The Mets look to win their third game in a row tonight as they take on the Nationals again in DC.
Nationals pitchers hit Mets batters three times on Opening Day with James McCann getting plunked twice and Pete Alonso having a scary moment getting hit on the batting helmet flap. Last night Steve Cishek lost control of a pitch inside and hit Francisco Lindor in the face. Thankfully Lindor’s X-Ray’s were negative and he cleared concussion protocols. The benches did clear as Showalter made it clear he was going to defend his team no matter what the intent was.
Anyway, on to today’s game! Chris Bassitt makes his Mets debut tonight! Bassitt was acquired in a trade with the Athletics pretty much right after the lockout. He is also the third member of the Athletics to come over to the Mets this off-season, joining his teammates Starling Marte and Eduardo Escobar. Last season Bassitt pitched in 27 games and logged 157 1/3 innings with a 3.15 ERA, 3.34 FIP, 1.055 WHIP and a 130 ERA+. He did not face the Washington Nationals last season however, because of the way the Nationals reconstructed their roster this off-season, there are seven batters who have faced Bassitt previously:
- Nelson Cruz 4-11, 3 2B, 2 BB, 2 K
- Alcides Escobar 4-11, 2B, 2 BB, K
- Dee Strange-Gordon 1-5, 2B, BB
- Josh Bell 2-3, 2 HR, K
- Maikel Franco 1-3, K
- Ehire Adrianza 1-2, 2B, K
- Cesar Hernandez 0-1, K
The Mets bats tonight will face one of the Nationals pitching prospects, Joan Adon, who is ranked as the 8th overall prospect in the Nationals system by the MLB prospect website. His write up notes that he has mid-90’s fastball complemented by a low-80’s slide and high-80’s changeup. Because of everything that has been happening with the Mets getting hit by pitches, it’s notable that he struggles with control. He pitched one game in the majors last year against the Red Sox where he allowed two runs from six hits and three walks over 5 1/3 innings while striking out nine (and hitting one). Over three levels of minor league baseball last season he made 21 starts and pitched 105 innings with a 4.97 ERA and 1.276 WHIP.
One of the batters Joan will have to deal with tonight is Jeff McNeil, who is the only hitter in baseball right now with five hits. Obviously, this is an incredibly small-sample size but I just wanted to highlight it. (Mainly because I was able to draft him in round 23 of a 24 round draft in a league with 4-5 diehard Mets fans).
Lets Go Mets!
