213 Miles From Shea

Jonathan Araúz is one of two infielders the Mets have brought to major league camp this year. Araúz was signed by the Phillies in 2014. He was packaged with Ken Giles and sent to the Astros for five players (most notably including Vince Velasquez). He was left unprotected by the Astros before the 2019 Rule V draft where he was selected by the Red Sox. Araúz made his major league debut the following season.

Araúz got into 25 games in the shortened 2020 season hitting .250/.325/.319 but took a step backwards the following season hitting .185/.274/.369 over 28 games and 75 plate appearances. Last season he went hitless in 12 trips to the plate for the Red Sox and was later picked up by the Orioles where he hit .179/.207/.286 over nine games.

Jonathan has done all this while still being only 24-years old. His non-roster invitee profile reads more like an older veteran player considering the amount of different organizations he’s been in and the amount of times he has been up and down already. The Mets signed him for depth. He’s here in case the Mets need an emergency infielder and if the Mets don’t want to burn an option for one of their top infielder prospects.

He is directly competing this spring with José Peraza who is back with the Mets on a non-roster invite as well. It is a little difficult right now to predict how much we’ll see Araúz this spring. He’s playing for Panama in the World Baseball Classic, and Showalter said he was going to prioritize players in the WBC but Panama is playing in Taiwan (Pool A) for the opening round. This obviously involves quite a bit of travel time compared to the games that the other members of the Mets will be playing in.

There are several former Mets playing Pool A as well including Ruben Tejada, Matt Harvey and Yoenis Céspedes. You can check them out and do some early morning scouting of Araúz once the tournament starts on March 8th!

The Mets play the first of six games against the Nationals this afternoon in Port St. Lucie! Yesterday the Mets had the rare split-squad day at two very different times, against two teams that were each only playing one game. The Mets dropped the first game against the Astros with Brett Baty stealing the show with two hits, including a homer and a walk in three trips to the plate. The Mets won the night cap against the Marlins with Pete Alonso‘s long home run showing he’s ready for the World Baseball Classic.

The Nationals are coming to town this afternoon with a split-squad roster and they are bringing Josiah Gray with them. Josiah Gray was one of the key prospects in the trade the Dodgers made with the Nationals a couple of seasons ago for Max Scherzer and Trea Turner. Gray will be starting against Max Scherzer today!

Mets Lineup:

1. Jeff McNeil – 2B
2. Mark Canha – LF
3. Francisco Lindor – SS
4. Daniel Vogelbach – DH
5. Eduardo Escobar – 3B
6. Tommy Pham – CF
7. Omar Narváez – C
8. Mark Vientos – 1B
9. Lorenzo Cedrola – RF

SP – Max Scherzer

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Max Scherzer: Ottavino was the only pitcher we saw yesterday who is a lock to start the season in Queens. There’s definitely more excitement today with Max Scherzer starting the game. Over 23 games and 145 1/3 innings last year Scherzer had a 2.29 ERA, 0.908 WHIP, 2.62 FIP and a 169 ERA+. The Mets hopes this season are pinned to Scherzer and Verlander.
2. Daniel Vogelbach: It’s the smallest of sample sizes, just one game, but the shift ban is going to help Vogelbach. He had two hits yesterday, both that probably would have been outs in the shift era. There was some talk during the broadcast last night that the Marlins might be hiding how they will play Vogelbach in the regular season. Let’s see what happens against the Nationals today!
3. Tommy Pham: The new 4th outfielder for the Mets had three batted balls last night 104 mph or higher. Last season he was in the 93rd percentile for average exit velocity and 86th for maximum exit velocity. It didn’t materialize in xwOBA or xBA (45h and 32nd percentiles) last season but in 2021 it sort-of did (73rd and 50th percentile).

Let’s Go Mets!

Hayden Senger was invited to Mets spring training for the second spring in a row. The 25-year old was drafted by the Mets in the 24th round back in 2018 from Miami University of Ohio and was a .272/.359/.409 hitter in college. Throughout his time in the minors he has been a .249/.334/.378 and has played every where in the Mets system from now non-existent Kingsport Mets and Columbia Fireflies all the way to the Syracuse Mets.

After missing a season of minor league baseball due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Senger came back to baseball roaring in 2021 slashing .263/.341/.429 between Brooklyn and Binghamton. He then followed that up with a stint in the Arizona Fall League where he had a .375 on base percentage over 40 plate appearances. In between the 2021 and 2022 seasons he started to pop-up on Mets prospects lists (generally around 20th in the system).

