The spring training schedule has been slightly different this year compared to previous years. So far this spring the Mets have had way more evening games and no split-squad days. The latter point changes today as the Mets have their first of two Sundays in a row playing two split-squad games.
Most of the Mets starters stayed in St. Lucie this morning, but a few of them are making the trek to West Palm beach including Pete Alonso and Brett Baty. They’ll get to face MacKenzie Gore who is starting his second season with the Nationals. Gore was a key part of the blockbuster trade that sent Juan Soto to the Padres back in 2022.
Out of the two games the Mets play today, this is the more difficult one to follow if you live in the Mets media market. The game is being broadcasted by MASN (the Orioles and Nationals regional sports network) and can be watched in the New York area on MLBTV.
Three Things To Watch For:
- Tylor Megill continues to battle for the last rotation spot: José Buttó continued his strong spring his last time out, so now it’s Tylor’s time to impress again. Before his last spring start, we commented about how it was his fourth and fifth spring training start last year that gave Tylor difficulties. He dominated in his last start, his fourth start, allowing one run from three hits over four innings of work. He’s now allowed only two runs in 12 innings this spring, and one of those was from the very first inning he tossed.
- Pete Alonso: Alonso is off to a good start this spring, hitting .250/.368/.594 over 32 at bats spread across 13 games. He only has two homers so far but has ripped five doubles and has already walked six times (for comparison, he has hit six walks two other times in spring training). He’s the engine of the Mets offense and we are starting to get to the point of spring where you want your big hitters to gain momentum to carry them into the start of the regular season.
- Ben Gamel: Gamel has had a quiet spring training for the Mets so far going 3-for-18 over 10 games with a double and eight strikeouts. Gamel signed as a free agent this off-season and is trying to get onto the 40-man roster. In 2022 he saw a lot of playing time with the Pirates where he hit .232/.324/.369 with a 97 OPS+ over 115 games.
Let’s Go Mets!
