213 Miles From Shea

The Mets look to get back in the win column today as they take on the Marlins in Jupiter. Since winning their first game of spring, the Mets tied once and have lost three games.

There were plenty of reasons for Mets fans to be happy with yesterday’s game, despite the score. The Mets had 11 hits in the game including a massive day for Brett Baty who went 2-for-3 at the plate with his first home run this spring. So far over three games Baty is 5-for-8 with two extra-base hits. Has something clicked?

The Mets bats today will look to continue racking up their hits against Max Meyer this afternoon. The Marlins are hoping that Meyer can take the next step forward in 2025 after a season where he made 11 starts with a 5.90 FIP, 80 ERA+ and a 9.8 H/9. There were stretches, especially early in 2024 where Meyer looked close to putting everything together. It’s also been reported that Meyer has added a sweeper to his arsenal this spring. Maybe we’ll see it today!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Paul Blackburn’s Spring Debut. With injuries to Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas already this spring, Paul Blackburn’s development becomes even more important. Coming into the season he was competing for the sixth rotation spot but now has a significant chance to break came with major league team. Blackburn was acquired by the Mets at the 2024 trade deadline and made five starts before injuries derailed his season. His numbers as a Met (5.18 ERA, 4.69 FIP, 77 ERA+) don’t tell the full story. In three of his starts he allowed three earned runs over 18 innings while striking out 16 batters, scattering 15 hits. In his other two starts he allowed 11 earned runs from 16 hits.
2. Anthony Gose is scheduled to pitch! If you’ve been around the Mets for a while, you’ll recall Anthony Gose as the outfield prospect the Mets could have built a package around in the R.A. Dickey trade back in 2012. In 2021 Gose converted from an outfielder to a pitcher and is coming off of a solid minor league season with a 3.22 ERA and 1.366 WHIP over 44 2/3 innings.
3. Hitting Bombs. The Mets have played in five games this spring and have already hit six home runs. There are five teams who have seven home runs. No one on the Mets has more than one homer this spring. Power hitters like Juan Soto and Jose Siri have already have their first bomb this spring – will anyone else join them today?

Let’s Go Mets!

Chris Williams is a new face in Mets camp this year. Williams was drafted by the Twins in 2018 and has been with their organization ever since, pitching rookie ball all the way to AAA.

The Mets catching chart is thin after Alvarez and Luis Torrens. There is no third catcher listed on the 40-man roster, leaving a fully open roster battle for Kevin Parada, Hayden Senger, Jakson Reetz and Chris Williams this month. So far (2/25) Williams has gone 1-for-3 hitting a home run and striking out twice.

The Mets are taking a chance of Chris Williams because his bat has some pop. Over 481 games in the minor leagues, he has 95 home runs. In 2023 he hit .236/.352/.495 with 21 homers over 95 games. Last season he hit .221/.339/.461 with 17 homers over 88 games. A chunk of last seasons performance came on a hot streak he ended the season with, going 12-for-36 with four home runs over his final 12 games of the season (.333/.455/.694).

If Chris Williams hits this spring, he could fight his way to third on the Mets depth chart, and a spot on the taxi squad that comes up when the Mets feel they need a third catcher. Here’s what we are watching for this spring:

• Does he still have the pop he has shown in the minors? He already has one home run this spring!
• Do Mets pitchers like pitching to him? Who is he catching? Are the Mets trying to get him familiar with anyone?

The wins and losses don’t matter in spring. Breakouts, difficult days and health are the signs of a successful spring. With that as a north star, yesterday was a rough day for the Mets. A couple of hours before the game Carlos Mendoza announced that Nick Madrigal fractured his shoulder and will be out for a long time. Then he dropped that Sean Manaea is dealing with an oblique issue and will likely start the season in the IL. Then Blake Tidwell allowed three runs, including a home run over two innings. The vibes could be better!

It’s a new day in camp, and it’s a great day to get the positive vibes from the first spring training game back. Who will step up today and seize and opportunity?

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Say hello to Austin Warren. The Mets selected Austin Warren off waivers in mid-January. Warren was drafted by the Angels in 2018 and made his major league debut in 2021. He was released after the 2023 season when he signed with the Giants. Since 2021 he has pitched in only 38 major league games with a 3.14 ERA, 3.91 FIP. He has a mid-80’s slider, a mid-90’s sinker, mid-90’s four seamer and a high-80’s cutter.
2. The first player the Mets signed this offseason. The Mets 2024-25 offseason started with the signing of Chris Devenski on a minor league deal with an invitation to major league camp. The Mets are hoping to get the Chris Devenski from early in his career. Over his first two seasons (2016, 2017) he had a 4.6 WAR pitching 110 games (only five starts) with a 2.38 ERA and 168 ERA+. From 2018 through last season he pitched in 193 games with a 5.42 ERA, 81 ERA+ and a -1.8 WAR.
3. Spring Training Legend. The Mets will get to face a Mets spring training legend today – Luis Guillorme. Luis Guillorme is in Astros camp as a non-roster invitee trying to break camp with the team. As a member of the Mets, Luis created two memorable spring training moments. He caught a bat with one hand, like it was nothing, while standing in the dugout. He battled in a 22 pitch at-bat in another game. Last season Guillorme hit .205/.301/.273 with a 64 OPS+ between the Angels, Braves and Diamondbacks.

