With the 2025 Mets opening rotation officially set and Griffin Canning written in ink to start Game 3 of the year against the Astros, the righty starter made his final outing of the spring Sunday in preparation for the regular season.

Griffin Canning. Photo Credit: Reinhold Matay-Imagn Images

Canning’s outing against the Marlins was strong, putting an exclamation point on an eye-opening pre-season for New York. Canning threw 4 1/3 innings, giving up two runs, amassing six strikeouts and three walks. The Mets’ free agent pickup stretched out to 83 pitches Sunday, setting him up well for his first start on Saturday.

Canning finished the spring with 14 1/3 innings pitched, giving up just three earned runs (a 1.88 ERA) on 11 hits and striking out 22.

The theme of Sunday was similar to that of his previous games this past month: slider, slider and more slider.

45% of Canning’s pitches were sliders, including a remarkable 60% against right-handed hitters. It is a stark contrast fromhis unsuccessful 2024 season when he threw his slider just 24% of the time. According to Baseball Savant, Canning had a negative six run value against his slider in 2024, with batters hitting .284 vs. the pitch and slugging .444. His expected batting average and slugging was lower, .249 and .398, showing Canning ran into some unfortunate luck.

Griffin Canning vs. Miami (3/23/25)
Image courtesy @PitchProfiler

Of his 37 sliders on Sunday, 22 were strikes, and 15 were out of the zone. Of the 22 strikes, Marlins hitters swung at 18, with little success. His whiff rate was 22.2% on his slider, but that being his main pitch also caused a positive effect on his other pitches. (For reference, Dylan Cease led MLB in whiff rate percentage on the slider in 2024 at 44.7%. Canning ranked 19th in all of baseball at 33.1%).

With the fastball and changeup now being secondary pitches and hitters getting fewer chances to look at them during at-bats, his whiff rate on each pitch was an impressive 33.3%.

The Mets have stated that part of their strategy of having Clay Holmes, Tylor Megill and Canning make the first three starts of the season is so that they can counter the Astros’ heavy right-handed hitting lineup with nothing but righties of their own.

This should bode well for Canning, allowing him to use his slider early and often. And if his spring is any indication, it will be a winning formula for the Mets.