213 Miles From Shea

Brett Baty was replaced in the first game of spring training by Rylan Bannon. Bannon went 0-2 at the plate with a sacrifice. Who is Rylan Bannon though?

Bannon was drafted by the Dodgers back in 2017 and was part of the massive 2018 trade for Manny Machado on the Baltimore Orioles. Bannon would then make his major league debut with the Orioles in 2022 and was put on waivers and the Dodgers decided they wanted him back. A week later the Braves claimed him from the Dodgers. At the end of the season the Cubs claimed him from the Braves and then three weeks later the Astros claimed him from the Cubs. Pretty impressive to be claimed by four different organizations between August and December in one year.

Even with all of that movement, Bannon only played in seven major league games between 2022 and 2023 with 21 PA’s where he went 2-20 with eight strikeouts. Bannon had a solid 2023 in AAA for the Astros though, hitting .241/.360/.449 over 95 games. Bannon has some pop, hitting 18 homers last season and hitting at least 10 every season he’s played in the minors. He also added some steals last season, reaching a career high of 12 in one season (building on a career high of 10 in 2022).

Working the count is another big part of Bannon’s game. For five consecutive season he has worked at least 50 walks including 81 walks in 2018 and 63 walks last year.

Rylan Bannon is in Mets camp as third and second base depth (but he is mostly regarded as a third basemen) At the major league level he has Brett Baty, Mark Vientos and Joey Wendle ahead of him. Then there is an additional group of players on the 40-man and in camp as non-roster invites that can slide between second and third. This is the group that Bannon needs to stand out in.

We’ll be looking to see how much playing time he gets and where on the field he gets that playing time. At the plate we are looking to see if he brings his pop and eye that he has shown in the minor leagues.

There are so many firsts when it comes to the start of the baseball season. There’s the first day players arrive to camp, the official first day of pitchers and catchers, the first address from the manager, the first whole team workout, the first live batting practice, etc. Today we finally reach the first spring training game of the year!

The Mets kept their mini-tradition alive of having a frontline starter announce an injury at the start of camp. Earlier this week we heard Kodai Senga was dealing with arm fatigue and then a few days later we learned that it was a bit more serious than that. This opens up a spot in the rotation that will probably come down to Tylor Megill, José Butto and Joey Lucchesi.

Today is also the first time we’ll see Carlos Mendoza managing a game. It’s always interesting to watch what a manager does during a spring training game. Who is he talking to throughout the game? Which players come up to him? What’s his overall presence like?

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Tylor Megill and the American Spork: Tylor was scheduled to start this game before the news about Kodai Senga broke. Tylor is coming off of a year where he made 25 starts totaling 126 1/3 innings, the first time in his career he pitched over 100 innings at the major league level. He had a 4.70 ERA, 4.96 FIP, 1.575 WHIP and a 90 ERA+. Throughout last he worked with Senga to develop a new pitch, holding the ball the same way that Senga’s ghost forkball. Tylor refers to this pitch as the “American spork” and he tossed it six times in his last start of the season. Do we see the “American spork” today?
2. DJ Stewart Leading Off? Stewart was one positive surprises for the Mets last season, bursting on the scene hitting .244/.333/.506 with a 128 OPS+ over 58 games and 185 plate appearances. He has some serious pop, hitting 11 homers. Stewart leading off is a bit of surprise, but why not? He worked 11 walks last year and leading off means a higher chance that he’ll get more PA’s in today’s game.
3. Brett at Third, Mark DH’ing: The most likely scenario for the Mets this season is to roll with Brett Baty at third base and Mark Vientos at DH. Mark Vientos could push into Brett Baty’s playing time. DJ Stewart and others could push into Mark Vientos DH playing time. After the Ronny Mauricio injury the Mets did not go out to sign a 3B/DH type player, so these jobs really are Brett’s and Mark’s to lose. One of the larger complaints about the Mets last season was they did not give consistent playing time to their young players. We’re excited to see what Brett and Mark can do with consistent playing time this year, starting today!