Last season wasn’t as good for Senger (.240/.309/.358) but Senger was never projecting to be the star Mets catcher. Senger has solid defense and fairly solid hitting. Right now he seems Nido-esque in a farm system that boasts two of the top hitting catching prospects in baseball.

This spring Senger needs to look better behind the bag than Nick Meyer and needs to hit better than Michael Pérez in order to continue to move up the Mets emergency catching depth chart. The Mets are built differently at catcher this season with Nido and Narváez ready to start the season in Queens and Álvarez on deck. Last season though the Mets had McCann, Nido and Mazeika and still needed to bring in Pérez for a short stint – so you never know!

The Mets and Marlins square off tonight for an evening spring training game in Port St. Lucie! This is the first of six games the Mets will play against the Marlins this spring before they go to Miami to open up the regular season on March 30th.

Brett Baty was the headline this afternoon – getting on base all three times in his first three plate appearances including a homer he hit in the first inning. Most of the Mets regular starting players stayed back for the nightcap in St. Lucie, and we can’t wait to see them take the field for the first time this spring!

Mets Lineup

1. Jeff McNeil – 2B
2. Tommy Pham – CF
3. Francisco Lindor – SS
4. Pete Alonso – 1B
5. Eduardo Escobar – 3B
6. Mark Canha – LF
7. Daniel Vogelbach – DH
8. Abraham Almonte – RF
9. Tomás Nido – C

SP – José Butto

Three Things To Watch For:

1. The Starting Lineup: Only Starling Marte and Brandon Nimmo are missing from this lineup. Showalter said he was going to prioritize players heading to the World Baseball Classic – which is a solid chunk of the Mets regulars. The amount of regular starting players in the lineup will make the first broadcast game of the year a lot more fun.
2. Eduardo Escobar: Brett Baty already put the pressure on Escobar this afternoon. Baty hit a homer in his first at bat, then walked during his second and got a single his third time around. Eduardo is one of the most positive players on the Mets roster. Twitter feeds are already filled with videos of Escobar greeting coaches and having fun on picture day. At the end of last season Escobar went on a tear – can he repeat that with a strong spring?
3. José Butto: The Mets top prospects are position player heavy with José Butto being probably the highest ranked pitcher who could see time in the majors this season. Butto had one start in the majors last season and it was a doozy. He allowed seven runs from nine hits and two walks over four innings of work. Over 28 games and 129 innings in the minors he had a 3.56 ERA and 1.209 WHIP. We are hoping to see him have a strong outing against major league quality hitters.
4. Bonus – Pitch Clocks: We said this earlier today but its worth mentioning again since more of the Mets regulars are playing tonight. Both games yesterday were right around two hours and thirty minutes. If the Mets are going to have any problems adjusting to the clock it will probably happen during the first two weeks of spring.

Let’s Go Mets!

Mets baseball is finally here! The Mets play two split-squad games today that are more like a doubleheader with one starting at 1 PM and the second one starting at 6 PM.

First up for the Mets this afternoon are the Houston Astros. Like every spring, the teams on the East coast of Florida play each other frequently and this is the first six games against the Astros the Mets will play over the next four weeks.

Mets Lineup:

1. Luis Guillorme – SS
2. Tim Locastro – LF
3. Brett Baty – 3B
4. Mark Vientos – 1B
5. Omar Narváez – DH
6. DJ Stewart – RF
7. Jonathan Araúz – 2B
8. Michael Pérez – C
9. Alex Ramírez

SP – Denyi Reyes

Three Things To Watch For:

• Denyi Reyes: Reyes made his major league debut with the Orioles briefly last season where he allowed only two runs from eight hits and a walk over 7 2/3 innings. His numbers last year in the minors weren’t great (7.17 ERA, 1.519 WHIP) but he had a low walk rate (3.3%) which was also seen in the majors. He has a low to mid-90’s mph fastball, a mid-80’s changeup and mid-70’s curveball. Reyes’ upside makes him one of the more interesting pitchers the Mets have brought to camp this year.
• Mets Young Hitters: One of the major stories we’ll be following all spring is who is going to be the Mets Opening Day third basemen. After the Carlos Correa deal fell through all eyes turned to Baty and Escobar. Baty made an immediate first impression yesterday with two hits including a double in the Mets intrasquad game. Mark Vientos is looking to make a splash somewhere with the Mets. There are players in front of him all over the depth chart. That being said, the Mets are thin at first base which is where he is starting today.
• Omar Narváez: Narváez joins a crowded Mets catching field that includes Nido and a couple of top Mets prospects. How Narváez and Nido play this spring could determine their playing time split before Álvarez arrives full time.
• Bonus – Pitch Clocks: This is the first real game the Mets will have with pitch clocks. Both games yesterday were right around two hours and thirty minutes. If the Mets are going to have any problems adjusting to the clock it will probably happen during the first two weeks of spring.

