Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Carlos Carrasco enjoyed a productive start in the 6-1 win over the Marlins on Friday, highlighting his importance to this Mets team in the process.

Every baseball fan knows that pitching depth is vitally important in the modern-day game. Without it, chances of succeeding and embarking on a deep run in the postseason may as well be marked at zero.

With offseason addition José Quintana already on the shelf until at least July, Carrasco is going to take on an even more important role for the Mets in the early stages of the 2023 season. Particularly in the opening weeks as the organization looks to ease Kodai Senga in before unleashing him fully.

As such, the fact that Carrasco looked sharp on Friday and is starting to find some of his best stuff in the final week or so of spring training can only be seen as a positive. He’s a veteran presence who is going to be leaned on a lot this season behind the elite two-headed monster that is Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.

There were some early struggles for Carrasco on Friday, though. He issued a leadoff walk to Garrett Hampson, then gave up a double to Jerar Encarnacion that gave Miami a 1-0 lead. In addition, Carrasco also had some adjustment issues with the pitch clock. He was twice called for delays and both stemmed from communication issues with catcher Francisco Álvarez. The first instance occurred when Carrasco struggled to hear Álvarez through the PitchCom, while the second delay happened because Álvarez was slow in signalling a curveball.

“I couldn’t hear (the PitchCom) that well, sometimes going on and off,” Carrasco said after the game. “When something happens like that I can call to the umpire, ‘PitchCom’ and I can step off. I think it’s way better when I have a pitch in mind so I can just call it.”

As was the case with Max Scherzer a couple of weeks ago, it is important to iron out little kinks with the pitch clock now and Carrasco should be better for that experience heading into the regular season. Plus, after settling in to the game, he was pretty much un-hittable.

The veteran recorded three strikeouts in the second, completed a 1-2-3 inning in the third and his filthy stuff helped to strike out the side again in the fourth inning. Carrasco’s work was done after that, and he finished with seven strikeouts, one walk and just one earned run on two hits. The righty now boasts an impressive 14:2 K:BB through 13 innings in the Grapefruit League.

It was a pretty good outing from Carrasco who continues to strike batters out at a high rate this spring, and he should get one more start before the regular season arrives. Again, Carrasco’s role as a third or fourth starter has only taken on even more importance in the wake of Quintana going down hurt. His performance on Friday should serve as a confidence booster to everybody.

After starting 29 games and pitching to a 3.97 ERA in 152 innings in 2022, Carrasco has proved he can be a reliable arm for the Mets. While he once featured prominently in trade talks, Carrasco is going to be a vital piece in that starting rotation and his reliability and experience will serve as important tools for his team throughout 2023.