In his first appearance with the Mets this afternoon, Wilmer Font held the San Diego Padres to two runs on three hits with a strikeout in four innings. The right-hander threw 39 of his 60 pitches for strikes without walking a batter before being pinch-hit for in the fifth in a tie game.
Font made primary use of his four-seamer and sinker – the former sitting in the 94-95 mph range (topping out at 96) and the latter closer to 92-93, and kept four of his last five outs via on the ground. He also worked with an 84-86 mph slider to get ahead of batters after the first turn of the order, and occasionally deployed both a splitter that sat in the low-80s and a curveball in the mid-70s.
Through his first two innings, Font occasionally struggled to locate his fastball, yielding a 102 mph flyout off the bat of Ian Kinsler to lead things off and then being bailed out of the first on a slick diving catch in the gap by Brandon Nimmo to rob Manny Machado of extra bases.
Eric Hosmer launched a fastball into the left-field seats for the Padres’ first run to open the second, but Font hung in on the following at-bat to induce a Ty France popup on the ninth pitch – a fastball running up and in. A pair of hanging sliders to Hunter Renfroe and Manuel Margot could have been trouble, but ultimately went down as flyouts to left and left-center.
The only other hard contact surrendered by Font came on a one-out double from opposing pitcher Matt Strahm, though the run would eventually score after Franmil Reyes blooped a single just out of the reach of a hesitant Amed Rosario.
Font retired the next four batters in order, the last three in the fourth on a trio of groundballs to wrap up an adequate debut. The Mets batted Keon Broxton in his place the following half, and subsequently gave Robert Gsellman the ball for the next two innings.
It remains to be seen how long the Mets intend to shelve both Jason Vargas and Steven Matz (the latter of whom still remains on the active roster).
However, there is definitely an argument in favor of Font if he can refine how he spots his fastball, at least as a depth option among the likes of Corey Oswalt and Drew Gagnon. He will need a longer leash than the four innings provided, but today’s work should be an encouraging sign as the Mets’ pitching depth continues to be tested.
