213 Miles From Shea

For the second straight season the Mets are inviting Dom Hamel to major league camp. Hamel was part of a trio of exciting Mets pitchers to get invited to Spring Training in 2024 (Mike Vasil and Christian Scott being the other two).

Hamel had a rough 2024. It was so rough that at Metsmerized he isn’t even considered a Top 30 prospect for the 2025 season. Dom made 27 starts for Syracuse in 2024, totaling 124 2/3 innings with a 6.79 ERA and 1.749 WHIP. The previous season in Binghamton he had a 4.06 ERA and 1.266 WHIP in almost the same amount of innings (124). For the first time in his career his K/9 slipped below 11 (9.0 in 2024) while his BB/9 ballooned to 5.6 (4.4 career, 3.6 in 2023) and his H/9 also skyrocketed (10.2 in 2024, 7.8 in 2023, 8.1 career).

Dom Hamel, who will turn 26 on March 2nd enters a critical year. The Mets left him unprotected in the Rule V draft in December and no one selected him. Due to his performance last season, he’s even farther down the depth chart to start for the Mets this season. In addition to everyone on the 40-man roster, and veterans on NRI deals, he’s directly competing with top prospects Blade Tidwell and Brandon Sproat this year.

The Mets are absolutely going to give Hamel a look in camp this year. We’re looking for a step towards his 2023 self:

• Generating swings and misses
• Better control, less walks
• Opponents getting less hits

If Hamel can perform at level somewhere between 2023 and 2024, he’ll make his major league debut at some point this season. At the end of the 2023 season, MLB Pipeline had him listed as the #9 prospect in the Mets system. They wrote about his slider and it’s 2,800-3000 rpm. All really exciting stuff, but things have fallen apart fast. The Mets have seen prospects have down years and come back better. Mark Vientos had a -1.1 WAR and .620 OPS (69 OPS+) over 233 PA’s in 2023. David Peterson had two seasons with and ERA above 5 before last season’s breakout. Can Dom Hamel follow in their footsteps?

Rico Garcia was an early addition to the Mets minor league roster this year, signing with the Mets in early November. Garcia was drafted by the Rockies in 2016 and made his major league debut with the Rockies in 2019, allowing seven runs over six innings spread over two games.

Since making his major league debut, Garcia has bounced around organizations going to the Giants, Orioles, Athletics and most recently the Nationals. He really has not seen a lot of time in the majors. His career high in games and innings came in 2023 where he pitched in 10 games (11 2/3 innings) between the Athletics and the Nationals allowing 12 runs from 19 hits and five walks. He also struck out 10 batters.

The Mets are hoping Garcia can build off of his 2024. The Nationals never called Garcia up last season and he ended up pitching 61 2/3 innings in Rochester with a 3.94 ERA, 1.294 WHIP and a 13 K/9. If you want to put stock in AAA saves, Garcia recorded 20 of them last season!

Since Garcia didn’t pitch in the majors last year, the publicly available pitch tracking data for him comes from 2023. In a small smattering of innings, he tossed his fastball 55.4% of the time (mid-90’s, good for the 71st percentile in 2023) and mixed in a mid-80’s changeup and a low-80’s curveball.

Similar to other pitchers we have looked at so far in the NRI preview series, Garcia is quite far down the depth chart and has a lot of competition to just get onto the 40-man roster, let alone the active roster. I can’t stop thinking about his K/9 in 2024 though. On it’s own it is enough to give Garcia a chance this spring. Here’s what we are watching for:

• How often will Garcia pitch this spring? Will he continue to get a look in mid-march when starters are going deep and bullpen locks start getting their work ramped up?
• Do we see the 2024 Garcia who kept H/9 at 6.9 in the minors? Or do we see the 2023 Garcia who had a 14.7 H/9 in the majors?
• Is he still striking out players at an impressive clip? How is he striking out players?

Quick question – who was the first off-season signing for the Mets in the 2024-2025 off-season? If you said Chris Devenski you either follow the Mets extremely closely or are good at following context clues!

