213 Miles From Shea

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

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

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

Three Things To Watch For:

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

Let’s Go Mets!

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

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

Three Things To Watch For:

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

Let’s Go Mets!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

After three consecutive road games the Mets finally come to Clover Park today to take on the Astros. The 2024 spring Mets (not that any of this actually matters) have been streaky. After dropping the first game of the spring the Mets went on to win their next four. They’ve now lost their last three. The spring schedule for the Mets has been packed this season and the Mets have played everyday since games started last Saturday. Tomorrow the Mets have their first off-day of the spring. They won’t have another day with no games until March 18th.

The big story the Mets this weekend has been the youth movement on the mound. Friday we saw Blade Tidwell take the mound. He struck out four over 1 2/3 innings while allowing three runs. Yesterday Christian Scott and Mike Vasil both made their spring debuts. Scott allowed a run off of a hit and a walk and struck out one over an inning of work. Vasil allowed a hit and no runs with a strikeout in his one inning. The youth movement continues today as Dominic Hamel is scheduled to pitch!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Dominic Hamel: Hamel rounds out the group of four pitching prospects to pitch for the Mets this weekend. Out of the four, Scott, Vasil and Hamel each have a serious chance to see time in the majors at some point this season. Last season Hamel pitched exclusively in Binghamton starting 25 games (26 games total) with 124 innings tossed. He had a 3.84 ERA and 1.266 WHIP. His strikeout rate. 11.6 K/9 was a tick higher than 2022 (11.0) despite Hamel moving up a league.
2. Brandon Nimmo’s spring debut: Brandon Nimmo takes a longer ramp-up approach to spring and we finally get to see his spring debut this afternoon. Nimmo has quietly become one of the best hitters in baseball over the last few years. Since 2018 his lowest OPS+ was 111 and twice he has had an OPS+ above 145. Last year he had a career high in homers, smacking 24 of them while matching his career high for doubles (30) set the previous season. As his homer numbers went up, so did his strikeouts (146, a career high) but his walk rate didn’t diminish.
3. Adrian Houser’s second start: Houser will make his second start of spring this afternoon looking to build off the positive vibes from his first game. Earlier in the week he pitched two innings allowing a hit and nothing else while striking out one batter. We are looking to see how deep Houser goes today as he continues to build up arm strength for the regular season.

Let’s Go Mets!

If you like all of the pitching storylines this spring for the Mets, then today’s game is for you. The Mets will have Sean Manaea make his spring Mets debut this afternoon. Manaea is a key part of raising the overall floor of the Mets rotation from last season to this year. Then José Buttó will pitching in his second game this spring, looking to build on his last start as he competes with Joey Lucchesi and Tylor Megill for the final rotation spot.

Things get real interesting after Buttó’s outing as top prospects Christian Scott and Mike Vasil look to get some spring training action. Both are projected as rotation options for the Mets later in 2024. Then Jorge López and Brooks Raley both get some time to show off the Mets back of the bullpen. So many pitching stories to follow!

Tuning into today’s game may be a bit novel. The Marlins will be broadcasting the game on their official page and the Mets radio crew will be calling the game locally. Good luck to everyone trying to sync their internet streams of the game to the audio from the Mets radio broadcast!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Sean Manaea’s first start: Manaea pitched in 37 games last year making 10 starts for the Giants totaling 117 2/3 innings with a 4.44 ERA, 3.90 FIP, 1.241 WHIP and a 95 ERA+. His last four games in September were all starts where he had a 2.25 ERA, 3.21 FIP over 24 innings of work. His season was marred early by a stretch of five games, four starts, where he allowed 23 runs (17 earned) over 14 2/3 innings. After that stretch he pitched 91 2/3 innings with a 3.44 ERA. The Mets are hoping to get that version of Manaea this season.
2. Top Prospects get to pitch: Christian Scott made noise this off-season as he started showing up on top-100 prospect lists for the league. He’s coming off of a season where he had a 2.57 ERA over 19 starts (87 2/3 innings) mainly between Binghamton and Brooklyn. Mike Vasil last season had a 3.71 ERA over 10 starts in Binghamton before making 16 starts in Syracuse where he he allowed a lot more runs due to a bump in his walks. His strikeout rate between both leagues were nearly identical. Both players project to start in Syracuse this year (barring a massive surprise / turn of events). Hopefully the Marlins still have major league hitters in the lineup when they get on the mound today.
3. Alonso and Álvarez lead the offense: Alonso comes into today’s game with a 1.611 OPS from hitting 4-for-9 with three doubles and a homer this spring. Álvarez has a 1.625 OPS that is buoyed by a homer and three walks already this spring (for comparison he walked only twice last spring over 14 games).

