213 Miles From Shea

Sunday was a day of highs and lows in Mets world. The Mets announced before the game that Francisco Alvarez needed surgery in his hand would be out for at least 6-8 weeks. Every spring training game now is even more important from a catching perspective as the Mets try to figure out who is next up on the depth chart. As of writing, the Mets have not signed anyone, and there is only one catcher, Luis Torrens, on the 40-man roster. There is now an open competition between Jakson Reetz, Hayden Senger and Chris Williams who are all still in the Major League camp (Kevin Parada was cut about a week or so ago).

The highs yesterday all came from the game. Clay Holmes got stretched out to 67 pitches, shutout the Nations over 3 2/3 innings. Jakson Reetz hit a grand slam. Mark Vientos hit his first home run of the spring. The Mets look to keep the on field success going tonight as they search for their third win in a row.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Griffin Canning. Canning is competing for the last spot in the rotation or to be the sixth starter if the Mets decide to roll with six after the first two weeks of the season. In 1 2/3 innings this spring, he has allowed two hits and a walk but no runs while striking out two batters. Canning was raving about the pitching lab when he signed with the Mets. At the end of 2024 he added a sweeper and he is also tinkering with a new sinker. We are watching today specifically for these pitches and how hitters handle them.
2. Starling Marte. Marte makes his spring debut as the DH this evening! With the signing of Juan Soto, Marte will be in a DH platoon with Jesse Winker, with both players finding time in the field depending on whether Brandon Nimmo is playing in center or in a corner spot. There was some chatter about trading Marte throughout the off-season and it’s still a possibility.
3. Luis Torrens. Given the news over the weekend about Alvarez, Luis Torrens becomes that much more important for the Mets in 2025. He had to do this last season to when Alvarez missed serious time after a ligament surgery. In 2024 he hit .229/.292/.373 with an 89 OPS+ and a 0.7 bWAR. If he can hit near a league average OPS+, the Mets should be able to tread water until Alvarez comes back.

Let’s Go Mets!

Alex Ramírez has already been reassigned to minor league camp. The Mets prospect has had a long history with the Mets from being a former top prospect to minor league free agent this past off-season. Before the 2023 season he was even a top-100 prospect in baseball ranked #92 by Baseball America, #101 by Baseball Prospectus and #96 from MLB Pipeline.

Alex Ramírez has seen his stock fall, but he’s only 22-years old. When he played in Binghamton last season he was 2.7 years younger than the average player. At every level he’s played in the Mets system he has been between 2.2 and 3.5 years younger than the average player in the league.

Things got tougher for Ramírez in terms of depth position over last couple of years. Earlier this spring the Mets acquired Alexander Canario who is out of options and instantly jumped above all outfielders on NRI deals on the depth chart. Over the last several seasons the Mets have acquired or drafted a slew of outfield prospects (many who play infield too) including Drew Gilbert, Ryan Clifford, Carson Benge, Jett Williams and Eli Serrano III. Plus the Mets are still figuring out where to play Luisangel, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio. There’s just a lot of traffic in front of Ramírez.

Ramírez needed to make a statement this spring, but didn’t really. As of writing he has gone 3-for-15 with a walk over eight games, striking out seven times. This is after a year in Binghamton where he slashed .210/.291/.299 over 124 games.

In 2022 Ramírez hit .281/.346/.436 over 121 games with 11 home runs, 30 doubles and 21 stolen bases. He’s still chasing the success from this year. Here’s hoping he get off to a fast start this season and reignite his prospect status.

The Mets look to build off yesterday’s win, their first win a week, this afternoon against the Washington Nationals. The last time the Mets won consecutive spring training games was Friday 2/28 and Saturday 3/1. While the wins themselves are not important, the individual performances behind the wins are. Juan Soto went 3-for-3 at the plate with a double. The team as a whole went 3-for-8 with runners in scoring position. David Peterson tossed four scoreless innings in his second start of the year.

