213 Miles From Shea

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!

Blade Tidwell is competing for a roster spot this season. If we were to rank prospects by how close they are to the majors, Tidwell, Dom Hamel and Brandon Sproat would round out the short list of starting pitchers who should make their major league debut at some point in 2025. (The Mets have other exciting pitching prospects, but a lot has to happen for them to make their debuts this season).

Tidwell started 2024 with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies and did quite well. Over seven games, five starts, he pitched 37 1/3 innings with a 2.41 ERA, 1.071 WHIP, 2.7 BB/9 and a 10.6 K/9. The high strikeout rate was more what we saw in 2023 where he posted a 11.9 K/9 between Brooklyn and Binghamton.

Similar to all of the older Mets pitching prosects last season, things got a lot tougher for Tidwell in Syracuse. Over 26 games, 122 1/3 innings, Tidwell had a 5.93 ERA and a 1.565 WHIP. He lost control of his pitches (5.6 BB/9) and his strikeout rate plummeted (8.2 K/9).

Another issue popped up in 2023 that continued into 2024. Back in 2023 opponents were getting 6.1 H/9 against Tidwell. That jumped to 8.4 when he went to Binghamton, but dropped to 7.0 during his 2024 Binghamton campaign. That number rose, this time to 8.5 H/9 with Syracuse. An increase of hits, loss of control and a decrease in walks is a bad combination.

Tidwell has a mid-90’s fastball, low-80’s sweeper, upper-70’s curveball and a changeup. There’s a lot of stuff with Tidwell. In 2024 we saw that when given an opportunity to return to a level where he struggled, he came back a lot stronger. That’s exactly what we are going to look for in Syracuse this year – does he come back stronger? Can he fool hitters? Here’s what we are looking for specifically this spring:

• With the Montas injury, there is a roster battle for the last spot in the rotation. Can Tidwell pitch well enough to dislodge all the competition around him? How long does he stay in major league camp?
• How does he handle major league hitters? Does his H/9 look more like what it did in Syracuse or Binghamton?
• Control. Is he locating his pitches? Are hitters swinging and missing at stuff outside the zone or are they laying off?

Cue the SNY music! Mets baseball is back!

The Mets return to the baseball field, St. Lucie, our television sets and our lives this afternoon, taking on the Houston Astros. Juan Soto, one of the most exciting players in baseball, signed a massive contract with the Mets this off-season and will take the field today as a member of the New York Mets.

Tomorrow the Mets will playing 18 innings across two games, so between today and tomorrow we’ll see a sizeable chunk of the pitchers in major league came along with some minor league arms. Today is all about Clay Holmes who hasn’t started in the majors since 2018. He has been an All-Star twice for the Yankees over the last three seasons posting a 155, 152 and 131 ERA+ over that stretch. The Mets will start the process to convert him into a starter this afternoon.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Clay Holmes the Starter. Earlier this week Carlos Mendoza stated the goal for Holmes today – about three innings or 45 pitches. He hit 45 pitches once last season and it was an outing where he walked two batters over 1 1/3 innings. He hit 30+ pitches only a few times. We’ll try not to read too much into pitch selection – let’s just get some innings in!
2. Lindor and Soto on top of the lineup. Francisco Lindor is coming off of an MVP level season for the Mets. Lindor had a Baseball Reference WAR of 6.0 in 2023 and followed it up with a 6.9 WAR last season, his second and third best seasons in his career. Juan Soto had a 7.9 Baseball Reference WAR in 2024. The Mets offense will live and die with this pair of superstars at the top of the lineup.
3. Brett Baty. Where does Baty fit in this season? He got the call up at the start of the season in 2024, struggled and then Mark Vientos came up. With third base essentially belonging to Vientos, Baty has to compete for a role somewhere on the team. Baty has taken some reps at second this past week during drills. Is he competing for a bench job? Is he effectively auditioning for another team via trade?

Let’s Go Mets!

By now you have probably heard of Brandon Sproat, the 2023 Mets draftee who has sky rocketed up the prospect charts over the last season or so. Going into 2025 he is the #61 prospect overall by Baseball America, #39 by Baseball Prospectus and #46 by MLB.com. He was one of the Mets representatives in the 2024 Future Games.

