Spring Training hasn’t officially started for pitchers and catchers yet, but earlier this week there were over 60 players in camp (compared to slightly under 20 last year). At this point, the idea of official start to spring training has been thrown out the window with the idea of arriving at the reporting date as being late.
Naturally, both Ike Davis and Lucas Duda have arrived early to camp. Ike Davis has been photographed a lot with David Wright, has been working hard and probably has the inside track to the first basemen job since it was his job to start (and he may have the higher ceiling over Duda).
Lucas has been no slouch either. He has been in Michigan over the winter working on strength and conditioning with Tejada (among others). Duda has entered camp stronger, lighter and faster. As he has said, he has worked on his base running technique. Teaching base running technique is the way you can teach speed. (I never really liked that slogan, “you can’t teach speed” because you can always work on mechanics for individuals).
In other Ike Davis news, Terry is expecting to give him 80-100 at bats this spring, players usually top out around 60.
In other words, the games haven’t started yet this spring, and the official workouts haven’t started yet, but the anecdotal reporting is that both players are better than they were last year, which makes it seem like this spring will be competitive.
And hey, the Mets will have meaningful March games.