The Mets signed Devenski on a minor league deal way back on October 28th. Devenski is a longtime major league veteran who was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 2011. The following year he was traded as the player to be named later to the Houston Astros.

Houston is where Devenski made a name for himself. In his first four seasons (2016-2019) he pitched 305 1/3 innings spread over 221 games with a 3.21 ERA, 3.49 FIP, 1.048 WHIP and a 130 ERA+. Baseball Reference credits him with a 2.8 and 1.9 WAR across his first two seasons. In 2017 he won the World Series with the Astros and was an All-Star.

Then in 2020 Devenski had elbow surgery and has not been the same. Starting in 2020 Devenski has been with the Astros, Diamondbacks, Phillies, Angels and most recently the Rays. He has pitched only 94 2/3 innings since the start of 2020 with a 6.46 ERA, 5.30 FIP, 1.415 WHIP and a 67 ERA+. Baseball Reference has him with a -1.7 WAR during this stretch. In 2024 he pitched in 19 games over 26 2/3 innings for the Rays with a 6.75 ERA, 7.33 FIP, 1.575 WHIP and a 60 ERA+.

In 2017 Devenski had an xBA in the 96th percentile and whiff% in the 98th. According to statcast, the fastball velocity hasn’t changed much since 2017. It went from 94 mph to 93 mph, but over the last decade that was enough to go from the 66th percentile in the league to the 33rd. His whiff% dropped from 36.8% to 27.1%. He was using his changeup to generate absurd swings and misses. He still leans on his 83ish mph changeup, throwing it 51.3% of the time in 2023 and 47.5% of the time in 2024.

The Mets are hoping they can help Chris Devenski rediscover what he once had. Similar to other players in camp on minor league deals, the hope is that Jeremey Hefner and the pitching lab sees something or can help Devenski see something that can help him miss bats again.

For 2025, Devenski is fairly far down the Mets depth chart. Baseball teams burn through pitchers though so if he stays in the Mets system after camp, given his experience there is a high chance he’ll be called on at some point to fill a gap in Queens. Here’s what we are looking for this spring in Devenski:

• He has four pitches, but throughout his career has primarily used his changeup and fastball. Once his fully warmed up this spring, does he keep a similar usage split?
• Can he start getting swings and misses again on his changeup? Is he changing anything about where he is locating it? For this latter point, I’m not sure if we’ll know unless he, or someone else around him says something.
• In 2017 he had a 26.1 Hard-Hit%. Last year it was 44%! This spring – who is making solid contact against him? At what clip are players making that hard contact?

Génesis Cabrera is a lefty.

On the Mets 40-man roster right now, their only lefties are Sean Manaea, A.J. Minter, David Peterson and Danny Young. The Mets just don’t have a ton of south paw options.

Cabrera signed in 2013 was the Rays and traded to the Cardinals in a package that include Tommy Pham. He would make his major league debut with the Cardinals and stayed with them until he was traded to the Blue Jays in 2023.

Cabrera pitched in 69 games over 62 2/3 innings in 2024 with a 3.59 ERA, 5.13 FIP, 1.468 WHIP and a 113 ERA+. Since 2021, he’s had an ERA+ above 100 and has pitched between 39 and 71 games per season. What’s been holding Cabrera back is his control. His WHIP has been above 1.300 since 2022. He had a 10.7 BB% last season which puts him in the 17th percentile. Mixed with a 18.5 K% (14th percentile), you get a not-so-great combination.

The raw stuff is there though. Last year his fastball average at 96 mph, which was good for the 80th percentile. He throws five different pitches, leaning mostly on a high-80’s cutter (39.3%) and a 96 mph sinker (22.5%) of the time. In addition to his four seamer he also tosses a curveball and a changeup.

