213 Miles From Shea

In 2024 MLB started the Spring Breakout game, an exhibition for teams to showcase players with rookie eligibility for the upcoming season. The Mets prospects beat the Nationals prospects 4-2 with Nolan Mclean the pitcher of record (1 IP, H, K) and Ryan Clifford with the lone extra-base hit (1-for-1, 2B, R). The Mets beat the Nationals again last year behind Jonah Tong (2 IP, H, 2 BB, 3 K), Ryan Clifford (1-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, 2 K), Kevin Parada (2-for-3, R, K) and Carson Benge (1-for-2, 2B, BB).

Seeing the game in it’s third iteration highlights why this game is different than the Futures Game each summer before the All-Star game. Players are going to play in multiple breakout games, year over year. Ryan Clifford is going to play for the third consecutive year. There’s also a significant chance that he makes his major league debut this season. Players like Clifford have kept up their prospect hype as they continue to grow. The 2024 game was started by Dom Hamel who was one of the top prospects in the Mets system at the time, he’s now trying to find his way the Yankees. Blade Tidwell was another emerging pitcher for the Mets in that game. He just got optioned to minor league camp by the Giants this week. Taken over multiple years, the Spring Breakout games show interesting snapshots into the organization.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. The next batch of top prospect pitchers. The Mets top pitching prospects in the first spring breakout game included Dom Hamel, Blade Tidwell (and Mike Vasil/Christian Scott, who didn’t play in the game). Only Christian Scott is with the Mets now. Last year’s top group included Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat. This year we are looking at Jack Wenninger and Jonathan Santucci. Wenninger is coming off of an excellent season with Binghamton where he had a 2.92 ERA over 26 starts and 135 2/3 innings. Santucci was drafted in 2024 and is coming off of his best season in the Mets system. Over 25 games across Brooklyn and Binghamton he had a 3.06 ERA over 117 2/3 innings.
2. Elian Peña. Peña was one of the top international free agents when the Mets signed him in January 2025 to the largest signing bonus ever in the organization ($5 million). He had a notably rough start in the Dominican Summer League, going hitless in his first 26 at bats over nine games but turned it on for the rest of season hitting .292/.421/.528 by the end. The 18-year old slated to play in the States this season and has a 2030 ETA according to MLB Pipeline.
3. Spring training standouts. A.J. Ewing has seized every moment this spring to make an impression. Over 10 games he has gone 8-for-21 with three doubles, a home run and four stolen bases (.381/.423/.667). After slashing .233/.361/.390 in 2024 he rocketed up prospect charts after his .315/.401/.429 in 2025. While Ewing has become a prospect darling, being noticed by multiple national outlets, Jacob Reimer was only being lauded by Baseball Prospectus. This spring he ahs gone 4-for-16 with two doubles and four walks (.429 OBP). He’s always gotten on base at a healthy clip but last year he also started hitting for power, knocking in 32 doubles and 17 home runs.

Let’s Go Mets!

Nolan McLean starts in the WBC Final this evening for Team USA, a game that will surely be attended by Mets players. While that is by far the major story for the Mets today, the Mets still have a game this afternoon.

The Mets head south to Jupiter this afternoon to take on the Marlins. This should also put the Mets about halfway between St. Lucie and Miami for tonight’s game! This will be the fifth time the Mets face the Marlins in spring training. After today they’ll face the Marlins on the last day of spring. The two teams will get a long break of not seeing each other with their first regular season series happening in late May.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Sean Manaea. Manaea’s velocity was down again in his last start. After the game both the Mets and Manaea assured reporters that they are not concerned about the drop. In both spring starts he has averaged between 88 and 89 mph on his fastball, which is a 3-4 mph drop from his career average. This has not happened in spring training for Manaea before. Hopefully as he gets more innings under his belt this spring his velocity will at least take a step towards his 2025 numbers (91-92 mph), which were a bit lower than his career speeds too.
2. Opening Day around the horn. The Mets projected opening day defensive alignment of Polanco at first, Semien at second, Bichette at third and Lindor at short will all be on the diamond together! The Mets defensive experiment will finally get it’s first real test!
3. Luis Robert Jr. Luis has been great in his first several spring games with the Mets going 3-for-7 at the plate with a run scored. The Mets are still trying to manage his reps to help him avoid injury.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets have been working with a major league schedule in terms of game times the last few days. Since Friday the Mets have gone night game, night game, day game (Sunday) and now night game. It feels like a regular season routine! Believe it or not we have one week of spring training games left, so this routine is fitting!