Let’s Go Mets!

Things that are required for every major league spring training camp: optimism, managers claiming players are in the best shapes of their lives, and veteran catchers on minor league deals.

Michael Pérez’s contract was purchased by the Mets from the Pirates at the end of July last year and the Mets have re-signed the veteran catcher for the upcoming season.

Pérez made a surprising splash back in 2018 when he made his major league debut slashing .284/.304/.392 over 24 games. Over his five year career he has been a .174/.244/.301 hitter. Pérez even saw some action with the Mets last season, getting 16 plate appearances over six games (.143/.250/.143, 18 OPS+). His Baseball Savant page supports his hitting line. He was in the 20th percentile for max exit velocity and the 4th percentile for sprint speed. He also didn’t wow behind the plate either last year, ending in the 15th percentile for framing.

None of that is really the point for Pérez. He’s the emergency catcher in case something goes wrong. Last year the Mets had McCann and Nido splitting catching duty with Mazeika as the emergency catcher. At one point the Mets needed to call up Pérez before Álvarez was ready to make his major league debut.

Álvarez is much closer to being ready this year. In front of him is Nido and Narváez. So essentially right now Pérez is still around the same place on the depth chart, but the overall group of catchers in front of Pérez is stronger than the group last season.

Pérez will also be competing this spring with Nick Meyer and Hayden Senger, both are non-roster invitees to spring training for the second year in a row. Essentially Pérez is this year’s Patrick Mazeika and Pérez is a good example of how the whole roster feels stronger than it has in years past.

The Mets first round pick from last year’s draft made some noise in the minors last year and earned an invite to major league camp this spring.

Kevin has spent the off-season being celebrated on overall in baseball top prospect lists across the league:

• #50 Baseball America
• #64 Baseball Prospectus
• #103 Fan Graphs
• #36 MLB.com

Parada is currently the #3 Mets prospect in the system according to MLB.com with an estimated major league debut around 2025. The 21-year old was drafted out of Georgia Tech with the 11th overall pick and has been projected as top catching prospect since he graduated high school. He was a hitting machine in college slashing .341/.420/.636.

Parada only played in a few games last season, getting 55 plate appearances, but during that time he impressed with a .275/.455/.425 line. As he spends more time in the minors, the power will come (he was a little over a year younger than the average player in St. Lucie last season). His real strength though is his ability to get on base.

Parada is still far away from the major leagues. With Francisco Álvarez in the wings there is also no need to rush Parada through the system. In addition to Álvarez, the Mets have two major league starting catchers already in Nido and Narváez. Michael Perez is also in Mets camp as the veteran back up catcher. This is all to say Parada is on his own time clock and spring this year is an opportunity for Parada to build skills with the major leaguers and get some reps in against higher quality opponents.

Top prospects in Mets camp are always fun. We looking forward to seeing Parada play in some games and see this hitting machine in action!

The Mets head into spring this year with three catchers on their 40-man roster and four catchers in camp with invitations to major league camp. The Mets traded away James McCann in the off-season and signed Omar Narváez to split the starting role with Tomás Nido while top prospect Francisco Álvarez gets more time in minors. Meanwhile Kevin Parada has just shot up the Mets prospects rankings. Further the Mets signed veteran catcher Michael Perez to a minor league deal as a possible depth option.

This is all to say that things have gotten even more complicated for Nick Meyer since last year when he was invited to major league camp. It was difficult to see then where fit overall then and now the Mets have even more depth at catcher.

Meyer was drafted in the 6th round back in 2018 out of California Polytechnic State University where he also played on the USA collegiate National team. He rose up quickly in the Mets system, going from Brooklyn in 2018 to Syracuse in 2021. He even went the extra mile to play in the City of Champions cup in 2020 when minor league baseball was shut down due to Covid19.