The Mets rotation has been hampered by injuries so far this spring. They are going to need their back of the rotation arms like Peterson, and today’s starter, Clay Holmes, to step up and fill in the gaps until everyone gets healthy. Peterson showed us he was up to the challenged yesterday. Clay Holmes has already shown us this spring he can handle it, lets hope he continues to do that today!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Clay Holmes. Holmes is off to a terrific start this spring allowing one hit and one walk with no runs over six innings of work. He’s faced only 20 batters over six innings and struck out five. Today we are watching to see if the Mets stretch him out a bit beyond three innings. One of the major questions around Holmes is how deep he can go into games coming off of a standout season in the bullpen where he rarely tossed more than 30 pitches.
2. Alexander Canario. The Mets acquired Canario early during spring training and need to figure out both if they want to keep him and if they can. He does not have any options left, so if the Mets want him they need to put him on the active roster at the end of camp or find a way to sneak him through waivers. Over five games this spring he has gone 2-for-13 at the plate with a double and two walks. In only 15 games with the Cubs last season he slashed .280/.357/.440 with a 125 OPS+.
3. Eli Serrano III. Serrano gets the rare start this afternoon for the Mets. He has had only one at bat this spring so far (0-for-1). Serrano is the #19 prospect on the Mets here at Metsmerized. Drafted last year, Serrano hits the ball hard. MLB Pipeline has him making the majors in 2027. Seeing players get an extended look in a spring training game, despite being a couple of years away is one of the best parts of March baseball!

Let’s Go Mets!

The team results don’t matter in spring training, but it would be nice for the Mets to get back in the win column tonight. The Mets beat the Rays last Saturday 10-1 and haven’t won since. Friday night the Mets lost 5-4 to the Nationals, which broke a three game streak of the Mets only scoring one run. The box scores are just nicer to look at when there’s some hitting in them!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. David Peterson. Peterson makes his second start of the season today! Peterson looked good in his spring debut allowing one hit and nothing else over three innings while striking out three batters. He took a massive step forward in 2024 pitching 121 innings with a 2.90 ERA, 136 ERA+ and a 2.9 bWAR (all career highs!).
2. Reed Garrett. Reed Garrett has already pitched in three games this spring. No hits, no walks, no runs, no problems. Garrett was a major surprise for the Mets in 2024. Pause and take a quick guess – what percentile was Garrett’s whiff% in 2024? How about his BB%? Last year he was in the 97th percentile for whiff% (very good!) and 7th for BB% (not good!). So far this spring he hasn’t walked anyone – can he keep that up today?
3. Yacksel Ríos. Ríos was the last name listed on the Mets game notes for scheduled pitchers as he continues to try find a way on to the Mets roster this spring. Over two games this spring he has allowed one run from 1 1/3 innings from three hits and two walks. Ríos had a solid season in Syracuse last year with a 3.30 ERA over 27 games and 30 innings.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets head south tonight for another night spring training game as they take on the Nationals in West Palm Beach. Despite the 6 PM time slot, there will be no television coverage of tonight’s game. Unfortunately, this is not terribly surprising as MASN, the regional sports network of the Nationals, are only broadcasting seven games this spring. For context, SNY & PIX11 are televising 14 games during spring training in 2025.

Anyway we have a back-of-the-rotation Mets matchup as Paul Blackburn, trying to break camp as the Mets fifth starter takes on Trevor Williams, who had the role for the Mets in 2022.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Trevor Williams. Trevor Williams was a crucial pitcher for the 2022 Mets, posting a 3.21 ERA, 120 ERA+ over 89 2/3 innings spread over nine starts and 30 games. He then signed with the Nationals and had a rough 2023 with a 5.55 ERA, 77 ERA+ over 144 1/3 innings spread over 30 starts. Last season though Williams was terrific when healthy. He had a 2.03 ERA, 199 ERA+ over 13 starts, 11 of those starts happening before his missed multiple months with a flexor injury. Which Williams do the Nationals have in their rotation this year?
2. Paul Blackburn. Blackburn’s Mets results in 2024 were either good or terrible, with not much in between. That trend has continued over a small sample size this spring. In his first outing he pitched one inning where he struck out a batter and didn’t give up a hit, walk or run. IN his second outing he allowed four runs, three earned off three hits and two walks over 1 1/3 innings.
3. Max Kranick. The biggest surprise for the Mets this spring has been Max Kranick. He hasn’t allowed a run over 5 1/3 innings and hasn’t allowed a hit in his last two starts. Beyond the on-field response his stuff has just looked great. His proStuff+ was a 139 with a 71.4% whiff% in his last outing on the third.

Let’s Go Mets!

