What a start for the 2025 Mets yesterday! Juan Soto hit a home run in first spring at bat as a Met. Clay Holmes tossed three perfect innings in his first start. The almost broke the record for most fans at Clover Park set in 2015 (yesterday’s crowd missed it by only 50 fans).
Today the hit the road in their first split-squad action of 2025. There are a lot of innings today to be filled by a mix of 40-man roster arms, players on NRI’s and probably few more invited over from minor league camp. Players traveling on the road today will make the first of eight trips to West Palm Beach this spring, the home of both the Nationals and the Astros.
Three Things To Watch For:
- Ty Adcock’s First Spring Start. The Mets acquired Ty Adcock in 2024 and he got into a few games, allowing seven runs over 4 1/3 innings. Adcock is in camp on an NRI deal trying to find a way onto the 40-man roster and into the bullpen. He has a mid-90’s fastball but major league hitters are squaring it up well. Over 33 fastballs thrown in 2024 he allowed three homers. In 2023 he allowed four homers off 116 fastballs. We’ll be watching today to see how hitters are handling his cheddar.
- Is it too early to scout opposing players? The Nationals (and by default, the Mets) will get their first look at Shinnosuke Ogasawara this afternoon, the first Japanese player to sign a contract free-agent contract directly out of Japan with the Nationals. Last season with Chunichi he tossed 144 1/3 innings with a 3.12 ERA and 1.199 WHIP. He has a low-90’s fastball, good control and mixes speed over a large arsenal of pitches. The Nationals reported earlier this week that he’ll probably be limited to one inning in his debut and then do more work in the bullpen after.
- Position Player Prospects. There are few position player prospects making their spring debuts for the Mets this afternoon. Ryan Clifford, acquired with Drew Gilbert in the Justin Verlander trade, will look to build off of his 2024 where he smacked 19 homers over 129 games with a .793 OPS (and .372 OBP). Jett Williams is one the top prospects overall in the Mets system and has been listed as a top-100 prospect in baseball by Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus for three consecutive seasons. Luke Ritter is an older prospect who has made some noise over the last two seasons, hitting 27 homeruns in 2023 and 26 in 2024.
Let’s Go Mets!