Let’s Go Mets!

For a third spring training in a row, the Mets have invited Hayden Senger to major league camp. The 26-year old was drafted by the Mets round 24 during the 2018 draft out of Miami University of Ohio. Since being drafted he has played in five minor league seasons for the Mets (skipping 2020 of course) from the Kingsport Mets all the way to the Syracuse Mets. 

Senger was a solid hitter in college and hit .272/.359/.409 over three collegiate seasons. Over five seasons in the minors he has hit .236/.328/.359. Last year was a particular tough year for him where he spent the entire season in Binghamton and hit only .188/.307.295 (the previous year he at least got a few games in Syracuse).

Senger’s age and talent’s put him almost in a different depth chart than the other catchers. Senger is a more defensively minded catcher. He’s effectively competing for depth chart space in case of an emergency situation. If the Mets need a catcher to round out the roster for a couple of days, they aren’t going to call up Kevin Parada. So Senger’s main competition this spring is Nido and Austin Allen, which puts Senger fifth on the catching depth chart.

The Mets used five different catchers in the major leagues by the end of May last season. The 2022 Mets used four different catchers throughout the season. Things got so crazy in the covid-shortened 2020 season that the Mets used five catchers over 60 games. It’s not probable that Senger gets called up, but it’s possible! Will be watching this spring to see how much playing time Senger gets and how long he stays in major league camp. How does his performance compare to Austin Allen? Does Austin Allen play so well that he ends spring on another team thus moving Senger up the depth chart?

Kevin Parada was the Mets first round pick in 2022 and immediately made noise in the minor leagues, causing him to sky rocket up prospect lists. Before the start of the season last year Kevin Parada was listed as the third best prospect in the Mets system by Keith Law behind Francisco Álvarez and Brett Baty.

The noise was warranted. In two seasons for Georgia Tech he hit .341/.420/.636 which an amazing 2022 where he hit .361/.453/.709. The Mets had him play in 13 games between their Florida Coast League team and the St. Lucie Mets where he hit .275/.455/.425.

Last season had ups and downs for Parada. He hit well in Brooklyn, playing in 87 games (382 PA’s) hitting .265/.340/.447. For a catcher this was pretty good, but the expectations were so high for Parada. The Mets bumped him up for 14 games to Binghamton and the struggles set in. Over 60 plate appearances his stats dropped to .185/.250/.389. Overall, last year was a step backwards. Going into the season Keith Law has Parada listed at the 7th best prospect in the Mets system.

Kevin Parada is still the Mets best catching prospect in the system, however there are two additional catchers behind him that are drawing attention, that were not in the Mets system during spring training last season. The Mets acquired Ronald Hernandez in the David Robertson trade last year. Hernandez is only two years younger than Parada. The Mets also signed 17-year-old Yovanny Rodriguez, possibly the top catcher in this year’s international free agency pool.

Ahead of Parada on the depth chart Francisco Álvarez. All of this puts Parada in an interesting position this year. There is pressure on the depth chart behind him, but both of those catchers are much farther away from the majors than Parada. Ahead of Parada is Álvarez, who should be the Mets starting catcher for the foreseeable future. This takes the pressure off of the Mets to push Parada quickly through the system.

This spring we’ll be looking for Parada to get back to his 2022 form. That means hitting for power, getting on base at a higher clip, and an improvement to his defense.

I’ve previewed non-roster invitees to camp for the better part of a decade, and writing one for Tomás Nido is one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had. I know Nido! You know Nido! Francisco Lindor listed him as the teammate he couldn’t wait to see in the Mets socials a couple of weeks ago:

First day of school energy 😄🍎📚 pic.twitter.com/W8HhSbDniE

— New York Mets (@Mets) February 13, 2024

So how did we get here? Nido started the season in 2023 essentially as the back up catcher to Omar Narváez. Narváez ended up on the injured list fairly early in the season and Francisco Álvarez was called up to join Nido to split catching duties. In mid-May the Mets placed Nido on the injured list with dry-eye syndrome and recalled Michael Pérez. Days before doing this though the Mets signed Gary Sánchez to a minor league contract (additional context, the Mets had to move Narváez to the 60-day injured list). So it’s May and the Mets have already had multiple injuries to catchers, including Nido, and had already used five catchers in games.