If you love evening baseball than I have some great news for you! The Mets are playing three night games in a row starting tonight. Over the next three weeks the Mets have eight night games, which feels like a lot for spring training.

Anyway, the Mets return to action after their first day off yesterday. So far this spring the Mets are 4-6 with two games ending in a tie. The Mets have had a few players start to step up make some noise throughout the first two weeks of spring training. Clay Holmes and Max Kranick have allowed no runs over 11 1/3 combined innings on the mound. Huascar Brazobán has quietly put together three scoreless innings over three games this spring. Brett Baty, Jose Siri and Jesse Winker have made a lot of noise at the plate, each with an OPS above 1.000. There’s a lot to be excited about!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Almost An Opening Day Lineup! Today’s starting lineup is just Brandon Nimmo shy of the normal batting lineup. Let’s highlight Jose Siri at the bottom of the list. Siri has been crushing it this spring. In 2023 he had an OPS+ above 100, last season it was 76. The Mets will have a dangerous lineup if he can hit with an OPS+ of 100 at the bottom of the lineup.
2. Brandon Sproat. Sproat makes his second start of spring this evening for the Mets. He was phenomenal in his first start, facing only six batters over two innings, striking out one. Right now the Mets have to determine if Brandon Sproat or Blade Tidwell is the first pitcher up this season from Syracuse. I am very excited to see what Sproat can do in his second start!
3. Mark Vientos. Vientos has had a quiet start to spring, going 2-for-14 over his first five games. Tonight he gets the cleanup spot with Soto and Alonso hitting in front of him. This would be a great time to break out for the first time in 2025!

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets brought back and old friend to spring training this season with Rafael Ortega. Ortega made his major league debut with the Rockies back in 2012 and has bounced around different organizations since.

The Mets gave Ortega a pretty significant look back in 2023 when he was 32-years old. Ortega started off his 2023 signed with the Yankees and was released by them at the end of spring training. He then signed a few days later with the Rangers, but never played with them in the majors. The Rangers released him in June and the Mets signed him a couple of weeks later.

The 2023 Mets had a major tear down at the trade deadline which opened up a playing time opportunity for Ortega. Ortega was called up at the start of August and played in 47 games for the Mets, slashing .219/.341/.272 with a 74 OPS+ and a 0.2 bWAR – essentially a replacement level player. At the time, this was exactly what the Mets needed as they were just treading water for the rest of the season.

Ortega went to the White Sox and only got in 14 games in 2024 hitting .071/.176/.071 over 17 plate appearances. Ortega was killing it in the minor leagues though, going .289/.414/.498 over 84 games for the White Sox’s Triple A team.

It makes sense why the Mets took another flier on Ortega. The Mets needed an average player who wouldn’t hurt the team in 2023, and he provided that for two months. Last year he showed in the minors that there is something still there (his .912 OPS was his highest in the minors since 2017).

As of writing the Mets have already cut him from major league camp, which makes sense. The Mets currently have eight outfielders on the 40-man roster, and that doesn’t include Jeff McNeil who can play outfield as well. A lot has to change for the Mets for Ortega to get on the 40-man and to the active roster. If things don’t work out with José Azocar or Alexander Carnario, then Ortega may find a way to some games with the Mets this season.

There are only three more players left in the our planed NRI series. After these next three players we need to go back and add in players who were signed since the start of spring training and players who became NRI’s because they got removed from the 40-man roster.

All three players we are going to look at over the next three days were cut from major league came on Tuesday 3/4, which makes sense because the Mets already have a crowded outfield. They’ll still see some time in games over the next couple of weeks and there is a chance we see them in major league games at some point this season.

Drew Gilbert is the last of the top prospects the Mets brought to camp this year. He came to the Mets with Ryan Clifford in the 2023 Justin Verlander trade. Gilbert was not on any top-100 prospect rankings going into this season but last year was the #91 prospect in baseball according to Baseball America, #29 from Baseball Prospectus and #53 from MLB Pipeline.

Gilbert was crushing it in high A ball in 2023 slashing .361/.421/.686. He got promoted to the Astros AA team and took a step back, and slashed .241/.342/.371. Then he got traded to the Mets who sent him to Binghamton where he finished the season .325/.423/.561. It was this ending of the season that turned heads from all the national prospect ranking lists.

