pitched in a major spring training game for the Mets on February 26. He tossed two innings allowing a hit, a walk and nothing else. Stuart was drafted by the Mets in the 6th round back in 2022 out of the University of Southern Mississippi. He had had a tremendous year last season making 21 starts between Brooklyn and Binghamton tossing 110 2/3 innings with a 2.20 ERA.
- Zack Short: Short doubled his RBI’s this spring in one at bat yesterday after hitting a grand slam. He’s hitting .303/.410/.485 over 15 games and 33 AB’s. Is his strong spring enough to grab one of the last bench spots on the team? With the Martinez signing, there’s probably room for only one of Mark Vientos, DJ Stewart, Jiman Choi and Zack Short on the team.
- Brett Baty continues his recent surge. Baty has hit home runs now in consecutive starts. All of his homers have come in the month of March and this month alone he is hitting .294/.385/.588. He has hits in nine of eleven games he’s played in this month. Let’s keep the momentum going into the regular season!
Let’s Go Mets!