A fun trivia fact you’ll hear about Sproat often, especially during spring outings this year is he’s a rare three-time drafted player. The Rangers originally drafted him out of high school in the 7th round back in 2019. The Mets then drafted him out of the University of Florida in the 3rd round in 2022. He then went back to college and the Mets drafted him again in 2023, this time in the second round. The Mets clearly wanted Sproat.

Sproat is known as a flamethrower, with a four-seamed fastball that can touch 100 and lives in the upper-90’s. He mixes in a sinker, change slider, cutter and a curveball to round out a huge arsenal.

Last season was his first season of pro-ball and he pitched in games from Brooklyn all the way up to Syracuse. Across all three levels he pitched in 24 games with 116 1/3 innings with a 3.40 ERA and a 1.109 WHIP. He dominated in Brooklyn with a 1.105 WHIP and 1.07 ERA over 25 1/3 innings. He as striking out players at a healthy clip, 11.7 K/9 but his control was all over the place with a 5.7 BB/9.

Sproat’s dominating performance continued in Binghamton with a 2.45 ERA, 0.866 WHIP over 62 1/3 innings. He kept his strikeout rate high, 11.1 K/9 and got a better handle on his control, dropping his walk rate to 2.2 BB/9. It was in Syracuse where he hit a speed bump. His H/9 jumped from 5.6 in Binghamton all the way to 11.3 while his strikeout rate dropped to 6.6 K/9.

This sets up what we are looking for this spring from Sproat. Hitters in Syracuse were able to figure him out, can he start confuse them again? When he takes the mound this spring, we’ll be watching for:

• Batters making solid contact. Did Sproat figure out what was causing him problems in Syracuse? Is he now fooling hitters? Which leads to…
• His pitch selection. Without reading too much into it since pitchers work on specific things early on in spring training, he has a huge arsenal, how do the Mets help him curate it?
• Is there a position battle? The Mets have an open spot at the end of the rotation, but have a lot players on the 40-man roster competing for it. Does Sproat perform so well this spring that he forces a conversation.

For the Mets to consider Sproat out of camp two things are going to need to happen. First, he need to put on an amazing spring training campaign. Second, there needs to be a consistent spot in the rotation for at least a month. As long as he continues to take steps forward this season, we’ll see him with the major league club before the end of the year.

The Mets in the David Stearns era love loading up on hard throwing pitchers on minor league deals, and that’s why the Mets brought in Yacksel Ríos in January 2024. Ríos leans on his mid-to-upper 90’s fastball, let’s take a deeper dive on how he got here.

Ríos was drafted by the Phillies in 2011 out of high school. He made his major league debut in 2017 at 24-years old. After a few years with the Phillies he was placed on waivers in August 2019. He then bounced around with the Pirates, Rays, Mariners, Red Sox, White Sox, Braves and most recently the Athletics.

Over six years in the majors Ríos has a 6.32 ERA, 5.61 FIP, 1.566 WHIP and a 70 ERA+ over 98 1/3 innings. The last time he saw considerable time in the majors was 2021 where he had a 4.28 ERA, 110 ERA+ over 27 1/3 innings spread over 23 games. Ríos fared mostly well in Syracuse last season with a 3.90 ERA, over 27 games (30.0 innings) and a 1.567 WHIP.

Let’s go back to that 2021 year for a moment. That season he tossed his sinker about a third of the time, averaging 97.3 mph. He then mixed in his four seamer 29.6% of the time, which averaged 96.9 mph. He used his mid 80’s slider 86.5% of the time and mixed in his mid-80’s splitter to round out his arsenal.

Ríos has now been with the Mets for a full calendar year, they know what he has. Here’s what we are looking for this spring:

• His bread and butter is his velocity – does he still have it?
• The last time he tossed his sinker in the majors was in 2021. It was one of his better pitchers by true results (.194 BA) but it was his worst pitch by xBA (.254). Is he getting swings and misses?
• Do the Mets have him try something different?

The Mets needed a lot of bullpen help in 2024 and didn’t call on Ríos. In order to move up the depth chart he’s going to need to have an impressive spring and strong start to the season in Syracuse. With the stuff he’s shown in the past – if he can figure out how to get things to click, the Mets will be calling.