Last season was a bit of a struggle for Gilbert. He was dealing with a hamstring injury that led to him only playing in 62 games with a .205/.313/.371 slash line. As of writing he didn’t get into any major league games as the team is taking things slow with him coming off of the injury.

The Mets have already seen that Gilbert is a gamer and plays with intensity. If he stays healthy, there is a significant chance that we see him with the Mets this season! When he comes, expect more hits and athleticism than just raw power, which is a profile the Mets system right now is loaded with.

Tomorrow the Mets finally take a pause.

Including today the Mets have played 11 days in a row, one split squad day, one weekend trip to the other side of Florida and one night game. It’s time for the Mets to take a break.

In this first stretch of Mets games we’ve seen Jose Siri launch three home runs in five games played. We’ve seen Brett Baty get off to a hot start. Max Kranick has allowed no runs and only three hits over 5 1/3 innings. David Peterson has allowed one hit and no runs over three innings while striking out five players. Sproat, Hamel and Tidwell have all taken positve steps forward. There’s been a lot to like so far.

There’s one important pitcher for 2025 that we haven’t seen yet – Tylor Megill. Megill was always going to compete for the back of the Mets rotation this season. Injuries to Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea make Megill even more important for the early part of this season.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Tylor Megill. Megill had a 4.04 ERA over 78 innings with a 98 ERA+ in 2024, argueably his best season in the majors. Megill was in the 99th percentile for arm extension in 2024 and did pretty well getting hitters to chase and miss pitches (67th and 74th percentile respectively). But when hitters, made contact, they made contact hard (12th percentile Barrel%, 17th percentile Hard-hit%). Can he generate the same amount of whiffs without hitters hitting him hard?
2. Trying Something Different. There are multiple players in the Mets lineup today who are playing in a position different than their normal position. As the Mets figure out who is going to play in their utility and bench spots this year. Jeff McNeil is in the outfield. Acuña is at third. However the player I’m watching is Baty at second. Let’s see what everyone can do in their new places!
3. Jose Siri. Siri has launched 43 home runs over the last two seasons. In 2023 he had a 105 OPS+, but last season that dropped to a 76 OPS+. He is off to a terrific start this spring, going 3-for-10 with all three hits being home runs while working three walks. Can Siri be the x-factor for the Mets in 2025?

Let’s Go Mets!

Over the last couple of seasons the Mets have graduated or are about to graduate a bunch of position players of the minor leagues (Francisco Alvarez, Mark Vientos, Brett Baty, Luisangel Acuña, etc). The next set of position players are in camp right now looking at a 2026 or later debut (Ryan Clifford, Drew Gilbert) including the focus of today’s article – Jett Williams.

Jett was the Mets first round pick in the 2022 draft out of Rockwall-Health High School in Texas. He instantly appeared on the top-100 prospect list for Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus the following season. Here’s how the baseball organizations have ranked Williams before 2025:

• Baseball America #58 (2024 – #30, 2023 -#98)
• Baseball Prospectus #48 (2024 – #23, 2023 – #75)
• MLB Pipeline #58 (2024 – #45)

Jett turned a bunch of heads after his first full season of ball, going from St. Lucie, to Brooklyn, to even playing a week or so in Binghamton all while he was 19-years old. Over three levels he hit .263/.425/.451 with 13 home runs and 45 stolen bases.

His 2024 season was derailed by a surgery on his right wrist, limiting him to 33 games. He played over three levels (St. Lucie, Binghamton and Syracuse) hitting .215/.358/.298 with no home runs and five stolen bases (while being caught three times). He ended the season in the Arizona Fall League where he sprained his ankle late in 2024.

The Mets have been using him early in spring training. As of writing eh has gotten into six games, going 2-for-10, with three walks (.200/.385/.200) with no extra-base hits and no stolen bases.

Jett Williams is an athletic prospect that will cause chaos on the base paths. There’s a future where Williams and Acuña run wild on opponents while the Mets sluggers power them home. If Williams has a strong start in the minors, and an injury creates an extended playing time opportunity on the Mets, he could be called up as early as this year. That being said 2026 seems way more likely for Williams.

We are going to watch where Williams plays on the field this spring and early in the minor league season. He can play second, short and centerfield. So far in the minors the Mets have used him mostly at short, but mixed in significant time at second and center.