Quick Recap Of Yesterday:
The Mets played their first Spring Training game of the season yesterday and picked up the 2-0 loss in a 7-inning, shortened game at Marlins camp. By far the big storyline of the day was the Mets debut of Francisco Lindor who went 0-2. In general, it wasn’t a big offense day for the Mets who only found 5 hits including two from lead-off hitter Brandon Nimmo (who on his first hit, went beyond the bag and was called out).
The Mets did have success on the mound though. Harol Gonzalez had an easy inning of work to open the game and new Met, Sean Reid-Foley had an incredibly easy inning, throwing 6 pitches, 5 for strikes, recording two outs.
What We Are Looking For Today:
Today is another big day for pitchers! First up will be Marcus Stroman, who accepted a qualifying offer to come back to the Mets this year. A lot of the Mets success this year depends on Stroman’s performance as a top of the rotation pitcher. He was not originally slated to start today, and caught a lot of us off guard when he announced it on Twitter last night.
Following Stroman is Jordan Yamamoto – one of several pitchers in competition for one of the few roster battles right now – 5th starter. Yamamoto, the former Marlins prospect, was acquired by the Marlins in the Yelich trade. He was traded to the Mets a month ago. In his rookie season he posted a 4.46 ERA, 4.51 FIP, 1.144 WHIP and 96 ERA+ over 15 starts in 2019. Last year wasn’t so good.
Several Mets bullpen pitchers are scheduled to follow. Edwin Diaz headlines the group – and his stats show that he had a better 2020 than we might collectively think he did due to his 2019. He had a 1.75 ERA, 2.18 FIP, 1.247 WHIP and a 110 ERA+ last year. Not career highs, but way better than 2019. Drew Smith, Sam McWilliams and Jerry Blevins are also on the list for today. Blevins is back in came on a Non-Roster invitee and Sam McWilliams has garnered a lot of attention early on.
