The Mets have the opportunity to improve to .500 this afternoon against the Cardinals! The Mets are coming off of a huge game against the Marlins yesterday where they racked up 16 hits and 15 runs thanks to five homers. Mark Vientos was the big start of the day going 3-4 at the plate with two homers and five RBI. With the World Baseball Classic coming up this week, we are only going to see more of Vientos, which is great!
Today the Mets will go back to Jupiter to take on their other home team – the Cardinals. Today is also the second day in a row that a big starting pitcher free agent signing will be making his Mets debut. Yesterday Justin Verlander had a great first game allowing one run from two hits and no walks while striking out three over three innings. Today we finally get to see Kodai Senga and his ghost forkball take on major league hitters in a real(ish) game!
Three Things To Watch For:
- The Ghost Forkball: It’s worth noting that Senga does not call his signature pitch a ghost forkball. He says its probably a splitter because he doesn’t hold the ball the same way most forkball pitchers do. DiComo notes that the pitch grip is similar to the split-changeup that Carrasco throws. Due to how far back in his hand Senga throws the ball, and his motion, when done right, it takes on a different trajectory. The nickname comes from its ability to just disappear to hitters. All season we’ll be talking about the adjustment major league hitters will make to the pitch and the readjustments Senga will need to take.
- Francisco Lindor: Over the first six games he’s played in Lindor has collected five hits and four walks in 19 plate appearances. He already has a .400/.526/.667 slash line in spring. First, a hot at the plate Lindor is great news for the World Baseball Classic next week. Second, if Lindor keeps this up in April the Mets are going to be unstoppable at the plate. Eventually this batting line is going to come back down to Earth, I just want to look at it a bit longer.
- Have Fun Guys! Today is the last day that the World Baseball Classic players are in camp. So in addition to aforementioned Lindor, we’ll be watching Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso, Eduardo Escobar, and Omar Narváez for the last time in a Mets starting lineup for a bit.
Let’s Go Mets!
