213 Miles From Shea

Mets spring training results so far:

• Lost a game.
• Won four games.
• Lost four games.
• Won four games.

Can the Mets break the pattern this afternoon and have a streak go to five games? Or does another four game losing streak start today? If you’ve been following every Mets spring training game this season you were already aware of how streaky the Mets have been and you are probably tired of seeing the Cardinals, Marlins, Nationals and Astros on the other side of the box score. For only the second time this spring the Mets will play a team that’s not one of those four teams this afternoon. The Tigers are in town!

Scheduled to pitch today for the Tigers is Wilmer Flores, the brother of Mets legend Wilmer Flores. Over three games and 4 2/3 innings this spring, Flores has a 7.71 ERA but has also struck out seven batters. Right now Flores is one of the Tigers top pitching prospects and was added to their 40-man roster last November.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Adrian Houser’s third start of the spring. The Mets and Houser are hoping his third start looks more like his first start this afternoon. IN his first start Houser cruised through two innings allowing one hit and no runs while striking out one batter. His last time on the mound on March 3rd he allowed three runs from four hits and a walk while striking out two batters over 1 2/3 innings. In his first outing he needed only 23 pitches to get through two innings. Last time out he threw 43 before being pulled from the game.
2. Huge bullpen day today! Jake Diekman, Shintaro Fujinami and Jorge López are all scheduled to throw today. The last time this happened was on Thursday and the three pitchers combined for three scoreless innings allowing one hit. Surprisingly, no strikeouts. Diekman and López each lowered their spring ERA’s. For Fujinami it was his first outing of the year where he didn’t really throw his fastball but was still highly effective. Hopefully we see his fastball today!
3. Bullpen Battle: Austin Adams is in camp right now as a non-roster invitee (he was originally signed to a major league deal and was outrighted right before spring training started to make room for Jake Diekman). Adams has had a terrific spring this year pitching three scoreless innings over three games while striking out five. His current contract situation gives him an advantage over Nate Lavender who is also a non-roster invitee who has been electric in his three spring training outings so far.

Let’s Go Mets!

The spring 2024 Mets are streaky! Essentially the spring has been a sustained winning streak, followed by a sustained losing streak and now the Mets are back in a winning a streak as they look to win their fourth win a row this afternoon against the Cardinals. For the Mets it means returning to the same stadium they played in last night as they take on Roger Dean Chevorelt’s other tenants, the St. Louis Cardinals.

Last night was a pretty good game for the Mets. Francisco Álvarez homered for the third time this spring (and on back-to-back days!). Pete Alonso hit his second homer of the spring. Severino looked great over three innings. José Buttó, competing for the last rotation spot, looked good in his first three-inning out of the year.

Today the Mets will get a chance to face off against an old friend, Steven Matz who is making the start for the Cardinals. Matz is coming off of a season where he pitched in 25 games, starting 17 of them, where pitched 105 innings with a 3.86 ERA, 3.75 FIP, 1.333 WHIP and a 113 ERA+. He’s only pitched one inning in an official spring training game so far this season where he struck out two batters and allowed no hits and no runs.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Sean Manaea’s new look. We aren’t talking about a new pitch or throwing style, we are literally talking about his look. After his first start Sean cut his hair for the first time in four years. He said it was an impulsive decision. Many Mets fans across twitter immediately made a connection to Jacob deGrom, who shocked the Mets fan base when he cut his hair. We’ll look for Manaea to be deGrom-like today as he makes his second start of spring.
2. Nate Lavender’s third outing. Nate turned a lot of heads in his first game of the year where he struck out the side. That strong first impression catapulted him upwards on depth chart lists for pitchers outside of the 40-man roster trying to find a way on the active roster before camp breaks. He added another clean inning with one strikeout in his second outing. Does he continue to build his resume today?
3. Trying to get Brett Bay and Mark Vientos going. Both Baty and Vientos are getting the start today for the Mets. Baty is just 4-for-21 so far this spring but has scored an impressive five times and has a homer. Vientos is has 3 hits in 21 at bats, but one of them was a home run. The Mets would love to see Vientos and Baty both collect some hits today and get the their momentum going.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to make it three wins in a row tonight as they take on the Marlins on the road in Jupiter. It is the first time this spring that the Mets will play night games in back-to-back nights.