Yesterday was a huge day in Mets camp with Francisco Lindor making his return to the field after being sidelined with hamate bone surgery to start the spring. Most of the Mets regular got the start with him, which means most of the regulars are getting today off.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Francisco Alvarez. While most of the regular starters got today off, Francisco Alvarez is catching on back-to-back days, a critical part of the ramp up for the major league season. On Sunday he went 1-for-2 at the plate with a double and a run scored. He has now gone 7-for-18 this spring with two doubles and a homerun, good for a .429 OBP and 1.095 OPS.
2. David Peterson. Peterson has looked so far this spring. He tossed three scoreless innings of one-hit ball against team Israel and the four innings in Grapefruit League action allowing one run. He has racked up seven strikeouts so far over seven total innings. He hasn’t had a K/9 above 8.0 in the regular season since 2023!
3. Rightfield Battle. Carson Benge has done everything he has needed to do to prove that he could break camp with the team. he has gone 11-for-30 with a triple, slashing .367/.406/.433. He’s not directly competing with Cristian Pache, but Pache has done nothing but rake this spring going 11-for-25 with two doubles and a homer (.440/.500/.640). Not on the field tonight, MJ Melendez, Brett Baty and Mike Tauchman have all nice springs too. There’s a lot of competition in this final week!

Let’s Go Mets!

Spring started off on a low point with the Mets. Francisco Lindor had a fractured hamate bone and was debating surgery. He was the first of three high profile players to be diagnosed with the same injury (Corbin Carroll and Jackson Holliday announcing their injuries the day after Lindor). Lindor quickly got the surgery the same week and the Mets remained consistently optimistic that he would be ready for Opening Day.

Personally, I wasn’t sure I believed it until late last week when Lindor played in a minor league and then took live BP. Today he takes a significant step forward, playing in his first spring training game of the season!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Francisco Lindor. During live BP this week Lindor ripped a ground-rule double. All eyes will be on Lindor. How does he look in the field? Does he have his power? How is his timing? Most importantly, how does Lindor feel after the game? The Mets unofficial captain has been tremendous since arriving to Queens. In his last four seasons he has posted 24.3 bWAR and has hit 30+ home runs in three consecutive seasons.
2. Zach Thornton. Thornton got his first spring training start earlier last week where he allowed no runs over two innings, scattering two hits and a walk while striking out three batters. He’s coming off of injury shortened season that was turning heads. Over 72 2/3 innings between Binghamton and Brooklyn he had a 1.98 ERA and 0.812 WHIP. Last week he picked up right where he left off in 2025, and hopefully that continues today.
3. Jorge Polanco. We’ll have to wait at least a day to see Lindor throwing balls across the infield to Polanco as the Mets first basement gets a day of DH duties. Polanco has been tremendous at the plate for the Mets this spring going 5-for-14 with two home runs, three walks and three runs scored (.500 OBP, 1.286 OPS).

Let’s Go Mets!

You could watch back-to-back-to-back baseball games today. At 3 PM Puerto Rico takes on Italy. At 6 PM the Mets take on the Astros. At 9 PM Venezuela will take on Japan. One of these games is not like the other!

All eyes this evening will be on Freddy Peralta as he continues to get ready for Mets Opening Day in 12 days. So far this spring he has pitched six innings over two starts allowing two runs on three hits and a walk while striking out seven batters. He went from 29 pitches in his first start to 45 on his last, so look for his work load to continue to rise as we get closer to the end of spring.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Mark Veintos. Veintos officially returns from the World Baseball Classic tonight. It was a rough spring before heading off to the WBC, going just 1-for-17 with a double and no walks. The WBC wasn’t too much better with Vientos going 2-for-15 with a walk and six strikeouts. Vientos right now fits as the Mets DH and backup first and third basemen, but is competing with Brett Baty for the utility role (+DH) and Ronny Mauricio for DH.
2. A top prospect putting on a show. Carson Benge has been every part of the top prospect we’ve expected, but there is another prospect in camp making noise. A.J. Ewing (#38 Baseball Prospectus, #83 Baseball America, #97 MLB) has been lighting up the basepaths with four stolen bases over 20 plate appearances. He’s 7-for-19 with three doubles, a home run, two walks, six RBI’s and four runs scored(1.088 OPS).
3. Mitch Voit. A first round pick for the Mets in 2025, Mitch Voit gets a spring start this afternoon! The middle infielder was a two-way player for Michigan until injury forced him to focus as a fielder and a hitter. in his first professional season, he slashed .235/.343/.294 over 99 plate appearances. He also stole 20 bases. The Mets will have a lot of speed in their lineup today!