Let’s Go Mets!

The Astros snapped the Mets winning streak yesterday beating the Mets 2-1 in West Palm beach. It was an unusual spring training game happening at night, in February, and with no television or radio coverage. It was also the first Mets spring training game of the season where the Mets did not hit a home run. The best performance of the night belonged to Tylor Megill who pitched three scoreless innings, scattering two hits, while striking out four.

Today Luis Severino will make his Mets debut. Severino signed a one-year deal with the Mets at the end of November for 13 million. The Mets are hoping they can help Severino figure it out this year and return to his stellar form from a few seasons ago.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Luis Severino: Over 19 games and 89 1/3 innings last year, Severino had a 6.65 ERA, 6.14 FIP, 1.646 WHIP and a 65 ERA+. In 2022 though, over 19 games, he tossed 102 innings with a 3.18 ERA, 3.70 FIP, 1.000 WHIP and a 124 ERA+. Today we are looking for a smooth, easy outing for Severino so he can get the confidence going early this spring.
2. Omar Narváez: Omar makes his spring debut today! He signed a one-year deal with the Mets before last season with a player option, effectively making it a two-year, 15 million dollar deal. At the start of 2023 he was set to be the starting catcher until Francisco Álvarez was ready. Omar got a nasty calf strain in early April and eventually landed on the 60-day injured list. This opened up the door last year for Francisco (and several other catchers). A healthy Omar Narváez makes the floor of the Mets roster higher than any other back-up catcher scenario
3. Trayce Thompson: Trayce is off to an incredibly hot start as he fights for the last outfield spot on the active roster. In three games so far this spring he is 4-for-7 with a double and two home runs. One of them was a grand slam (which is why he already has 6 RBI for the spring).

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets play on the road for the second time this spring as they head to West Palm Beach to take on the Astros. This will also be the Mets first night game of the spring, which generally do not occur until later in March.

This will also be the second time this week the Mets play a game where there is no television or radio coverage in the tri-state area (and for those with MLBtv, the Astros are not providing television coverage either). This is frustrating, but not that surprising. The Mets provide excellent coverage of home spring training games and that is not a standard practice throughout the league.

Anyway, the Mets look to stretch their winning streak to five games this evening. Yesterday the Mets beat the Cardinals 3-0, thanks to another great day at the plate from Pete Alonso and Trayce Thompson. Alonso hit his first homer of the year and Trayce went 2-for-2 with a double and homer. If you had Trayce as the first player in Mets camp with more than one spring homer, you’re a winner!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. José Quintana’s spring debut: Senga’s injury makes Quintana even more important this season. Quintana’s season got off to a scary start with a lesion on his ribs that required surgery. Thankfully, the lesion was benign. Quintana was exactly what the Mets needed in the rotation towards the end of the season making 13 starts with a 3.57 ERA, 3.52 FIP, 1.308 WHIP and a 118 ERA+.
2. Tylor Megill’s second outing: Megill will pitch in his second spring training game today as he continues to compete for the final spot in the rotation. In his first outing he allowed one run over two innings while striking out three batters. The first inning was rough and Tylor had to put in work, but he was able to get out of it and have a smooth second inning. He didn’t throw his “American Spork” that much, but that also makes sense. It was literally the first spring training game. We’ll “see” if he throws it more tonight (or at least hear about it in tweets from people at the ballpark).
3. Mets showing power at the plate: The Mets have hit six home runs as a team so far this spring. They’ve come from players fighting for a position on the roster (Trayce Thompson and Ji-Man Choi), to players deep on the depth chart (Hayden Senger) to starters (Pete Alonso and Francisco Álvarez). The Mets were 10th in the league in home runs last season with 215. Here’s hoping the Mets keep the homers coming tonight – even if we won’t be able to see it.