The star of the show last night was Francisco Álvarez who threw out three runners trying to steal second base, include two runners who tried to run on Adam Ottavino. Álvarez’s second home run of the spring was the difference maker, putting the Mets up 2-1.

The story going into yesterday’s game was the Mets bullpen. Ottavino, Diekman, López, Fujinami, Walker and Hartwig all made appearances last night. All six pitchers allowed no runs, and they allowed a total of three hits between them. The competition is heating up for the final spots on the roster. The story for today’s game will be the starting rotation. Luis Severino will make his second start of the spring and he’ll be followed by José Buttó who is competing for the final rotation spot.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Severino’s second start. Luis Severino threw 30 pitches over two innings last Friday, allowing no hits and no runs while striking out one batter. So far most starters this season in their second start have stretched out to three innings. We are hoping that he has another smooth outing as he continues to ramp up for the start of the season.
2. José Buttó and the battle for the last rotation spot: So far Buttó and Megill have both impressed in spring as both pitchers compete with Joey Lucchesi for the last spot in the rotation. This will be Buttó’s third game as he has already pitched three innings over two games, scattering four hits and no runs while striking out three batters. Megill has been spectacular over eight innings – can Buttó keep pace tonight?
3. Last Outfield Spot Battle: Trayce Thompson is off to an amazing start this spring going 5-for-10 over six games two homers and a double and 6 RBI. Also battling for the last outfield spot is Tyrone Taylor. Taylor is also off to a strong start this spring going 5-for-14 over five games (all singles). Both are getting the start today!

If you went outside in the tri-state area yesterday you got an idea of what the weather was like in West Palm Beach – rainy. The Mets and Astros had to cancel their game yesterday which was a shame because the Astros were going to have three solid pitchers play against the Mets.

With the cancellation the Mets have made some changes to the pitchers slated to go. Yesterday five pitchers were scheduled to having outings. Today seven pitchers have scheduled outings and Joey Lucchesi has been removed from the list, leaving Quintana as the only starting pitcher on the list today. Ottavino, López, Diekman, Fujinami, Walker and Hartwig are all scheduled follow Quintana today. If you forget about Quintana, it almost feels like the lineup of pitchers you would send out for a bullpen game.

Personally I find Fujinami the most interesting in this group and we’ll focus on him in a bit. Ottavino, López, Diekman, and Fujinami all signed contracts with the Mets this off-season to bolster the bullpen. Walker and Hartwig are competing for a bullpen spot because of these four signings. This should be interesting to watch today!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. José Quintana’s second start: Quintana’s first spring start was rough where he allowed two runs from two hits and three walks over 1 2/3 innings while facing nine batters. It’s difficult to read too much into the first spring start because you don’t exactly know what the pitcher is working on but walking three batters over two innings doesn’t feel great. We are hoping for a smoother start today where he can get his work in stretched over multiple innings.
2. Fujinami’s Mets debut: Fujinami can throw a baseball hard. His fastball averaged last year at 98.4 and would frequently top over 100 mph. He’s 6’6″ which also helps the fastball seem faster. He wasn’t effective as a starter last year and the Athletics moved him to the bullpen. Then something clicked for him in late June. From 28th to the end of the season he pitched in 39 games with a 3.98 ERA, 3.70 FIP with 44 strikeouts over 40 2/3 innings. In his 38 1/3 innings before that he had a 10.57 ERA. We are excited to see his first step today in his Mets journey.
3. A different Joey makes his spring debut today. Joey Lucchesi was supposed to make his debut yesterday before the weather got in the way. Today Joey Wendle will make his spring debut. Wendle was signed this off-season as infield depth, before the Ronny Mauricio injury. The idea was that Joey would be a veteran back up to all of Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio and Mark Vientos. Last season was Joey’s worst at the plate in his career, registering a 50 OPS+. The Mets would love to get him going over the next couple of weeks before the start of the season.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets finally snapped their losing streak yesterday beating the Yankees 5-4 yesterday. It was a great game all around for the Mets who did all of their scoring in the third inning, which meant they did almost all of their scoring with their regular, starting players. Marte got the scoring going with an RBI-groundout. Lindor followed that with a double and Baty brought him home with a single. Álvarez and Baty would later score on a passed ball.

