Spring Training officially kicked off this weekend, and the 2019 New York Mets season is officially underway. With a new season comes some new lofty expectations, especially for the Mets pitching staff.
As presently constructed, the Mets starting rotation is compromised of 2018 National League Cy Young award winner Jacob deGrom, righties Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler, and lefties Steven Matz and Jason Vargas.
Despite the relatively successful year this unit had last season, Mets pitching coach Dave Eiland is putting all of that to the side, and setting the goal extremely high for them in 2019 season.
“Those personal awards are well and good, and Jake most certainly is deserving and all that. But what I want to see from each of these guys, our first four starters, I want to see all of them get a win in the World Series,” Eiland told Kevin Kernan of the New York Post on Sunday.
“That is what it’s all about, they know there is a carrot dangling out there,” Eiland added.
There is no denying that for the Mets to make some noise in 2019 in a what should be a very competitive National League East, they are going to need their starters to not only feed off of each other’s success, but most importantly stay healthy.
And deGrom told Kernan that already thus far in camp the starters have been giving off some great vibes for each other.
“With the live BP’s, we’ve been trying to watch everybody we get a chance to. We are all rooting for each other. I think if we stay healthy that’s going to be a big key for us this year,” deGrom said.
Eiland shares the same feelings as deGrom, as he told Kernan he also notices the energy and the camaraderie this current group has shown early on in camp.
“There’s a lot of energy with this group, there’s friendly competition. They are pushing one another and they all showed up in shape and did what they needed to do this offseason. They now know what we expect, it’s exciting,’’ Eiland said.
Both Syndergaard and deGrom threw the ball well in their spring debuts the past two days. Wheeler will take the ball tomorrow afternoon in the home half of the split squad game against the Tigers, and Matz will throw on Wednesday against the Marlins.