Despite the problems with walks and strikeouts (and a literal average groundball rate in 2024 that ranked in the 56th percentile), Génesis Cabrera has found a way to keep his ERA low. He has a career 3.89 ERA and has kept his ERA below 4.00 in three of his six major league seasons. Here’s what we are looking for from Cabrera in spring training:

• Cabrera’s strength is his velocity. How is his sinker and cutter?
• Can he keep the walks down? Any improvement in walks and control will go a long way for Cabrera.
• The players around him. A.J. Minter was a major free agent signing for the Mets, but is also recovering from hip surgery. Danny Young had an 87 ERA+ in 2024. What role do the Mets see for David Peterson?

Cabrera doesn’t have the easiest journey to a roster spot, but if he stays with the Mets after spring training, we’ll probably see him in Queens at some point – the Mets are just not that deep with left-handed pitching.

Adbert Alzolay is not a signing for this year. The former Chicago Cubs closer had Tommy John surgery in August of 2024 and almost certainly will miss all of 2025. In early January the Mets signed him to a two-year minor league deal. Alzolay gets to rehab with the Mets and the Mets get an interesting bullpen arm for the 2026 season.

Alzolay was signed by the Cubs as an amateur free agent in 2012 and made his major league debut in 2019. The Cubs were still trying to use him as a starter as recently as 2021 where he pitched in 29 games, 21 starts tossing 125 1/3 innings with a 4.58 ERA, 4.65 FIP, 1.162 WHIP and a 92 ERA+. He then missed most of 2022 with a shoulder and lat injury.

Alzolay had a breakout 2023. Over 64 innings, spread over 58 games, he had a 2.67 ERA, 3.02 FIP, 1.016 WHIP and a 160 ERA+. The Cubs moved him to the back of the bullpen and he seized the opportunity saving 22 games. Alzolay’s Baseball Savant page was filled with red. His fastball, averaging at 95.3 mph, was in the 73rd percentile, xERA at 3.61 was in the 74th percentile. His 5.1 BB% was in the 92nd percentile. Hitters were barreling him only 6% of the time (81st percentile). Just a phenomenal season. Pitch tracking credited him for throwing six different pitches in 2023:

• Slider (avg 87.5 mph) 45.1%
• Four Seamer (avg 95.3 mph) 20.7%
• Sinker (avg 95.3 mph) 19.3%
• Cutter (avg 91.1 mph) 10%
• Sweeper (avg 82.6 mph) 4.4%
• Changeup (avg 87.8 mph) 0.5%

Things were not going well for Alzolay in 2024 before his injury. Over 17 1/3 innings, eh had allowed 13 runs, nine earned, from 19 hits and six walks. It’s a small sample size, but he had a 1.442 WHIP, ballooned from his career mark of 1.157. His FIP was also sky high at 7.38 (career 4.30).

Rehab schedules from Tommy John surgery have become highly regimented over the last few years. Plenty of players have bounced back from the surgery well. That being said, it’s always a mystery as to what a player looks like after the surgery. Maybe we will see him in some rehab games in late 2025. Next year we’ll look to see what the Mets do with his arsenal. We have seen the Mets take pitchers with large arsenals over the last year and highlight their most successful pitches to remake their profile on the field. We wish Alzolay a speedy recovery and we’re looking forward to his 2026 season!

Ty Adcock should sound familiar because the Mets actually acquired him during the 2024 season. Adcock was claimed off waivers from the Tigers in May and then released by the Mets at the trade deadline. The Mets then resigned him a few weeks later. Adcock was drafted by the Mariners in 2019, missed the 2020 season due to the pandemic. He then had Tommy John in April 2021. Not the most consistent start to his professional baseball career.

Adcock got a cup of coffee with the major league team in 2024 allowing seven runs over 4 1/3 innings spread over three games. He had a slightly longer stint in 2023 pitching 15 2/3 innings over 12 games with a 3.45 ERA, 5.17 FIP, 0.702 WHIP and a 117 ERA+. Adcock was more successful last season with the Syracuse squad, posting a 3.93 ERA over 18 1/3 innings spread over 17 games.

