Early Spring Hits and Misses

The New York Mets have are 14 games into their spring scheduled with a meaningless 5-9 record though more importantly they have stayed away from major injuries.

Sure they still have some nagging muscle injuries with Amed Rosario, Dominic Smith and Anthony Swarzak but for the most part the Mets have been healthy and that will be a big key in how they do in 2018.

As there is every spring the Mets have had a few players that have impressed and some that have looked bad, here I’m going to look at three players that have impressed me and three that have disappointed.

Impressive Springs

Matt Harvey, RHP – One of the most important players for the Mets 2018 season is Matt Harvey and most of the signs have been good up to this point. He’s allowed only one run in five innings and has yet to allow a home run. More importantly though he’s been getting some late movement on his pitches and has shown better command than last season.

Brandon Nimmo, OF – The patient left-handed hitter came into spring likely splitting time with Juan Lagares. Most of the hype was the new swing of Lagares, but yet again he got hurt and has played in only four of 14 spring games. Nimmo has taken advantage of the opportunity with a .385/.452/.846 slash line with two doubles, two triples and two home runs.

It’s not just the numbers though, the approach has changed a little from Nimmo to with him being more aggressive early in the count and when he’s ahead in the count. At this point it’s tough to imagine Nimmo not being in center field on Opening Day with the Mets likely facing Carlos Martinez.

Gavin Cecchini, 2B – The former first round pick came into camp with a new beard, swing and muscle tone. That stuff means nothing if it doesn’t produce results and it certainly has, Cecchini has backed it up with a 1.393 OPS that includes two home runs, three walks and two strikeouts.

To put it kindly, the swing from Cecchini was ugly in 2017 as you could tell from .709 OPS in Triple-A and .529 OPS in the majors. He was consistently off balance and was left swinging with just his hands. The 24-year-old has looked more comfortable at the plate this spring and it will be a big season for him with the Mets 2019 second base position wide open.

Bad, Worse and Ugly

Adrian Gonzalez, 1B – The Mets are hoping that the veteran still has something left in the tank to hold down the major league first base spot though Gonzalez has shown nothing with the bat yet. He’s gone 5 for 24 while showing virtually no power, five strikeouts, a slow bat and few balls hit hard. Not something you like to see from a guy coming off a -1.2 WAR season.

The 35-year-old former All-Star also has to show up to the park early to go through a 90-minute routine to get his back ready for team workouts. To make matters worse at first base, Dominic Smith has played only one game because of a quad injury and was disciplined to being tardy to a team meeting.

Hansel Robles, RHP – Unfortunately for the Mets the hard-throwing Robles has picked up where he left off last year. He’s allowed five runs in five innings including two long balls. The Mets hoped Robles working with Pedro Martinez this offseason would help but he’s still been inconsistent with his command and has looked very hittable.

With other pitchers looking good this spring (Jacob Rhame, Paul Sewald, Seth Lugo) you could very well see Robesl begin the season in the minors after a 2017 in which he posted a 5.13 FIP. It’s tough to imagine Robles being one of the best options the Mets have for the Opening Day bullpen.

Steven Matz, LHP – Not much to elaborate on here, the lefty has been clobbered this spring allowing five runs in each of his two starts and has pitched only 1.2 innings.

Matz is coming off a 2017 season in which he had a 6.08 ERA and spent time on the DL yet again. At this point it’s tough to imagine him making the rotation with Zack Wheeler, Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman all looking better this spring.

Of course there have been other players this spring that have looked good at times including Luis Guillorme, David Thompson, Kevin Plawecki and Travis d’Arnaud to name a few at the plate.

On the flip side Jose Reyes, Tim Tebow and Matt den Dekker have all looked lost at the plate and are hitting under .150.