Let’s Go Mets!

Hope you have multiple screens available if you like baseball!

The Mets finally play their first split-squad games of the season, and they are both scheduled night games. They just happen to be the same night as two WBC quarterfinal games. Just an incredibly busy, and hopefully exciting, night for baseball.

Spring training really is about the vibes. The individual results don’t matter in a vacuum but the feelings they bring, especially over multiple games, does. Yesterday Sean Manaea’s velocity was down again and this time it lead to three runs over 2 2/3 innings. The Mets and Manaea are not concerned about it but it is still feels like something to watch, something to be concerned about. It reminds us how important the health of each starting pitcher on the roster is.

The story tonight is Clay Holmes. Holmes had a tremendous outing against Great Britain in pool play, throwing three scoreless innings. An amazing 28 of his 38 pitches were strikes and he held Britain to one hit while striking out six. Team USA could not guarantee Holmes enough innings, so the Mets decided they needed to recall him to ramp him up for the season.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Clay Holmes. Holmes became a rock in the Mets rotation during his first season. He couldn’t go incredibly deep into games consistently, but he still blew through his innings in a single season record, tossing 165 2/3. For context his previous three seasons he tossed 189 2/3 innings combined. He had a 3.53 ERA, 4.11 FIP, 1.304 WHIP and a 114 ERA+. His 1.9 bWAR was a career high! When you combine spring training and the WBC, he has tossed 10 2/3 innings allowing three runs from five hits while striking out 10 batters.
2. Checking in on challenges. With two games tonight the Mets have double the chances to practice challenging calls with ABS. It has not gone well for the Mets so far this season. Overall teams have had a 52% success rate with ABS. The Mets have been successful only 27% of the time. Baseball Savant has created comparative stat for teams challenging identical calls and the Mets have -5.1 calls overturned vs expected, this is good for 26th in the league.
3. Kodai Senga: Don’t look at the results! In his last outing Senga allowed two runs, both on solo homers, over 2 2/3 innings while striking out two batters. Senga’s fastball in his last start averaged 96.7 mph, which a good bit higher than it was last season (94.7 mph) and higher than it was in 2023 (95.7 mph). Hopefully this wasn’t an aberration!

Let’s Go Mets!

What to make of a spring training winning streak? Spring records don’t matter, starters don’t play the entire game, rosters are unbalanced with the home team having more MLB regulars than the road team, stars are out right now at the World Baseball Classic.

Even with all of those caveats, it’s nice to win four games in a row. The vibes feel good when you look at a box score and the Mets are just piling up hits and runs while keeping their opponents off the scoreboard. This afternoon the Mets look to win their fifth game in a row. While the results do not matter, the individual performances do and the Mets would love for Sean Manaea to continue that this afternoon.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Sean Manaea’s velocity. Manaea made one mistake in his last start allowing a solo home run. Besides that he pitched three innings allowing one walk and striking out one batter. Notably his velocity was down about 3 mph from last year. He said he felt good after the game, and it was his first start. We’ll be watching today to see if his velocity is still down, and even if it is down, is he still effective.
2. Jorge Polanco: The last time we saw Jorge Polanco he was having a day!. Polanco went 2-for-2 on Tuesday with a home run, a walk, and two runs scored. He is now 3-for-9 this spring with a .500 OBP. Last season Polanco had a .326 OBP but had the most pop he’s shown since 2021. Hopefully he’s building momentum for a strong 2026!
3. Luis Robert Jr. makes his debut! The Mets finally traded for a centerfielder. For the better part of a year, it felt inevitable that the Mets and White Sox would figure something out. When healthy, Luis Robert Jr. can be an absolute game changer for the Mets. In 2023 he played in 145 games with a 5.3 bWAR and 130 OPS+ (.264/.315/.542). Last season he still managed to put up a 1.4 bWAR despite his 85 OPS+. He gives the Mets yet another potential 30+ SB player. We are just excited to finally see him in the lineup!

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets are on TV three days in a row?

After being starved of Mets baseball for a week, we are feasting this week!