After completing his rehab last year Nido activated in late May and then DFA’d in the first week of June, he was then outrighted to Syracuse and played for them the rest of the season. That’s how Nido ended off of the Mets roster.

In 22 games last season he hit .125/.153/.125 over 61 plate appearances which translated to a -22 OPS+. This was a massive departure from his previous season where he played in 98 games hitting .239/.276/.324 over 313 plate appearances with a 72 OPS+. He led the league in 2022 with 12 sacrifice hits. Nido is not in the lineup for his offense though, he’s there for his defense. In 2022 he was in the 94th percentile according to Baseball Savant in fielding run value. For catchers specifically, he was in the 92nd percentile in blocks above average and 90th for framing.

Chances are we are going to see Nido at some point this year in Queens. He knows the pitching staff well and in Syracuse he has been and will be working with the pitchers of the future. If there is a long term injury to a catcher or the Mets are able to move Omar Narváez, it will be Nido time again in Queens!

The Mets invited four non-roster catchers to camp last year (Nick Meyer, Kevin Parada, Michael Pérez and Hayden Senger). Last season they had five different players play behind the dish, with Pérez being the non-roster spring player seeing playing time with the big league club. This year the Mets are inviting four catchers to camp to fight for depth chart positioning behind Francisco Álvarez and Omar Narváez. Austin Allen is the only catcher of the four who has never been in Mets camp before.

Austin Allen was drafted by the Padres in 2015 and made his major league debut with them in 2019. At the end of the 2019 season Allen was traded to the Athletics for Jurickson Profar. He saw some time in the majors over three seasons with the Athletics each season until mid-way through 2022 when he was traded to the Cardinals. After a year with the Cardinals organization he signed a one year deal with the Marlins.

Austin Allen played in 34 games in 2019 getting 71 plate appearances hitting .215/.282/.277 with a 51 OPS+. The following year he played in 14 of the Athletics’ 60 games getting 32 plate appearances hitting .194/.219/.323 with a 49 OPS+. Since then he has played in only nine major league games. Allen was defensively solid during his time in the majors. He has a career caught stealing percentage of 24% and in 2020 he was in the 82nd percentile for blocking.

Last season with the Marlins AAA team he got into 91 games hitting .225/.311/.409. Allen slammed 23 homeruns, and it was the fifth time he had more than 20 homers in a minor league season. He has some serious pop, it just has never translated in the minor leagues (two homers over 57 games compared to 125 homers over 690 games in the minors).

As of writing I would put Allen fourth on the Mets catching depth chart, behind non-roster invitee (and Met legend) Tomás Nido. We’ve seen over the last couple of years how many catchers the Mets use in a season, and Allen’s major league experience puts him over Hayden Senger. This spring we’ll look to see which pitchers Allen works with and how he handles the bat against major league pitchers.

Today’s non-roster invitee profile was still on the Mets roster when we started this series a couple of weeks ago. Adams signed a major league contract with the Mets at the end of November and was outrighted to make room for Jake Diekman on the roster. He’s on a split-deal contract, so he’ll make different amounts depending on which roster he’s on for the Mets.

Adams was drafted by the Angels back in 2012 from the University of South Florida. In 2016 he ended up with the Nationals as part of the Danny Espinosa trade. He then made his debut with the Nationals in 2017 (so if he seems familiar to you, that’s probably why). In May of 2019 he was traded to the Mariners. The Mariners then traded him in 2020 as part of seven player swap with the Padres. After playing with the Padres for two years he signed a one year deal with the Diamondbacks before signing with the Mets.