When the Mets lost Edwin Díaz in 2023, they lost a lot of the flamethrowing capability in the bullpen. One common feature of may pitchers the Mets are bringing in on NRI deals – their ability to sling it. Ty Adcock has a mid-to-high fastball (96.6 average in 2024 and 2023) with a mid-to-high 80’s slider and low-90’s cutter. While the fastball has some zip on it, teams are jumping all over it. He gave up three homers off of 33 fastballs in 2024 and gave up four homers off 116 fastballs in 2023. Overall he has given up eight homers over 20 major league innings.

According to The Athletic, Ty Adcock has started to add a split-change to his arsenal. It’s clear that that Adcock needs something to generate misses at the plate. Across all levels last year Adcock had a 11.6 H/9 over 28 2/3 innings. In 2023 he had a career best 3.9 H/9.

Here’s what to watch for for Ty Adcock:

• How does the split-change look? How often is he using it? In 2024 he tossed the fastball 38.4%, slider 33.7% and cutter 27.9%. In 2023 he only tossed a slider and a four seamer.
• Can Adcock keep the ball in the park? This was absolutely his kryptonite at the major league level in 2024 that wasn’t see in the minors last year.

The Mets finally won the hypothetical R.A. Dickey deal this off-season when they signed Anthony Gose to a minor league contract with a non-roster invitation to spring training.

Back in 2012 the Mets trade R.A. Dickey to the Blue Jays for a package built around Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud. There was a time when Anthony Gose, then an outfield prospect, was rumored to be in the package. Gose has gone through a lot since those days.

It’s important to remember how highly touted Gose was as an outfield prospect over a decade ago. The Phillies first traded him to the Astros (with J.A. Happ and Jonathan Villar) for Roy Oswalt in the 2010 trade deadline. The Astros then immediately traded him to the Blue Jays for Brett Wallace.

Gose would make his Major League debut in 2012, playing 56 games for the Blue Jays hitting .223/.303/.319 with a 71 OPS+. He would then play portions of five seasons from 2012 to 2016 with the Jays and the Tigers. His best offensive year was 2015 where he played in 140 games hitting .254/.321/.367 (90 OPS+). After his 2016 season he made the switch from outfield to pitcher.

In 2021 Gose made his major debut as a pitcher, at age 30, with the Guardians for 6 2/3 innings over six games. The following year he got into 22 games over 21 innings with the Guardians with a 4.71 ERA, 5.06 FIP, 1.381 WHIP and an 81 ERA+. Later in 2022 he would have Tommy John surgery, which knocked him out for all of 2023. Gose saw three innings in the majors last year allowing five runs over 4 1/3 innings. He had a solid season in AAA ball, posting a 3.22 ERA, 1.366 WHIP over 44 2/3 innings.

According to Baseball Savant, Gose only tossed two different pitches in his three major league innings in 2024. He had a mid-90’s four seamer and an upper 80’s slider. In 2022 he tossed exactly one changeup (88 mph).

The Mets are hoping to get a version of the 2022 Anthony Gose. His skills may not have translated on the mound, but there were some interesting under-the-hood things happening. His fastball then was at 97 mph, good for the 92nd percentile. He didn’t pitch enough to fully get into the 2022 Baseball Savant percentile rankings, but his Whiff% (33.5) and strikeout rate (30.4) would have been around 90th percentile. On the other hand, his xERA (5.04) would have been near the bottom the league and he was getting rocked with a 92.9 average exit velocity.

Last year the Mets showed that they would switch things up in the bullpen when things weren’t working and cycled frequently through pitchers. Anthony Gose represents a low-risk, high-reward signing. Unless he absolutely dominates in Spring, or something goes horribly wrong with the Mets, he’s starting the year in the minors. If he accepts a minor league assignment, we will see him at some point this year with the Major League club. Can Anthony Gose seize opportunity when it’s his time? Can the Mets pitching lab unlock the potential from his raw skills and turn it into on-field results?

