Mets Spring training keeps chugging along! The Mets dropped yesterday’s game against the Nationals and are now 5-9-2. There is only about 2.5 weeks left of games for the Mets to make some crucial decision about the back of their rotation.
Recap of Yesterday:
Yesterday the Mets saw the long awaited debut of Dellin Betances and it wasn’t so great – Dellin only recorded one out and allowed a hit and two walks and would be credited with allowing 3 runs, 2 earned to score.
The real position battle all Spring has been the last two starter spots and Matz reminded baseball pundits yesterday why he is the 4th start on the team. He dominated throughout 3.0 innings and struck out 3. Many people on MMO have been confused why Matz is in a competition for the rotation, I’m one of them. He is clearly a more optimistic option than Porcello and Wacha.
Starting Today:
Noah Syndergaard will make his third start of Spring Training today. He’s logged 5.0 innings so far allowing 3 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned while striking out 7. This is probably a good time to remember that his last start was marred by bad defensive and aggressive wind out of the stadium that kept that homer ball up. His off-speed stuff in that start looked quite good and we are looking forward to seeing more of it today.
Driving Us Batty.
No this segment isn’t about Brett Baty. Now that we are 16 games into Spring Training, it’s a good time to take a look at who has been off to a hot start and and who has been a bit cooler. A couple of regular starters have cooled of this spring, but we aren’t worried. Alonso is hitting .194/.194/.226 in 31 ABs, Conforto is hitting .214/.241/.357 in 27 AB’s and Dominic Smith is hitting .120/.185/.120 in 25 AB’s. It’s still too early to be concerned about this, plus none of them are fighting for a roster spot. Amed Rosario is off to a colder spring, with 2 hits and no walks in 21 AB’s. He’s also seen limited action to 8 games (Gimenez, for example, has been in 11).
On the other side, there are some Mets that are so hot. Maybe too hot. Nimmo is hitting .435/.500/.652 in his first 23 AB’s. McNeil, who is getting over the flu, is hitting .556/.579/.889 in 18 AB’s. A surprising hot hitter has been Patrick Mazeika who, in a small sample size of 11 AB’s, is hitting .364/.462/.909.
Let’s Go Mets!