The Mets signed Oliver Ortega to a minor league deal at the start of December after he was outrighted by the Astros (and then chose free agency).

Ortega signed with the Angels in 2014 and made his debut with them in 2021. Before the 2023 season the Twins selected him off waivers and before the 2024 season the Astros did the same. He was kept off the mound for all of 2024 due to two elbow surgeries. In Spring Training he had a procedure to remove loose bodies from his elbow. It wasn’t fully successful and he had to have another surgery in June.

Ortega pitched in 27 games in 2022, his career high in the majors. Over 34 innings he had a 3.71, 4.76 FIP, 1.471 WHIP and a 109 ERA+. He had limited major league usage in 2023 with a 4.30 ERA, 4.76 FIP, 1.227 WHIP and a 104 ERA+ over 14 2/3 innings. Ortega showed a lot of promise with the AAA club, posting a 1.82 ERA, 0.981 WHIP over 34 2/3 innings. He had a 11.4 K/9 in the minors and a 8.6 K/9 in the majors, which was close to his 8.7 K/9 in 2022.

Pitch tracking in 2023 picked up five different pitches for Ortega. He tossed a mid-80’s slider 35.4% of the time, a low-80’s curveball (24.2%), a mid-90’s fastball (22.1%), mid-90’s sinker (17.1%) and mixed in exactly three mid-80’s sweepers. In 2022 he used his mid-90’s fastball 58.4% of the time. He did go from the Angels to the Twins during that time. Was this a different organization approach? Is it due to a small-sample size and game script?

Oliver Ortega is pretty much exactly what you expect as a veteran NRI in camp. He has some zip on the fastball and has shown ability to get some high whiff% (2023 slider and 2022 curveball each had a 45% whiff%). If the Mets can help him figure it out, he will be an interesting pitcher to watch in 2025. Here’s what we are looking for this spring:

• Health. Is is he healthy? Can he throw all five of his pitches without pain?
• Are hitters swinging and missing at his fastball? It only happened 12% of time in 2022, the year he relied on it, but happened 22% of the time in 2023.
• The slider was a new pitch for Ortega in 2023 and he relied on it heavily, it had an xBA of .094, by far the best of his pitches. Do the Mets see it as his best pitch? Do they want him to throw his sweeper more which had his best xBA in 2022?

If you have watched the Mets over the last two seasons, you already know today’s NRI player! Grant Hartwig made his major league debut with the Mets in 2023. He pitched in 28 games totaling 35 1/3 innings with a 4.84 ERA, 4.44 FIP, 1.387 WHIP and an 87 ERA+. The Mets kept him on the 40-man roster going into 2024.

Hartwig got two cups of coffee with the Mets in 2024. In April he allowed two runs over 3 innings. He then got recalled during the Mets terrible month of May and allowed four runs, three earned over 3 2/3 innings. Things got worse for Hartwig a month or so later when he needed surgery for a meniscus tear.

Hartwig returned to the mound at the end of July and pitched 17 innings over 17 games allowing 16 runs from 20 hits and 20 walks while striking out 17 batters. Results got a lot better for Hartwig from September 6th on where he allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings (both runs in the same outing) over five games. The Mets did not tender him a contract at the end of 2024 and then signed him to a minor league contract at the start of December.

In 2023 Hartwig tossed a singer, sweeper, cutter and changeup in the majors. His sinker (and four seamer that was picked up on pitch tracking in 2024) sits int he mid-90’s. His sweeper, which he tosses about the third of the time, sits in the low-80’s, his cutter sits in the mid-to-low-90’s and sprinkles in a mid-80’s changeup.

Grant Hartwig will pitch for the Mets at some point this season. There will be injuries at some point that allow him to get on the 40-man. Right now he looks like a classic bullpen inning filler, just like how he was used in 2024. His 2023 major league results were better than his AAA results (5.02 ERA). The Mets are still hoping he can put together his 2022 season where had a 1.75 ERA over 56 2/3 innings.

Here’s what we are looking for from Hartwig this spring:

• How does he perform in his early spring training innings? Can he continue his momentum from September?
• How long do the Mets keep him around in camp? If he can make it past the second round of cuts, then the Mets may be seriously considering him as an early season 40-man roster replacement player.