Last season he was the Mets 27th prospect according to MLB.com where they were high on his defense over his hitting. He has been getting better at the plate though. In 2021 between Binghamton and Syracuse he slashed .251/.337/.324 over 257 PAs. Last year between the same two leagues he slashed .233/.355/.353 over 302 PAs.

Here’s the advantage Nick Meyer brings to the table: he’s been in the Mets system for a while. He has experience catching pitchers who have been around him in the minors and in Mets camp the last two springs. Meyer will be competing with Hayden Senger who is in similar situation and veteran Michael Perez for depth chart positioning. As of right now it feels like Meyer and Senger are just below Perez who is behind the three catchers on the Mets 40-man roster.

On December 1st the Mets signed the pride of Elizabeth, New Jersey – Jimmy Yacabonis. The Christian Brother Academy and St. Joseph University alum was drafted by the Orioles in the 13th round back in 2013.

He made his major league debut with the Orioles back in 2017 and pitched in 55 games for the birds over the next three seasons. Since then he bounced around the Padres, Mariners, Rays and Marlins. Last season he pitched for both Florida based teams totaling 14 innings over 14 games with an 8.36 ERA, 6.40 FIP, 2.143 WHIP and a 49 ERA+. He was much more effective in the minors last season pitching 33 2/3 innings over 27 games with a 3.21 ERA and a 1.188 WHIP.

This has pretty much been Jimmy’s story over the last nine seasons. His minor league stats are pretty good. He has a career 3.25 ERA in 443 innings of work over 285 games. In the majors he has a 6.03 career ERA over 118 innings.

According to his Baseball Savant page, Jimmy threw three different pitches in the majors last season – a fastball, slider and changeup. His fastball averaged at 94 mph and he threw it almost 60% of the time (53rd percentile for velocity, 49th for spin). He tossed his low-80’s slider 37% of the time. Jimmy’s high-80’s changeup barely made a major league appearance last season.

There are a lot of pitchers ahead of Jimmy on the depth chart. Unless he has a tremendous spring, he’s most likely going to start the season in Syracuse. It’s going to take either a strong start in Syracuse, other pitchers on the 40-man roster struggling or some surprise injuries for Jimmy to come up to the majors. There is a consistent need for fresh arms during the season – between small injuries, or players being used too much, there’s a constant rotation in the back of the bullpen. There is a strong chance that at some point this season we’ll see Jimmy. The Mets are coming to camp this year with a lot of bullpen depth and Jimmy is part of that.

On a personal note, as a teacher for the last 12 years in Newark, I love when the Mets sign players from Essex/Union/Hudson county area. Usually my students are Yankees fans but we had fun talking about Newark-born Hector Santiago a few years ago when he was on the Mets. Jimmy Yacabonis will definitely end up as a star of a few physics problems in class if he makes the roster at any point this season.

In mid-November the Mets claimed William Woods off waivers from the Atlanta Braves. The 24-year old from Tennessee finally made the majors last year where he pitched in two games in late April / early May. Before the start of last season, the Braves were so worried that Woods be selected in the Rule V draft that they added him to the 40-man roster. In the process of creating roster space at the end of the season the Mets were able to swoop in and pick him up.

In his brief time in the majors, Woods allowed no runs over two innings from two hits and a walk while striking out two. He showed his mid-90’s fastball with an average 2391 RPM and his mid-80’s slider with a 2504 RPM (Baseball Savant). He spent most of the season though bouncing around different levels of minor league ball while recovering from injuries. When he was on the field in the minors he had a 6.04 ERA and 1.342 WHIP over 24 games and 25 1/3 innings. The most significant injury he had was an ankle injury that sidelined him from May to July.

Braves websites have written about Woods in the past and their thoughts about his future role has shifted over the years. Before the 2022 season he was seen more as a starter leading with a powerful fastball. At the end of last season he was seen more as a reliever (with the same tool set). Ultimately, he needs to develop secondary pitches to stay in the majors.

William Woods is worth the look the Mets are going to give him this spring. The Mets always need flamethrowers in the bullpen and it is unpredictable when a player can find lightning in a bottle and put all their talents together. Woods has a lot of competition ahead of him. He’s not on the 40-man roster, he’s a righty, etc. Like everyone else we have looked at in this series, a strong spring can change everything.