The real story though was the starting pitching. Tylor Megill pitched three scoreless innings while striking out six batters. Over the entire spring he has allowed only one run over eight innings. Sean Reid-Foley, fighting for a spot on the active roster, also stood out by striking out the side.

The focus for today’s game shifts to the starting pitching with José Quintana scheduled to make his second start of the spring followed by Joey Lucchesi’s spring debut. At the start of spring training Joey and Tylor were competing with José Buttó and Max Kranick for the final spot in the rotation. Max’s injury has taken him out of the competition. José and Tylor have been impressive so far this spring. Can Joey’s churve stand out?

Three Things To Watch For:

1. José Quintana’s second start: Quintana’s first spring start was rough where he allowed two runs from two hits and three walks over 1 2/3 innings while facing nine batters. It’s difficult to read too much into the first spring start because you don’t exactly know what the pitcher is working on but walking three batters over two innings doesn’t feel great. We are hoping for a smoother start today where he can get his work in stretched over multiple innings.
2. Joey Lucchesi enters the rotation competition: Joey had a pretty good year for the Mets last season making nine starts and pitching 46 2/3 innings with a 2.89 ERA, 4.22 FIP, 1.307 WHIP and a 147 ERA+. At the end of the season he became part of the Mets six-man rotation where he had a 1.93 ERA, 3.63 FIP over three starts and 18 2/3 innings. The Mets would love that performance in April this year.
3. Mets bats will face some serious pitchers today. According to the Mets published game notes, the Astros are bringing some serious heat to the mound this afternoon. Framber Valdez is scheduled to get the start and both Josh Hader and Ryan Pressly are scheduled to pitch. Valdez led the league in complete games in 2022 (3) and complete game shutouts last season (2). Ryan Pressly was already one of the better closers in the game with back to back seasons of at least 30 saves but the Astros went out and got the best reliever on the market anyway in Josh Hader. In a regular season game these three pitchers together would be intimidating, but in a spring training game this gives the Mets an opportunity to get some reps in against talented pitching.

Let’s Go Mets!

For the first time this spring the Mets welcome a team not named the Astros, Nationals, Marlins or Cardinals to Clover Park as they take on the Yankees for a spring training subway series game! The Mets will only play seven different teams this spring, playing the Yankees and Tigers a handful of times and the other east coast Florida teams approximately 85 times each.

After winning four games in a row the Mets have now lost four games in a row, losing to the Astros in a rain shortened game on Sunday afternoon. The big story Sunday was Brandon Nimmo making his first spring training starter as the Mets former centerfielder gets used to playing in left. The Mets new centerfielder, Harrison Bader, will make his spring debut in today’s game against his old club.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Harrison Bader’s spring debut: Bader played most of his 2023 season with the Yankees last year where he had a +0.9 WAR despite hitting with a 69 OPS+. For Bader it all came down to his defense which was stellar last season. Baseball Savant had him in the 93rd percentile for fielding run value and the 95th for range (outs above average). His hitting was in 20th percentile as he farther removed from his 2021 season where he was a defensive and offensive stud.
2. Tylor Megill’s third start: It’s getting serious in spring training now as pitchers start to get into their third outings of the month. Over his first two trips to the mound, Megill has pitched five innings allowing only one run on four hits while striking out seven batters. Last season Megill allowed only one run on six hits in his first three spring starts of the year, totaling 8 1/3 innings (four innings in his third start). He then allowed nine runs over his last two spring starts.
3. Austin Adams: The Mets outrighted Austin Adams near the start of spring training to make room for Jake Diekman on the roster. Before injuries derailed his 2023 season, Adams was having a a bizarre statistical year. He had a 5.71 ERA and 3.72 FIP. He had a good 11.4 K/9 rate, but that was below his career average of 13.4. So far this spring he has allowed a hit and nothing else while striking out three batters over two innings. He’s worth keep an eye on as the Mets figure out the final bullpen spot.