Here’s what to look for this spring with Gose:

• Velocity – is he touching the upper 90’s again?
• Missing bats – is he producing whiff’s?
• Effectiveness – when players make contact, can fielders actually field it? Are the balls so hard hit that bases are getting too busy?
• Frequency of outings – Is Gose still getting outings with the main team by mid-March? Do his results demand a roster spot battle?

The Mets will try to force a game seven tonight as they play their second elimination game in a row against the Dodgers. The Mets offense jumped out early against the Dodgers on Friday afternoon thanks to a three-run home run from Pete Alonso. Even though the Mets led by large margins throughout the game, the Dodgers kept pushing back, seemingly always one big swing away from being right back in the game. This has been a series defined by momentum. Can the Mets jump out early tonight and put the pressure on the Dodgers?

Sean Manaea gets the start for the Mets in this critical game seven. Over 32 starts in the regular season he has pitched 181 2/3 innings with a 3.47 ERA, 3.83 FIP, 1.084 WHIP and a 114 ERA+. In three postseason starts he has allowed six runs, five earned, over 17 innings (2.65 ERA, 4.11 FIP). This includes a start against the Dodgers in game two of this series where he allowed three runs, two earned, over five innings including a homer while striking out seven. The Dodgers have the following career numbers against Manaea:

• Austin Barnes 2-7, BB, K
• Mookie Betts 10-34, 2 2B 2 3B, 3 HR, 3 BB, 4 K
• Tommy Edman 2-3, HR
• Freddie Freeman 5-20, HR, BB, 4 K
• Enrique Kiké Hernández 1-12, BB, 2 K
• Teoscar Hernández 3-16, HR, 2 BB, 4 K
• Kevin Kiermaier 1-7, 4 K
• Max Muncy 2-8, 2 HR, BB, 2 K
• Shohei Ohtani 2-10, 2 BB, 4 K
• Andy Pages 1-4, 2B, 3 K
• Will Smith 9-20, 2B, BB, 2 K
• Chris Taylor 4-17, 2B, HR, 3 BB, 7 K

The Dodgers are rolling with a bullpen game for the second time in this series, and they are starting with a high leverage reliever. Michael Kopech was a major tradeline acquisition for the Dodgers from the White Sox. Overall this season he pitched 67 2/3 innings with a 3.46 ERA, 4.02 FIP, 1.153 WHIP and a 117 ERA+. He was significantly better has a Dodger, putting up a 1.13 ERA, 2.54 FIP, 0.792 WHIP and a 348 ERA+ over 24 innings. He’s pitched 4 1/3 innings over five games this post season, allowing a hit, two walks and nothing else while striking out six. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:

• Pete Alonso 0-3
• Francisco Alvarez 0-2, K
• Jose Iglesias 0-1
• Francisco Lindor 0-2, 2 BB, K
• Starling Marte 0-2
• J.D. Martinez 0-3
• Jeff McNeil 0-1, BB
• Brandon Nimmo 0-3, BB, 2 K
• Tyrone Taylor 0-1
• Mark Vientos 0-1
• Jesse Winker 0-2, 3 BB

Three Things To Watch For:

1. The Mets Big Bats. Today is about tone setting. On Friday the Mets were joking before the game, confident and they played that way. Francisco Lindor went 2-for-4 at the plate with a walk, a triple and two runs scored. Alonso went 2-for-3 at the plate with a walk, four runs scored and a massive three-run home run. When the best hitters do well, the team does well!
2. The rest of the Mets lineup. The Mets success on Friday wasn’t just from their top hitters, they had a lot of support down the lineup. Starling Marte was just fantastic going 4-for-5 on the day with three RBI’s and three doubles. In 50 PA’s for the Mets this postseason he is slashing .310/.380/.405. Jesse Winker is coming off of a 2-for-3 day with three runs scored. Francisco Alvarez started hitting again and is coming off of a 3-for-4 day. The Mets had the momentum on Friday, and got to hold onto that on the long flight to LA.
3. Limiting walks. The weakness for the Mets this series has been walks. They walked five Dodgers on Friday which is the least amount of any game this series. In the first four games of the series the Mets walked a combined 31 Dodgers. It’s just too much! No free passes today!

