It’s no secret the Mets starting rotation was decimated by injuries in 2017. However, the team’s new skipper, Mickey Callaway, has a plan to revitalize his pitchers.
Speaking to Kevin Kernan of the New York Post on Friday, Callaway said New York could use a six-man rotation, which he says really does wonders.
“We may go to a six-man rotation at some point to give guys a break when we can,” he said. “I pitched over in Asia, and when you start pitching every sixth day, it is a hundred times easier. It really is. I think we have enough depth to make those adjustments.
“There might be times when we have an off-day coming up and we can make that happen without using the extra pitcher or we can slide a guy in and go from there. For any team to expect to use five starters a whole season is silly.”
Last season, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler were each sidelined for a substantial amount of time. The team finished the season 27th overall with a 5.14 ERA.
Callaway said he is also going to implement a pre-workout before the pitchers even hit the field. This way he can get them healthy and keep them healthy by implementing strong routines.
“Everyone I’ve been around pretty much walks outside, stretches, plays catch, they do their bullpen,” he said. “Our pitchers in Cleveland had about an hour-and-a-half routine before they even went out and played catch.
“They were with massage therapists, then they were with trainers, getting all these hands-on things done, then they went to the weight room to see the strength coach for extra stretching, then they went on the bike, then they went outside and stretched.
“It’s pre-hab. If we can implement those types of things, we have a better chance to stay healthy. It does work. When you present it to these guys, they are going to want to do it.”
At the end of the day, Callaway believes this team can still compete with the best of them, and said that other teams would be happy to have some of the arms the Mets do.
The plans he talks about and pre-workouts will be implemented when many members of the team come to pre-camp next week, according to Kernan.