Let’s Go Mets!

Similar to Jett Williams yesterday, we just missed having this article at its peak relevance. Drew Gilbert was reassigned to minor league camp in the first round of cuts yesterday, and this makes sense! Gilbert was here as a top prospect with basically no path to break camp with the team this year. This was more of an opportunity to work with the major league players for the first few weeks of spring and get some at bats before the starters go deeper into games.

The Mets acquired Drew Gilbert with Ryan Clifford at the trade deadline this past July for Justin Verlander. Gilbert was drafted out of Tennessee by the Astros in 2022. In three collegiate seasons he hit .314/.400/.534. He played in 11 games across two levels after getting drafted and continued to hit the ball well hitting .313/.405/.531. Gilbert started 2023 in advanced ball and did the same thing – hit the cover off the baseball. Over 21 games he hit .361/.421/.686. Things came back down to Earth a bit when he got promoted to AA ball and had a .713 OPS over 60 games before being traded to the Mets.

Gilbert then became a key player for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies as they made a playoff run. Over 35 games in the Mets organization he hit .325/.423/.561 racking up hits and flashing a bit of power. He plays with a ton of energy. A widely reported scouting report this spring called him “Lenny Dykstra with power”. It’s been a while since the Mets have had a an intense player like Gilbert on the field.

Even though Gilbert won’t break with team this year, there is still a chance that he sees some playing time by the end of the season, especially if the Mets find themselves trading outfielders at the deadline. Baseball prospect ranking guides have started to take notice of Gilbert before the start of this season:

• Baseball America #91
• MLB.com #53
• Baseball Prospectus #29

Sooner or later the Mets are going to see Gilbert in Queens and I cannot wait!

The Mets first round pick of the 2022 draft has rocketed up the prospect rankings, earning an invite to major league camp this year. It’s weird to write this article on the day the Mets announced Jett Williams was getting assigned back to minor league camp. This move makes sense though! He wasn’t going to make major league team this year and typically for a prospect like Jett, the first week or so of spring is when the at bats are there for a prospect. We are heading into part of spring where veterans and position battles will start to get the lion’s share of at bats available.

Before the 2023 season, Baseball America had him listed as the #98 prospect and Baseball Prospectus had him at #75. This season Baseball America has him at #30, Baseball Prospectus at #23 and MLB.com finally has him on the top 100 list at #45.

He only played in 10 games after getting drafted, but they were note worthy. He went 8-for-32 at the plate hitting .250/.366/.438 hitting one double, triple and a homer while stealing six bases. Last year he started with St. Lucie where he he was able to hit .249/.422/.410 over 79 games. Then he crushed in Brooklyn hitting .299/.451/.567. He also got a cup of coffee with Binghamton getting to play in six games. Over the entire season he racked up an absurd 45 stolen bases with 22 doubles and 13 homers. He has speed and power.

With Brooklyn and St. Lucie, Jett spent about two thirds of time at short and the other third in the outfield. For the foreseeable future the Mets are set at short and the Mets have quite a few outfielders at the top of the prospect rankings. Jett has showed us so far that he’s special. When you’re special with the bat, you find your way into the lineup.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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!

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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!