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets play an elimination game this afternoon in Queens. It has been a couple of weeks since the Mets have played an elimination game where they were the team that could be eliminated, but the end of September through the wild card series was filled with metaphorical elimination days.

When this team has been pushed all the way to the brink, they have pushed back. Do they have a little more magic for one more game?

David Peterson gets the start this afternoon! Over 21 games in the regular season he pitched 121 innings with a 2.90 ERA, 3.67 FIP, 1.289 WHIP and a 136 ERA+. He ended the regular season with an amazing seven inning out against the Brewers holding them to only one run. Peterson allowed no runs and four hits in his first three relief appearances this post season over 6 1/3 innings. Peterson’s first start of the season was against the Dodgers where he allowed three runs, two earned, scattering seven hits over five innings. In his one relief outing against the Dodgers this series he allowed three runs, two earned, over 2 1/3 innings. The Dodgers have the following career numbers against Peterson:

• Austin Barnes 0-1, BB, K
• Mookie Betts 2-9, 2B, K
• Tommy Edman 1-1
• Freddie Freeman 6-19, 2 HR, BB, 7 K
• Enrique Kiké Hernández 4-7, 2B, 2 K
• Teoscar Hernández 2-5, HR
• Gavin Lux 0-2, BB
• Max Muncy 2-5, HR, K
• Shohei Ohtani 3-8, K
• Andy Pages 1-2
• Will Smith 2-3, 2B, HR, BB
• Chris Taylor 0-5, 3 K

The Mets bats will look to exorcise their demons this afternoon against Jack Flaherty. Flaherty had a fantastic start against the Mets in game one, holding them to two hits and two walks and nothing else over seven innings. In his postseason start before that against the Padres he allowed four runs over 5 1/3 innings. In his four starts between 9/14 and 10/6 he allowed 14 runs over 19 1/3 innings. The Mets have the following career numbers against Jack Flaherty:

• Pete Alonso 2-5, 2B, BB, 2 K
• Francisco Alvarez 0-2, K
• Jose Iglesias 1-7, K
• Francisco Lindor 0-6, 2 BB, 2 K
• Starling Marte 4-25, HR, BB, 8 K
• J.D. Martinez 1-2, K
• Jeff McNeil 1-3, K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-3
• Tyrone Taylor 0-6, 2 K
• Mark Vientos 0-3, 2 K
• Jesse Winker 9-24, 3 2B, 2 HR, 3 BB, 3 K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. How do the Mets come out of the gate? The last series in September against the Brewers the Mets came out tight and took some of the worst at bats we saw this season. Quick at bats, trying to do too much and the Brewers just ran all over the Mets. At the end of the series the Mets came out like themselves, loose, fun, etc and smashed the Brewers. Then they did the same thing against the Braves. They have every reason to come out tight this afternoon, against a pitcher that shut them down earlier in the week. How the Mets come out in the first inning will tell us a lot about how the afternoon goes.
2. No free passes! The Mets allowed 22 walks over the first three games of the series (7, 8 and then 7). The key for Thursday’s game was to limit the walks! Instead the Mets walked nine Dodgers. It’s difficult to win when you walk opposing hitters so often. The Mets need to keep the base paths clear to give themselves a chance.
3. Mets big hitters need to come through. The Mets scored only two runs on Thursday from 10 hits. Several times throughout the game the Mets would get a rally going only to do nothing with it. At the end of the night they were 0-for-10 with RISP stranding 12 batters. Mark Vientos provided a huge solo shot at the start of the game. Today the Mets need someone to step up in a big moment to score some runs.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets look to bounce back tonight and even the series at two games a piece as they take on the Dodgers in game four of the NLCS. Wednesday night was a tough night of the Mets just got tougher as the night went on. The Dodgers scored early off of a couple of walks and soft hits. Then the Mets squandered a bases loaded with one out situation. Things more or less stayed the same (Mets pitchers working out of jams, Mets hitters leaving runners on base) through the sixth inning when the Dodgers started to blow the game open on hard hits and home runs.

