Cue the SNY music! Mets baseball is back!
The Mets return to the baseball field, St. Lucie, our television sets and our lives this afternoon, taking on the Houston Astros. Juan Soto, one of the most exciting players in baseball, signed a massive contract with the Mets this off-season and will take the field today as a member of the New York Mets.
Tomorrow the Mets will playing 18 innings across two games, so between today and tomorrow we’ll see a sizeable chunk of the pitchers in major league came along with some minor league arms. Today is all about Clay Holmes who hasn’t started in the majors since 2018. He has been an All-Star twice for the Yankees over the last three seasons posting a 155, 152 and 131 ERA+ over that stretch. The Mets will start the process to convert him into a starter this afternoon.
Three Things To Watch For:
- Clay Holmes the Starter. Earlier this week Carlos Mendoza stated the goal for Holmes today – about three innings or 45 pitches. He hit 45 pitches once last season and it was an outing where he walked two batters over 1 1/3 innings. He hit 30+ pitches only a few times. We’ll try not to read too much into pitch selection – let’s just get some innings in!
- Lindor and Soto on top of the lineup. Francisco Lindor is coming off of an MVP level season for the Mets. Lindor had a Baseball Reference WAR of 6.0 in 2023 and followed it up with a 6.9 WAR last season, his second and third best seasons in his career. Juan Soto had a 7.9 Baseball Reference WAR in 2024. The Mets offense will live and die with this pair of superstars at the top of the lineup.
- Brett Baty. Where does Baty fit in this season? He got the call up at the start of the season in 2024, struggled and then Mark Vientos came up. With third base essentially belonging to Vientos, Baty has to compete for a role somewhere on the team. Baty has taken some reps at second this past week during drills. Is he competing for a bench job? Is he effectively auditioning for another team via trade?
Let’s Go Mets!
