213 Miles From Shea

Sunday was Starling Marte’s Mets Spring debut. Today another former Athletic makes his Mets debut – Chris Bassitt!

The Mets are coming off of an exciting win on Sunday where both Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer pitched. Jacob starting things off tossing 52 pitches over 3.0 innings, allowing one run, scattering 4 hits and no walks while striking out 5. Scherzer pitched 6.0 innings and threw 90 pitches! He allowed 2 runs off 3 hits and a walk while striking out 7. Can you imagine if the Mets had a double header and the two pitchers were deGrom and Scherzer?

The Mets bats couldn’t let the pitching take all the shine. The Mets had 12 hits on the day leading to 7 runs including two homers, one from each side of the plate, from Francisco Lindor. Lindor finished the day with 3 hits, raising his Spring OPS to 1.444. Tomas Nido and Pete Alonso each turned in two hit days at the plate while Marte doubled in his Mets debut.

Mets Lineup:

1. Brandon Nimmo CF
2. Starling Marte RF
3. Francisco Lindor SS
4. Pete Alonso 1B
5. Jeff McNeil 2B
6. J.D. Davis DH
7. Dominic Smith LF
8. James McCann C
9. Luis Guillorme 3B

Starting Pitcher: Chris Bassitt

What We’re Watching For Tonight:

Chris Bassitt makes his Mets debut! Bassitt was the big final piece to the Mets roster after the lockout. Last season he pitched 27 games and 157.1 innings for Oakland posting a 3.15 ERA, 3.34 FIP, 1.055 WHIP and a 130 ERA+. Over his 7 seasons he has pitched 555.2 innings with a 3.47 ERA, 3.86 FIP, 1.213 WHIP and 119 ERA+. To put his ERA+ in perspective, Stroman had a 133 ERA+ last season. Walker, Megill and Peterson were all below 100 and Rich Hill clocked in at 105.

The Mets made a slew of cuts over the last couple of days, sending a lot of players on Non-Roster Invitations back to minor league camp. So we have an away trip lineup filled with a ton of regulars today. The end result is a lineup that looks a lot like a regular season lineup for the Mets. Starling Marte is back in the lineup after his first game on Sunday and James McCann is finally cleared to play again today.

Let’s Go Mets

The Mets invited a total of four non-roster invitee catchers to major league camp this year. Francisco Alvarez is the star prospect in the group. The three other catchers are all competing for positioning on the all important depth chart.

Nick Dini is the local catcher. Born in Monroe, NJ, Dini went to Wagner College in Staten Island. He was drafted by the Royals in 2015 in round 14 and made his major league debut at age 25 in the year 2019. That year he went .196/.270/.357 over 64 PA’s in 20 games. Last year he played for Omaha and hit .303/.357/.494 over 26 games and 98 PA’s.

Nick Dini’s calling card in the minors has been his offense. He has a .921 OPS in Omaha in his career! That clearly didn’t translate to the majors when he had an opportunity in 2019. But that was a couple of years ago. The Mets are hoping that if they need to call on him this year, he can show that promise that he has shown in AAA ball, especially as the Mets wait for Francisco Alvarez to be ready.

We have seen plenty of deGrom vs Scherzer matchups in our lifetime – today is the first time we see a deGrom and Scherzer pitch on the same day, for the same team! Mets fans have been anticipating this game since it was announced earlier in the week that deGrom and Scherzer’s next spring outing would fall on the same day.

The Mets head into deGrom/Scherzer day coming off of a win against the Nationals. Spring Training results generally don’t matter, but sometimes when the results start looking extreme, they can tell a story. We knew things was going to be rough for Washington this year and they already are 1-7 over their first 8 games this year.

Anyway, the Mets offense had 9 hits on the day including two hit performances by Brandon Nimmo (raising his spring OPS to .368) and Jeff McNeil (Spring OPS .885). Eduardo Escobar continued his strong spring hitting his first homer, and some how lowered his batting average to an absurd .556. Dominic Smith hit a double and maintained his 1.286 OPS. All around good day with the bats.

Taijuan Walker made his spring debut and he looked good, holding the Nationals to one hit over 2.0 innings. Peterson came in behind him and allowed 2 runs from 2 hits over 3.2 innings (but still struck out 5). The rest of the bullpen (Nogosek, Shreve, Reid-Foley) combined for 3.1 innings, allowing 1 hit and striking out 3.