Tonight we’ll get to see our first televised look at David Peterson this spring. Peterson had a tale of two seasons in 2025. Before the All-Star break he had a 3.06 ERA over 109 innings. After the break his ERA jumped to 6.34 over 59 2/3 innings. His WHIP jumped as well going from 1.239 to 1.609. A step towards first half of the season David Peterson would go a long way for the Mets in 2026.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. David Peterson. Peterson made his spring debut last week in an exhibition game against Israel where he looked great. He held hitters to only one hit and two walks over three shutout innings while striking out four. His stats though are in a weird liminal space because it wasn’t an official Grapefruit League game, so today is his official Grapefruit League debut and he’ll officially start collecting spring training stats today.
2. Almost an Opening Day Infield. The Mets have Polanco at first, Semien at second, Bichette at third today with Alvarez behind the plate. With the exception of Lindor or Mauricio at short, this is pretty close the Mets Opening Day infield. There are a lot of questions around the Mets experiment putting Bichette at third and Polanco at first, and today we’ll get a look at their chemistry on the diamond together.
3. Brett Baty in Right. This is the second game we’ve seen Brett Baty in right field as he continues to battle for an Opening Day spot. Baty is also have a strong spring at the plate going 4-for-10 with a double, home run and a stolen base. Baty has to develop into a super utility player to get consistent at bats this season. Slotting in him to right field is one way to make that happen!

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets play their first night game at home tonight in St. Lucie! The Mets (and their opponents) have radically increased the amount of night games played in spring training over the last two years. What used to be a rare phenomenon will happen a total of seven times this spring.

Brandon Waddell was supposed to start tonight but has been sidelined with a shoulder issue. He pitched 31 1/3 innings for the Mets in 2025 spread over 11 games with a 118 ERA+. Zach Thornton, the Mets 5th round pick in 2023, will get the start instead!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Zach Thornton. Thornton is coming off of a strong 2025 campaign where he made 14 starts totaling 72 2/3 innings between Binghamton and Brooklyn. he had a 1.98 ERA and 0.812 WHIP. His tremendous season was stopped y an oblique injury. MLB Pipeline has Thornton listed as the Mets #15 prospect with a 2027 ERA. The Mets are hoping for another healthy season of development for Thornton in 2026.
2. Still searching for his first spring hit. Ryan Clifford is still searching for his first 2026 spring training hit. Over eight eight games Clifford has gone 0-for-13 with a run off of three walks (.235 OBP) while striking out six times. It’s still way too early to panic, the Mets top prospect is coming off of a season where he had an .826 OPS over 579 plate appearances across Binghamton and Syracuse.
3. Three Potential Opening Day Right Fielders. You could make a case for Mike Tauchman, Carson Benge or Tyrone Taylor as the Mets Opening Day right fielder and all three are starting in the outfield today (there are of course other players competing for that spot as well not on the field today). All three are putting up impressive springs. Tauchman is currently 4-for-11 with three doubles, a homer and two walks (1.442 OPS). Benge has gone 7-for-20 with a stolen base and only three strikeouts. Taylor has gone 4-for-15 with a double, two home runs and six RBI’s (1.027 OPS).

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets finally return to our televisions today on WPIX and it’s a good one! The Yankees are in town for a Grapefruit League Subway Series game. Freddy Peralta will pitching in an easy to watch baseball game! The only downside is there’s too much baseball with the Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Colombia, Cuba, Great Britain and Italy all playing at the same time!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Freddy Peralta. Peralta looked good in his first spring start last week going three innings, striking out three and didn’t allow any runs or hits. We are heading into pitchers second start of spring so we’ll be watching for how many pitches they want Peralta to throw today. Before the game, Carlos Mendoza said to expect him to throw about 55 pitches. Peralta is coming off of his first 33 start season, his third 30+ start season in a row. He hit a career high in innings last year at 176 2/3.
2. Francisco Alvarez. Alvarez has gone 2-for-5 at the plate in official spring training games this year with a double and a walk. As a hitter, he is 1-for-1 in ABS challenges. As a catcher, he is 0-for-1. We’ll be watching today to see if he does any more challenges to add to his very small-sample size of challenging chances.
3. Jorge Polanco. Polanco had five chances in his first spring training game and had five put outs with zero errors. He’ll get more reps at his new position today! Polanco has had a slow start to the spring at the plate going 0-for-5 over his first two games.

Let’s Go Mets!