Blade Tidwell is competing for a roster spot this season. If we were to rank prospects by how close they are to the majors, Tidwell, Dom Hamel and Brandon Sproat would round out the short list of starting pitchers who should make their major league debut at some point in 2025. (The Mets have other exciting pitching prospects, but a lot has to happen for them to make their debuts this season).
Tidwell started 2024 with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies and did quite well. Over seven games, five starts, he pitched 37 1/3 innings with a 2.41 ERA, 1.071 WHIP, 2.7 BB/9 and a 10.6 K/9. The high strikeout rate was more what we saw in 2023 where he posted a 11.9 K/9 between Brooklyn and Binghamton.
Similar to all of the older Mets pitching prosects last season, things got a lot tougher for Tidwell in Syracuse. Over 26 games, 122 1/3 innings, Tidwell had a 5.93 ERA and a 1.565 WHIP. He lost control of his pitches (5.6 BB/9) and his strikeout rate plummeted (8.2 K/9).
Another issue popped up in 2023 that continued into 2024. Back in 2023 opponents were getting 6.1 H/9 against Tidwell. That jumped to 8.4 when he went to Binghamton, but dropped to 7.0 during his 2024 Binghamton campaign. That number rose, this time to 8.5 H/9 with Syracuse. An increase of hits, loss of control and a decrease in walks is a bad combination.
Tidwell has a mid-90’s fastball, low-80’s sweeper, upper-70’s curveball and a changeup. There’s a lot of stuff with Tidwell. In 2024 we saw that when given an opportunity to return to a level where he struggled, he came back a lot stronger. That’s exactly what we are going to look for in Syracuse this year – does he come back stronger? Can he fool hitters? Here’s what we are looking for specifically this spring:
- With the Montas injury, there is a roster battle for the last spot in the rotation. Can Tidwell pitch well enough to dislodge all the competition around him? How long does he stay in major league camp?
- How does he handle major league hitters? Does his H/9 look more like what it did in Syracuse or Binghamton?
- Control. Is he locating his pitches? Are hitters swinging and missing at stuff outside the zone or are they laying off?