What We are Watching For Today:

The pitching. The only thing that matters today is the pitching.

Jacob deGrom pitched 2.0 innings in his first spring training game of the year and allowed 1 hit while striking out 5 batters. It was the first time we saw deGrom since his season ending surgery last year. He looked like himself, with his easy flowing fastball and he even mixed in a rare-for-him curveball as a first pitch to a batter. He looks like he’s having fun out there.

Max Scherzer had a dominating first spring training game as a New York Met. He allowed one run off three hits over 5.0 innings while striking out 5 batters. He needed only 72 pitches to get through the five innings. I know spring is skewed more than normal this year due to the lockout and the late start, but it’s remarkable when a pitcher goes 5.0 innings in the middle of March, it’s remarkable when their first start of the spring is 5.0 innings. Only taking 72 pitches to get through 5.0 innings is impressive. Great first impressions made by Scherzer.

At the time of writing this (before 8 AM), it has not been announced yet if another major Mets debut will happen today. At the end of yesterday’s game, Buck Showalter mentioned that Starling Marte would either play today, making his Mets debut, or he will take live batting practice. Obviously we have enough to be excited about today with deGrom and Scherzer and a Marte debut on top of it all will make this a beautiful Sunday Fun Day.

Let’s Go Mets!

The top of the Mets farm system right now is position player heavy and today is our first Non-Roster Invitee preview this season featuring a key member of this crew: Francisco Alvarez.

Francisco Alvarez, who played in the 2021 Future’s Game, is currently Baseball America’s #13 prospect, MLB.com’s #10 prospect and Baseball Prospectus’ #10 prospect. Expectations are high and Mets fans are ready for Alvarez to arrive in Queens. He was the #9 prospect in the 2018 International Free Agent class when the Mets signed him at just 16-years old. For Alvarez it has always been the potential of his raw power that has drawn attention.

All it takes is a quick look at his stats from last year to understand why. He started off the season in St. Lucie, at 19-years old, 2.4 years younger than the average player in the league. Over 15 games and 67 PA’s he hit .417/.567/.646. He was then sent to Brooklyn where he was 3.9 years younger than the average player in the league and hit .247/.351/.538 over 84 games and 333 PA’s. Overall, he has played 141 games in the minor leagues with 582 PA’s and hit 31 homers (.539 career minor league slugging percentage).

Back in the 2019 Prospects Handbook, Baseball America was already noting Francisco’s ability to hit for above-average power, citing his short, explosive swing. They also talked about how his barrel control and bat path projects him to have a solid batting average in the future.

Right now Alvarez leads the pack in exciting position players traveling upwards in the Farm System. We’ve already seen him homer in Spring Training this year and we are looking forward to his eventual Queens arrival (which is not expected next this year, but soon)

The Mets return to the land of daytime baseball at 1:10 today against the Nationals.

Yesterday they took a 2-1 loss against the Astros, moving their meaningless spring training record to 3-3 on the season. Tylor Megill allowed 2 runs, both unearned, over 3.2 innings from 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4. Ottavino, May, Zastryzny and Claudio all pitched scoreless innings behind him. Zastryzny (today is his birthday, happy birthday!) and Claudio are both lefty, non-roster pitchers in Mets camp this spring.

As you could probably imagine with a score of 2-1, there wasn’t much offense to write about for the Mets as they scattered 7 hits across the night. Travis Jankowski did have a 2-hit night as he tries to break the outfield depth chart and Daniel Palka added his 3rd spring training RBI.

Mets Lineup:

1. Brandon Nimmo CF
2. Mark Canha LF
3. Jeff McNeil RF
4. Pete Alonso 1B
5. Robinson Cano 2B
6. Eduardo Escobar 3B
7. Dominic Smith DH
8. Luis Guillorme SS
9. Nick Dini C

Starting Pitcher: Taijuan Walker

What We Are Watching For:

Taijuan Walker finally returns to the mound! Walker had a January procedure done on his knee and he makes an important step forward today to get ready for the start of the season. Walker had two very different halves to his All-Star season last year. In his first 17 games and 94.2 innings, Walker put up a 2.66 ERA and a 1.056 WHIP. In his next 13 games and 64.1 innings, he had a 7.13 ERA and a 1.368 WHIP. Today though we just want to make sure that Walker is ok and feels good after he pitches.