Let’s Go Mets!

For a fourth season in a row the Mets are welcoming Hayden Senger to major league camp. Drafted in 2018, Senger has played all over the Mets farm system from the Kingsport Mets in the now-defunct rookie league all the way to the Syracuse Mets.

In our 2024 NRI Preview we noted that Senger was a solid hitter in college (.272/.359/.409) and during his first five seasons of minor league ball he hit fine (.236/.328/.359). Things hit a notable snag though in 2023 where he hit .188/.307/.295 while stuck in Binghamton. Senger’s bat bounced back in 2024, hitting .234/.302/.363 with his best stretch happing over 48 games in Syracuse where he hit .252/.323/.401.

Hayden Senger’s situation has always been conditioned by catching prospects around him. The Mets signed Francisco Alvarez one month after drafting Hayden Senger. In 2022 the Mets drafted Kevin Parada who at one point was a top-100 prospect in baseball.

Francisco Alvarez has become the Mets star catcher. Luis Torrens has cemented himself as the backup catcher who also has a reliable bat. Yet, Hayden Senger’s situation has never been as good as it is right now. The Mets do not have third catcher listed on 40-man right now. Kevin Parada has struggled, opening up a path up the depth chart for Senger. The other two catchers in camp have not had tremendous, or any, major league success. If we look at spring training as way for the Mets to figure out the minor league players who will step in at some point this season, Senger has a path to make a statement.

Here’s what we are looking for this spring:

• How is Senger behind the plate defensively? Does he have a better relationship with Mets pitchers being in the system for a number of years?
• Is his bat around replacement level?
• Does he have more positive moments than Jakson Reetz and Chris Williams? If none of the three step up the Mets will almost certainly go find another veteran catcher.

The Mets have a record of 1-1-1 going into the third day of Spring Training games, which is honestly just fun to say. What wasn’t as fun was the games on Sunday. The Mets struggled on the road against the Nationals, allowing five in the first inning. Meanwhile in St. Lucie the Mets ended up tying 1-1, cementing the Mets 1-1-1 record. As always with spring training, there were good performances, poor performances and miscues.

The Mets will try to put the defensive and base running miscues behind them this afternoon against the Cardinals. The bats will get to face a familiar face in Steven Matz, who is about to start his fourth season int St. Louis. Matz is coming off of an injury shortened 2024 where he was dealing back issues.

The slate of pitchers the Mets have on the mound this afternoon is fascinating. Blade Tidwell, who could make his major league debut for the Mets this season, starts things off. José Buttó stepped up in a major way for the 2024 Mets and makes his spring debut this afternoon. According to yesterday’s game notes Huascar Brazobán and Brandon Waddell round out the scheduled piters list. Brazobán is currently on the 40-man roster and is trying to get one of the last available bullpen spots. Waddell is currently in camp on an NRI deal. Should be a fun day in Jupiter!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Is this Blade Tidwell’s year? Blade Tidwell had a strong stint in Binghamton last season with a 2.41 ERA over 37 1/3 innings. That didn’t exactly carry over to Syracuse where he had a 5.93 ERA over 85 innings. Tidwell just lost his control. He had a 2.7 BB/9 in Binghamton and that ballooned to 5.6 in Syracuse. Today we are looking to see how Tidwell’s control looks early in Spring.
2. José Buttó Repeat? Buttó had a breakout year for the Mets in 2024. As a reliever he had a 2.00 ERA over 36 innings spread over 23 games. This, plus his success as a starter, lead to a 2.2 Baseball Reference WAR, which was fourth best on the team!
3. Brandon Waddell. Brandon Waddell had a cup of coffee in the majors a few seasons ago. When he got released in 2022 he signed a deal with the Doosan Bears and played parts of three seasons in the KBO and CPBL. Last season he had a 3.12 ERA over 14 starts (75 innings) with a 9.00 K/9 and 1.3 BB/9. He doesn’t overpower hitters and was able to finesse his way to success.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have only two catchers on the 40-man roster, so there is an open competition right now to be the “third” catcher if needed. The Mets have brought in four catchers as non-roster invitees to major league camp. Two catchers are current Mets prospects (Kevin Parada, Hayden Senger), one catcher is a former prospect for the Twins and never made it to the majors (Chris Williams). Then there is Jakson Reetz, the only catcher in camp as an NRI with major league experience, even thought it was real brief.