Let’s Go Mets!

About two weeks ago the Mets resigned everyone’s favorite player who dislikes sleeves – Luke Voit!

Voit was drafted by the Cardinals in 2013 and made his major league debut in 2017. He was traded at the 2018 trade deadline to the Yankees where he made a name for himself. Voit had a solid 2019 campaign hitting .263/.378/.464 (124 OPS+) where he hit 21 homers. The following season he led the league with 22 homers (2020 was shortened due to Covid) and had 157 OPS+. The Yankees traded him during spring training in 2022 to the Padres who later traded him in the massive trade for Juan Soto. Voit finished the season with the Nationals and spent time last year in the Brewers and the Mets organization.

The 2020 season saw Luke Voit at the top of a lot of percentile rankings. He was in the 96th percentile for batting run value, 92nd for xwOBA, 81st for xBA and 95th for xSLG.

In 2021 and 2022 Voit was still an average power hitter according to OPS+ (109 and 104 respectively) but things fell off in 22 games with the Brewers where he hit .221/.284/.265 (53 OPS+) with no home runs. Strikeouts have always been a concern with Voit and in 2023 he reached a new low, striking out 36.5% of the time. A switch flipped after he signed with the Mets. In Syracuse he smashed 14 home runs over 37 games hitting .264/.415/.643. At the start of August he opted out of his contract so he could find an opportunity to play on a major league roster.

He’s now back with the Mets competing for a spot on the roster. He’s going to be directly competing with Ji-man Choi for a depth spot as either a DH option or backup first basemen. This competition is probably going to run the length of camp (unless Choi or Voit get an opportunity to play on a different team).

Break up the Mets! The Mets stretched their spring training winning streak to three games yesterday with a 7-1 win over the Marlins. Overall it was a solid day in the office for the Mets. Ji-Man Choi, in camp as a non-roster invitee, went 1-for-2 at the plate with his first homer of the season. It also means the Mets have hit a home run in each spring training game so far this season.

The pitching stole the show yesterday. Adrian House had a solid outing in his Mets debut allowing a hit and nothing else while striking out one batter in two innings of work. Nate Lavender burst onto the scene in his first spring training outing on Saturday by striking out the side. He added another clean inning (with another strikeout) yesterday.

Today the attention turns to the Mets bullpen as Reed Garrett, Grant Hartwig and Josh Walker are all scheduled to appear in the game. All three players are on the Mets 40-man roster and saw time in the majors last season. All three are now competing for a bullpen spot.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Last Bullpen Spot Competition: As the Mets added more and more arms to the bullpen this off-season, several pitchers that saw time last season in the majors started to fall into the danger zone of not making the team out of camp this year. Reed Garrett, Grant Hartwig and Josh Walker are all battling for one of the last couple of spots in the bullpen. All three are scheduled to pitch today. Garrett, starting today, had a 5.82 ERA, 74 ERA+ over 17 innings last season. Hartwig had a 4.84 ERA, 88 ERA+ over 35 1/3 innings. Walker posted an 8.10 ERA, 54 ERA+ over 10 innings. The Mets signings in January and February this year makes it feel like all three players are trending downwards, strong performances today can help reverse that trend.
2. Starling Marte makes his spring debut: Last year was a disappointing year for the two-time all-star who struggled with injuries leading to only 86 games played and a .248/.301/.324 (73 OPS+) slash line. In his first season with the Mets, Marte was a critical component of the Mets lineup with a 132 OPS+. His injury down the stretch could have played a role in the Mets not overtaking the Braves for the 2022 division title. A healthy Marte is a huge boon for the 2024 Mets and we are excited to see him in the lineup today.
3. Checking in on the third base position battle. The Mets are trending right now towards Brett Baty as the everyday third basemen and Mark Vientos as the everyday DH. Both are in those positions for this afternoon’s game. So far this spring Brett has played in two games going 1-for-4 at the plate two two runs scored and a strikeout. Vientos has played in three games going 2-for-7 at the plate with one run scored and a strikeout. Extremely small sample sizes so far and we are looking for both players to have a good day at the plate.

Let’s Go Mets!