The Mets and Marlins square off tonight for an evening spring training game in Port St. Lucie! This is the first of six games the Mets will play against the Marlins this spring before they go to Miami to open up the regular season on March 30th.
Brett Baty was the headline this afternoon – getting on base all three times in his first three plate appearances including a homer he hit in the first inning. Most of the Mets regular starting players stayed back for the nightcap in St. Lucie, and we can’t wait to see them take the field for the first time this spring!
Mets Lineup
- Jeff McNeil – 2B
- Tommy Pham – CF
- Francisco Lindor – SS
- Pete Alonso – 1B
- Eduardo Escobar – 3B
- Mark Canha – LF
- Daniel Vogelbach – DH
- Abraham Almonte – RF
- Tomás Nido – C
SP – José Butto
Three Things To Watch For:
- The Starting Lineup: Only Starling Marte and Brandon Nimmo are missing from this lineup. Showalter said he was going to prioritize players heading to the World Baseball Classic – which is a solid chunk of the Mets regulars. The amount of regular starting players in the lineup will make the first broadcast game of the year a lot more fun.
- Eduardo Escobar: Brett Baty already put the pressure on Escobar this afternoon. Baty hit a homer in his first at bat, then walked during his second and got a single his third time around. Eduardo is one of the most positive players on the Mets roster. Twitter feeds are already filled with videos of Escobar greeting coaches and having fun on picture day. At the end of last season Escobar went on a tear – can he repeat that with a strong spring?
- José Butto: The Mets top prospects are position player heavy with José Butto being probably the highest ranked pitcher who could see time in the majors this season. Butto had one start in the majors last season and it was a doozy. He allowed seven runs from nine hits and two walks over four innings of work. Over 28 games and 129 innings in the minors he had a 3.56 ERA and 1.209 WHIP. We are hoping to see him have a strong outing against major league quality hitters.
- Bonus – Pitch Clocks: We said this earlier today but its worth mentioning again since more of the Mets regulars are playing tonight. Both games yesterday were right around two hours and thirty minutes. If the Mets are going to have any problems adjusting to the clock it will probably happen during the first two weeks of spring.
Let’s Go Mets!