Adams had a shortened 2023 campaign due to a fractured ankle. Before landing on the injured list he was playing better than the traditional stats indicate. Over 24 games, 17 1/3 innings, Adams had a 5.71 ERA but a 3.72 FIP. That’s a pretty large difference between those stats! He was striking opponents out at a 11.4 K/9 rate, which is both good and below his career mark at 13.4.

He tossed most of his 114 1/3 career innings back in 2021 where he threw 52 2/3 innings over 65 games as a member of the Padres. That season he had a 4.10 ERA, 3.89 FIP, 1.196 WHIP with a 95 ERA+. He also managed to league the entire league in hitting batters at 24, despite only throwing slightly above 50 innings. His Baseball Savant page for 2021 is wild. Adams ranked in the 99th percentile for xBA, 95th for Exit Velocity, 93rd for Whiff%, 91st for K% and 99th for Hard-Hit%. He was also in the 22nd percentile for Chase% and the 2nd percentile for walks.

During that 2021 season, Adams threw two types of pitches in games. 87% of the time he tossed a high-80’s slider. The rest of the time he threw a low-to-mid-90’s fastball.

Adams can get batters to strikeout and, at least in 2021, got them to generate really weak contact. The Mets are hoping for more of the same this spring and an increase in his control. His career walk rate is 14.6%, which he did bring down to 9.9% last season. That was the first time in his career it wasn’t in double digits. Given how bullpens are used, we’ll probably see Adams with the major league team at some point this season. The hope is that his heavy slider usage pairs well with the flamethrowers the Mets have added to the bullpen this off-season.

Travis d’Arnaud. Luis Guillorme. Jarred Kelenic. All three are former Mets on the Atlanta Braves active roster. There are few things guaranteed in the universe, but one of them is excellent performance by former Mets, currently with the Braves, playing against the Mets.

The Mets are hoping they have the reverse scenario with Danny Young.

Danny Young had a long trip to the major leagues after getting drafted by the Blue Jays in 2015. He was selected by Cleveland in the 2019 rule V draft. In 2022 he signed as a free agent with the Mariners where he finally got his break. In the middle of the 2022 season the Braves selected him off waivers and this past off-season he signed with the Mets.

Danny Young had a solid, short stint with the Braves last year. Over eight games he pitched 8 1/3 innings allowing one run from seven hits and two walks while striking out 11 batters. He was hit fairly hard in triple AAA last year, allowing 22 hits and 11 earned runs over 15 2/3 innings, but still recording 18 strikeouts. A hip injury that led to surgery knocked him out for most of the season.

Young threw only two types of pitches last year in the majors. He used his upper-80’s fastball 55% of the time and mixed-in his upper-70’s slider for the other 45%. In 2022 he also threw a low-80’s changeup, but it was rare, making up only 2% of his overall pitches. Young’s arsenal a continuation of the overall vision that David Stearns has for the bullpen this year. He’s the first player in this series that throws a much slower fastball and has the slowest slider out of the group as well. He’s definitely a different look.

You know what else is always true, besides former Mets on the Braves crushing the Mets? The Mets need for left-handed relievers. Before signing Diekman to a major league deal the Mets left-handed depth list was looking real short. Danny Young adds to that depth.

This spring we’ll be looking for two things from Young. First, does he keep the ball on the ground, which was his calling card throughout his career. Second, can he limit the hits allowed. If he can do both of things, and if he’s healthy, he can be a nice surprise for the Mets bullpen this year.

The Mets invited three big starting pitching prospects to camp this year: Dominic Hamel, Christian Scott and Mike Vasil. Similar to Scott, Vasil is another pitcher who saw his stock rise considerably last season. At the end of the 2022 season he was listed as the #21 prospect in the Mets system by MLB Pipeline. At the end of last season he was listed as the #9 prospect. In the 2024 pre-season Mets prospect rankings by the Athletic, Vasil is #10. Both organizations predict that he’s going to make his major league debut at some point this season.