The Mets lost game one 9-0 and then responded back immediately the next day. They have been a resilient team all season. The Mets are going to need another moment of resilience tonight!

Jose Quintana pitched 170 1/3 innings over the regular season with a 3.75 ERA, 4.56 FIP, 1.250 WHIP and a 105 ERA+. He’s allowed one unearned run, no earned runs over 11 innings across two games in the postseason striking out 11. Quintana had a solid start against the Dodgers at the end of May, allowing three runs over six innings scattering eight hits and no walks. The Dodgers have the following career numbers against him:

• Austin Barnes 2-12, 4 BB, K
• Mookie Betts 8-28, 2 2B, HR, 2 BB, 6 K
• Tommy Edman 2-8, 3B, K
• Freddie Freeman 5-16, 2B, HR, 3 BB, 3 K
• Enrique Kiké Hernández 4-16, 2B, HR, BB, 3 K
• Teoscar Hernández 0-3, K
• Kevin Kiermaier 7-16, 2 2B, 2 K
• Gavin Lux 2-7, 2B, K
• Max Muncy 2-9, HR, 4 BB, 4 K
• Andy Pages 2-3, 2B
• Will Smith 2-9, HR, 2 K
• Chris Taylor 8-24, 3 2B, 2 BB, 8 K

The Mets made a huge push this offseason to sigh Yoshinobu Yamamoto who ultimately signed with the Dodgers. He was supposed to be the ace to Kodai Senga in the rotation. A lot of the Mets roster as constructed in April was a result of Yamamoto’s decision. Now he starts against the Mets in the NLCS.

Over 18 starts in the regular season Yamamoto pitched 90 innings with a 3.00 ERA, 2.61 FIP, 1.111 WHIP and a 129 ERA+. He’s had two very different outings in the postseason. In game one of the NLDS he allowed five runs over three innings. In his second start he allowed two hits and no runs. Yamamoto started against the Mets this season back in April allowing four runs, three earned over six innings. He had a 4.50 season ERA at that point and then pitched with a 2.51 ERA the rest of the way. The Mets have the following career numbers against Yamamoto:

• Pete Alonso 1-3, K
• Francisco Alvarez 0-1
• Harrison Bader 3-3, 2B
• Francisco Lindor 0-3, K
• Starling Marte 1-3, 2B, K
• Jeff McNeil 0-3, K
• Brandon Nimmo 0-2, BB, 2 K
• Jesse Winker 0-3, K

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Walks. The Mets have been walking way too many batters throughout the NLCS. They walked seven batters in the first game, eight in the next followed by seven on Wednesday night. There are a lot of dangerous hitters in the Dodgers lineup and they could be working around some hitters, but the problem is you create opportunities for other players to get a massive hit.
2. Leaving runners on. The Mets left eight batters on base Wednesday night including the bases loaded in the second inning right after the Dodgers scored two runs. Part of the problem was strikeouts. The Mets recorded 13 strikeouts including five batters with multiple strikeouts. We’ve seen the Mets lineup go cold and then get hot again. It’s happened in this series! Look for the Mets to try flip the narrative tonight.
3. Lineup and pinch hitting decisions for Mendoza. Mendoza has a slew of decisions to weigh tonight, no matter who is in the lineup. J.D. Martinez got a start on Wednesday night and went 0-for-2 with two walks and two strikeouts while Jesse Winker was on the bench. Brandon Nimmo is clearly in pain playing baseball right now (1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout). Francisco Alvarez went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and the Mets have a day game tomorrow. Which buttons does Mendoza push tonight and when?

Let’s Go Mets!