Reetz was a third round draft pick of the Washington Nationals back in 2014. He got into two games with the Nationals in 2021 and was released at the end of the 2021 season. After that he bounced around a bunch of organizations going to the Brewers, Royals (twice) and the Giants (twice). He got another cup of coffee with the Giants last season.

Over six games in the majors last season he hit .143/.200/.429 (75 OPS+) over an extremely small sample size of 15 plate appearances. He was solid at the plate last season in the PCL hitting .254/.368/.432 over 235 PA’s, which is honestly fine.

Jakson’s best season in the minors was in 2022 where he hit 30 home runs while slashing .264/.359/.575 (.934 OPS), most of the damage happening with the Brewers Double A teams. Of course, David Stearns was the GM of the Brewers at that time. We’ve seen this multiple times over the last couple of years where Stearns has moved get a player he really likes back from Brewers organization (Tyrone Taylor being the best example of this).

You’ll notice something interesting if you look at Jakson’s fielding stats in the minors. He’s not just a catcher – he’s also an outfielder. He only played one game and one inning in the outfield in 2024, but in 2023 he played in the outfield about a third of the time.

Being the veteran option means that Jakson will see himself on the major league roster at some point this season (or at least brought up to Queens on days when the Mets aren’t sure about the availability of Alvarez or Torrens). He doesn’t project as a long time solution for catcher if something happens, but in some ways feels more appealing than rolling the dice with Parada or Senger if they end up struggling at the plate in the minors.

Here’s what we are looking for this spring when it comes to Jakson Reetz:

• Do the Mets play him in the outfield?
• Who does Reetz catch? How deep into March does Reetz start games? Can we make a judgment call about his depth chart position from this?
• Does he hit close to his .799 Triple A OPS this spring?

Kevin Parada is one of four catchers in camp as non-roster invitees. The Mets right now only have two catchers on their 40-man roster, so for all four NRI catchers (Kevin Parada, Jakson Reetz, Hayden Senger and Chris Williams) there is a lot of opportunity this spring.

Before the 2023 season, Parada was one of the key prospects in the Mets system. He was ranked as a top-100 prospect in baseball by Baseball America (#50), MLB.com (#36) and Baseball Prospectus (#64). This made sense, right after getting drafted by the Mets in 2022 he went on to hit .275/.455.425 (.880 OPS) over 60 games.

The last couple of seasons though things haven’t been as good for Parada. Over three levels in 2023 he slashed .248/.324/.428 (.751) over three levels, but a paltry .185/.250/.389 (.639 OPS) in 14 games with Binghamton. Last season was even worse, hitting .214/.304/.359 (.663) in a full season with Binghamton.

While Kevin Parada was struggling, the farm system around him changed. Francisco Alvarez arrived to the Majors and looks like the catcher of the future for the Mets. The Mets system also gained Daiverson Gutierrez, Ronald Hernandez and Yovanny Rodriguez. Parada has an advantage here though, he should be separated by at least one minor league level, giving him a critical 2025 season.

This spring he’s competing against Hayden Senger who has been in the Mets system since 2018, and Chris Williams who was in the Twins system since 2019 (and never made the majors). Plus there is Jakson Reetz who has major league experience.

It’s cliche to say that players come to the camp in the best shape of their lives, but Kevin Parada made some major changes over the off-season, leading to him dropping 15 pounds.

Here’s what we are looking for this spring for Parada:

• Getting on base every game he has a chance to play in. The Mets do not have an obvious depth chart after Torrens and Parada can hit his way up the charts.
• Who is he catching? When is he catching? Does he outlast the other three catchers he is competing against?

Waddell signed with Mets in mid-December on the same day that Jared Young signed an MLB split deal with the Mets. This is notable because both players were coming back stateside after some time with with the KBO’s Doosan Bears.

Waddell was drafted by the Pirates in 2015 and made his major league debut during the shortened 2020 season. After the 2020 season he was selected off waivers by the Twins, then Orioles, the Cardinals until he got released by the Cardinals in 2022. He then jumped overseas and played part of the 2022 season with Doosan Bears and split 2023 between Doosan and Rakuten (CPBL).

Between 2020 and 2021 Waddel got into 11 major league games totaling 12 2/3 innings with a 5.68 ERA, 2.132 WHIP, 6.41 FIP, and 83 ERA+. He has a low -90’s fastball, mid-80’s slider, mid-80’s changeup and low-90’s sinker. During his limited time in the majors he leaned on his four-seamer and slider, throwing his changeup and sinker combined about 10% of the time.