The Mets will get an extended look today at Nick Dini, who signed a minor league contract with a non-roster invite to major league camp back at the end of November. Dini, from the great state of New Jersey was drafted in the 14th round back in 2015 out of Wagner College in Staten Island. He made his major league debut with the Royals during the 2019 season and hit .196/.270/.357 over 64 plate appearances. In Omaha last season, he hit .303/.357/.495 over 98 plate appearances. He is one of four catchers not on the 40-man roster the Mets invited to Spring Training this year.

Let’s Go Mets!

Today we preview the last pitcher (in alphabetical order) the Mets invited to Major League camp this year – Rob Zastryzny!

If you are reading this article on it’s original publication day, March 26th, it’s also Rob’s Birthday! Happy Birthday!

Zastryzny was drafted in the 2nd round back in 2013 by the Chicago Cubs. The lefty from Canada went the University of Missouri and went to High School in Corpus Christi. He made his major league debut in 2016 with the Cubs and was in a total of 18 games between 2016 and 2018. During that time he pitched 34.2 innings with a 4.41 ERA, 3.76 FIP, 1.529 WHIP and a 99 ERA+. In 2019 he was in the Dodgers system, 2020 with the Orioles, and 2021 with the Marlins. With the AAA Jacksonville club last year he posted a 3.68 ERA and 1.500 WHIP over 29.1 innings. Now he’s here!

According to Baseball Savant, he has a mid 70’s curveball, low 80’s cutter and high 80’s 4-seamer.

He’s been impressive in Mets camp so far, tossing 3.0 perfect innings while striking out 5 batters. Being a lefty is an advantage in the Mets system – the Mets desperately need a lefty specialist. He has some tough competition as several other lefties on NRI’s have also done well. However, as we learned last year, you can never have too many pitchers in camp and in your system ready to go.

Here’s hoping Rob continues to have an amazing Spring! Let’s go Mets!

The Mets continue their streak of 6 PM starts! After two consecutive night starts, the Mets head on the road to Astros camp for another night game!

The Mets are coming off of a fun win last night against the Marlins, where the Mets bats exploded for 9 runs. Mark Cahna and Francisco Lindor got the festival started hitting back to back homers in the first inning. J.D. Davis added in a bases clearing double, Eduardo Escobar went 3-3 at the plate and top prospect Fracisco Alvarez hit his first homer in Spring.

Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar were the two batters we featured yesterday in our “What We’re Watching For” segment at the end of this article. You can thank us later.

The game also featured a clean inning of work from Edwin Diaz who struck out two batters and a 1-hit/no runs inning from Miguel Castro. Several players who are trying break onto the roster had a strong night too including Eric Orze, Chasen Shreve and Colin Holderman.

Mets Lineup:

1. Luis Guillorme 2B
2. Francisco Lindor SS
3. Dominic Smith 1B
4. Pete Alonso DH
5. Daniel Palka RF
6. J.D. Davis 3B
7. Travis Jankowski CF
8. Tomas Nido C
9. Carlos Cortes LF

Starting Pitcher: Tylor Megill

What We are Watching For:

Tylor Megill returns to the mound tonight. Megill had a strong start to Spring Training, logging 3.0 scoreless innings in relief. He allowed 2 hits and 3 walks while striking out three batters. There were stretches last season where the Mets rotation was being held together by Megill, now he’s scheduled to start the season in Syracuse.

As expected there are not a ton of regulars making the trip today. Francisco Lindor will look to keep last night’s hot start going tonight in the two-hole. This is also an opportunity today to see Dominic Smith play defense at first, with Alonso sliding into the DH. Finally, the Mets outfield options are starting to dwindle a bit, so there’s a good chance we’ll get an extended look today Travis Jankowski. So far in Spring he has seen time in three games with five trips to the plate. he’s drawn a walk but has done nothing else.

Let’s Go Mets!

Josh Walker is that “technically correct” answer for which pitcher started the Mets 2022 season as he started the first game of Spring Training this year! In two games and 4.0 innings so far, he’s allowed 2 runs, 1 earned, from 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4.