Mike Vasil is mostly a fastball-cutter pitcher. His fastball sits in the low-90’s and in addition to the cutter he mixes in a curveball and changeup. One of the more interesting notes from MLB Pipeline is that the Mets actually got rid of one of his pitches after drafting him. He used to throw a two-seam fastball that the Mets worked out of his arsenal.

The Mets drafted Vasil in the 8th round back in 2021 and he made a few starts totaling only seven innings in his first year with the Mets (which is fairly normal for pitchers coming out of a full season in college). Vasil quickly turned heads in 2022, posting a 2.19 ERA over 37 innings in nine games in St. Lucie earning a promotion to Brooklyn. He didn’t dominate in Brooklyn as indicated by a 5.67 ERA over 33 innings. Vasil did get better at striking players out in Brooklyn though, jumping from a 9.5 K/9 to an 11.9 K/9. The difference was homers. He only gave up one homer with St. Lucie but three in less innings in Brooklyn.

The Mets saw enough positive with Vasil in Brooklyn last year to move up him to Binghamton last year and he looked great over ten starts (51 innings) with a 3.71 ERA. Homers became a problem again as he allowed eight, which was a 1.4 HR/9 clip, or almost double the rate he had in Brooklyn. But he was able to keep his strike numbers up. Vasil earned a promotion to Syracuse to finish off the season. Similar to 2022, his performance took a step back, but there was still a lot to like. His ERA jumped to 5.30, mostly due to a jump in walks (1.4 BB/9 to 4.7) but his strikeout and homer numbers didn’t change.

If the pattern holds, then Vasil should put up great numbers in Syracuse this year, and put up below average numbers as a Met after a late season call-up. Then he dominates in 2025! This is mostly a joke, but it has been fascinating watching Vasil repeat the same performance pattern the last two seasons. To comeback stronger each year shows he’s doing something in the off-season to get better.

At some point this year the Mets will need another starter. There’s going to essentially be an open competition all season between Hamel, Scott and Vasil for who will be first to get that call. This spring we are going to be looking to see if Vasil keeps the ball in the ballpark and keeps his walk numbers down, as those were the two knocks on his game at the end of last season.

Cole Sulser is one of the more interesting veteran non-roster invitees in camp as a couple of years ago he had a dominant season. Since then he’s been mired by injuries.

Sulser was drafted in 2013 out of Dartmouth by Cleveland. In 2018 he was part of a massive 3-team trade between Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Seattle that included Carlos Santana coming to Cleveland. Sulser was part of the package that Tampa Bay received. He would make his debut during the 2019 season. After that campaign he was selected off waivers by the Orioles and that’s when his career took off. At the start of the 2022 season he was traded to the Marlins as part of a five player swap. Since then he has bounced around between the Diamondbacks and Rays organizations until the Met signed him.

Sulser struggled in his first real season, 2020. Over 19 games and 22 2/3 innings (remember, this was the shortened baseball season), he had a a 5.56 ERA, 4.91 FIP, 1.500 WHIP and an 85 ERA+. Then things clicked for Sulser in 2021. Over 63 1/3 innings he had a 2.70 ERA, 2.98 FIP, 1.121 WHIP and a 166 ERA+. His Baseball Savant stats that year reflected his traditional stats. He ranked in the 98th percentile for offspeed run value, 86th for xERA and 85th for xBA.

Sulser’s 2022 season looked more like his 2020 season. Last season he got into three games near the start of the season but then headed to the injured list with a shoulder strain.

The 33-year old righty has four pitches in his arsenal. About half the time he throws a low-to-mid-90’s fastball. He tosses a mid-80’s changeup about a third of the time. His third pitch is a mid-80’s slider and on occasion he will toss a curve.

In camp we’ll be looking to see if Sulser looks healthy and effective. If he looks resurgent this spring he could be in a position battle for one of the final roster spots. Last year the Mets had a lot of pitchers in camp that weren’t hard throwers, like Sulser. This year the Mets have brought in a diverse array of arms, so Sulser is really competing against the pitchers left in camp that have a similar profile to him.