The Mets are taking a flyer on Brandon Waddell because of his success overseas. He finished off his 2022 season with a 3.60 ERA over 65 innings for the Bears. The following season he had a 2.49 ERA over 18 starts, 104 2/3 innings pitching for the Bears. He added in another 71 innings with a 3.30 ERA over 12 starts for Rakuten. Last season he had 75 innings of 3.12 ERA ball over 14 starts again with the Bears. Further, in 2024 he had a 9.0 K/9 and 1.3 BB/9.

The Mets are hoping to see that control again when Waddle takes the mound this spring. He doesn’t have as much competition to get on the roster since he’s a lefty but is still a long shot to break with the Mets. Here’s what to look for this spring:

• How long do the Mets keep him in major league camp? Does his work on the mound allow him to compete for a roster spot by the end of March?
• How does his walk rate look against major league hitters? A 1.3 BB/9 last season is phenomenal.
• Can he still generate whiff’s and strikeouts despite not having over powering stuff?

As mentioned earlier, yesterday’s home crowd at Clover Park (7,394) just missed the record set in 2015 (7,444). Expect to see more scouts this afternoon, or just more attention by baseball professionals because of who the Mets are facing. Sandy Alcántara is making the trip to St. Lucie with the Marlins, pitching for the first time since Tommy John kept him out of baseball for all of 2024. This is a great opportunity for the Mets bats to get some reps against one of the best arms in baseball.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Max Kranik: The Marlins starter isn’t the only pitcher making a comeback from Tommy John. Max Kranik had the surgery in 2022 and hasn’t pitched in the majors since. He ended the season on the Mets Wild Card roster, just in case the Mets needed a pitcher for long relief. He’s coming off of a successful season in the minors where he pitched 70 2/3 innings between St. Lucie, Binghamton and Syracuse with a 3.82 ERA and 1.288 WHIP. Kranik is on the 40-man roster and will be battling for a bullpen spot / spot starter / long relief option this spring.
2. Sandy Alcántara: The Marlin’s ace will finally return to the mound this afternoon after missing all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery. In 2022 he was a Cy Young award winning, 8.0 WAR pitcher with a 2.28 ERA over 228 2/3 innings including six complete games. There have been rumors already this spring about the Marlins trying to move him to another team. There’s going to be a lot of eyes on his performance this afternoon.
3. Hey Siri. The Mets new centerfielder makes his Mets spring debut this afternoon. Jose Siri has some serious pop and is a defensive wizard in the outfield. In 2024 he had a Baseball Reference defensive War of 1.6. If he can marginally improve with the bat, he could become an x-factor for the 2025 Mets.

Let’s Go Mets!

What a start for the 2025 Mets yesterday! Juan Soto hit a home run in first spring at bat as a Met. Clay Holmes tossed three perfect innings in his first start. The almost broke the record for most fans at Clover Park set in 2015 (yesterday’s crowd missed it by only 50 fans).

Today the hit the road in their first split-squad action of 2025. There are a lot of innings today to be filled by a mix of 40-man roster arms, players on NRI’s and probably few more invited over from minor league camp. Players traveling on the road today will make the first of eight trips to West Palm Beach this spring, the home of both the Nationals and the Astros.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Ty Adcock’s First Spring Start. The Mets acquired Ty Adcock in 2024 and he got into a few games, allowing seven runs over 4 1/3 innings. Adcock is in camp on an NRI deal trying to find a way onto the 40-man roster and into the bullpen. He has a mid-90’s fastball but major league hitters are squaring it up well. Over 33 fastballs thrown in 2024 he allowed three homers. In 2023 he allowed four homers off 116 fastballs. We’ll be watching today to see how hitters are handling his cheddar.
2. Is it too early to scout opposing players? The Nationals (and by default, the Mets) will get their first look at Shinnosuke Ogasawara this afternoon, the first Japanese player to sign a contract free-agent contract directly out of Japan with the Nationals. Last season with Chunichi he tossed 144 1/3 innings with a 3.12 ERA and 1.199 WHIP. He has a low-90’s fastball, good control and mixes speed over a large arsenal of pitches. The Nationals reported earlier this week that he’ll probably be limited to one inning in his debut and then do more work in the bullpen after.
3. Position Player Prospects. There are few position player prospects making their spring debuts for the Mets this afternoon. Ryan Clifford, acquired with Drew Gilbert in the Justin Verlander trade, will look to build off of his 2024 where he smacked 19 homers over 129 games with a .793 OPS (and .372 OBP). Jett Williams is one the top prospects overall in the Mets system and has been listed as a top-100 prospect in baseball by Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus for three consecutive seasons. Luke Ritter is an older prospect who has made some noise over the last two seasons, hitting 27 homeruns in 2023 and 26 in 2024.

Let’s Go Mets!