The Mets drafted Josh Walker in the 37th round back in 2017 out of the University of New Haven. The 27-year old lefty is trying to break onto a roster this season after playing at three different levels last year. Walker pitched a three different levels last year for the Mets (like fellow Non-Roster Invitee Eric Orze). Walker posted a 2.57 ERA over 21.0 innings in Brooklyn, 3.45 ERA over 44.1 innings in Binghamton and a 5.54 ERA over 50.1 innings in Syracuse. He was one year younger than the average player in AAA ball when he pitched in Syracuse last year. His time in the minors has been full of interruptions beyond his control. He had a nerve injury in 2019 from a car accident and there was no minor league action in 2020.

The MLB Prospects Page notes that he has a low 90’s fastball, upper 70’s curveball and a change-up. He is more of a control pitcher than an over powering speed pitcher.

There are a couple of questions the Mets should have about Walker going into this Spring. First, he’s been primarily used as a starter. Should that continue? (This is a good time to note he was primarily a reliever at the University of New Haven) The Mets immediate need is a lefty reliever. Second, Syracuse’s rotation is stacked and now four members of their projected rotation were starters for the Mets last year (Peterson, Megill, Yamamoto, Williams). That being said, we saw how quickly last year things can fall apart and you could be scrambling for a pitcher who is stretched out to the start. The second question is attached to the first – where should Walker pitch this year? If he’s a starter, he would get more innings initially in Binghamton. Age wise he should be in Syracuse.

There’s still a few weeks in Spring! We are excited to see what Walker brings the rest of the way!

The Mets are going to try to get a game in tonight even though the weather looks a little suspect in St. Lucie. The Mets are playing their second consecutive night spring training game, which is awesome, this time against the Miami Marlins.

Last time the Mets played, on Tuesday, they ended their two game losing streak with a 2-0 win against the Houston Astros. The star of the game was Jacob deGrom, who looked dominant in his 2.0 innings of work returning the mound. He even mixed in a rare curveball.

Mets Lineup:

1. Brandon Nimmo CF
2. Mark Canha RF
3. Francisco Lindor SS
4. Pete Alonso 1B
5. Eduardo Escobar DH
6. Jeff McNeil 2B
7. J.D. Davis 3B
8. Dominic Smith LF
9. Hayden Senger C

Starting Pitcher: Sean Reid-Foley

What We Are Watching For:

Sean Reid-Foley, who has one of the best pre-pitch stances in baseball gets the start tonight for the Mets. Born in Guam and drafted by the Blue Jays in 2014, Reid-Foley made his way over to the Mets as part of the Steven Matz trade. He was a critical part of the Mets last year, stepping into games when the Mets needed a long-man or a spot starter. So far this spring he has pitched one inning, allowing one run on two hits. He also struck out the side.

Mark Canha and Eduardo Escobar are major additions to the Mets. Last year Canha hit .231/.358/.387, and that was a dip for his OBP. Baseball Reference has his projections at .241/.358/.410, a slight bump from last season. Eduardo Escobar hit .253/.314/.472. Baseball reference has him projected at .246/.306/.446. That’s a bit of decline but not much.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets are hopping to find their left handed specialist this season through a series of non-roster invitations to big league camp. Right before the start of Spring Training, the Mets announced they signed Chasen Shreve to a minor league deal with an invite to big league camp. His name should sound familiar as Chasen pitched in 17 games for the 2020 Mets.

Chasen was drafted in the 11th round back in 2010 by the Atlanta Braves. He made his debut in 2014 and was stellar, allowing only one run over 15 games and 12.1 innings. He was then traded to the Yankees where he was solid and was later traded to the Cardinals. After that he signed a one year deal with the Mets and then a one year deal with the Pirates:

2020: 17 G, 25.0 IP, 3.96 ERA, 3.99 FIP, 1.160 WHIP, 109 ERA+
2021: 57 G, 56.1 IP, 3.20 ERA, 4.73 FIP, 1.260 WHIP, 132 ERA+

According to Baseball Savant, Chasen has three pitches: a slider in the low 80’s, a 4-seamer in the low 90’s and a splitter in the low 80’s. He was ranked last year in the 94th percentile for hardhit% a drastic change from when he was with the Mets and was in the 25th percentile. His average exit velocity also took a gigantic change. When he was with the Mets he was in the 10th percentile now he is in the 68th.

Chasen had a great year last year and the Mets are looking for a lefty. He’s going to get a long look this spring to see if he’s a fit!