The Mets had two games yesterday! First the Mets prosects beat the Nationals prospects in both franchises first ever Spring Breakout Game. The veteran Mets then dropped the nightcap to the Nationals 7-3. Houser and Fujinami allowed all seven runs on the night. It wasn’t all bad for the Mets as the offense finally got going, collecting 10 hits. Harrison Bader and Francisco Lindor both went 2-for at the plate and DJ Stewart hit his first home run of spring.
Today the Mets are sending out a lineup like they played an afternoon/evening doubleheader. Almost all of the regular position players except for Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos are getting the afternoon off and the rest of the lineup is rounded out with bench players and players trying to break on the roster.
Three Things To Watch For:
- Michael Tonkin: Tonkin completed along journey back to the majors last season. The long time Twins’ pitcher last pitched in a major league game back in 2017 where he had a 5.14 ERA over 21 innings over 16 games. He then played in Japan, Mexico and Long Island. Last season he got into 45 games for the Braves, pitching 80 innings with a 4.28 ERA and 104 ERA+. He’s had a good spring this year, allowing two hits and a walk while holding opponents scoreless over 3 1/3 innings. At this point he has pitched himself into the conversation to break camp with the major league club.
- DJ Stewart: Stewart came onto the scene in a huge way last year, hitting 11 homers over 58 games for the Mets. This spring has been the complete opposite. Before last night’s game he was 4-for-22 this spring no extra base hits. Last night went 1-for-3 hitting his first homer of the spring. Is this the start of a Stewart hot streak?
- The King of Cold Springs. Brandon Nimmo likes to take things slow in spring. Over seven games this year spring he has gone 5-for-21 at the plate hitting .238/.273/.286, which is not very Nimmo-regular-season-like. It is very similar to his previous springs. Last year he played in only six official spring training games and hit .143/.294/.286. The year before he played in eight games and hit .192/.323/.308.
Let’s Go Mets!
