The Mets won back-to-back games for the first time this Spring improving their (meaningless) record to 3-5. Today is a split squad day with half the team going to the Marlins and half the team waiting for the Nationals to come to them. If the Mets sweep today, they’ll be at .500. Which of course doesn’t mean anything but losing isn’t fun either.
About Yesterday:
The Mets traveled to West Palm to take on the Astros and from the radio broadcast it sounded like a lot of Mets fans made the trip, making their voices heard against the Astros players. For the first time in several days a Met had two hits on the day thanks to Max Moroff who is trying to make the Opening Day roster. Both were doubles and thanks to the small sample size of Spring Training, he now has a .819 OPS. Nimmo also ripped a double at the start of the game bringing his small sample size OPS to 1.100.
The real story of the day yesterday was the pitching. Steven Matz had two innings of shutout baseball allowing one hit and nothing else as he continues to battle for a spot in the rotation. Then he was followed by several prospects who all had themselves a day. David Peterson allowed one run on three hits but struck out out three over two innings. Franklyn Kilome, acquired in the Asdrubal Cabrera trade a couple of seasons ago, had a shutout inning of work to balance out his performance from earlier in the week. Jordan Humphreys had a clean inning of no hits, runs or walks. Finally Adonis Uceta struck out two in a clean inning of work to end the game. It really was a great day for the farm system.
On the Mound Today:
The big story of the day is Jacob deGrom. He threw a simulated game earlier in the week and will take the mound for the first time today against the Nationals. He’s coming off of back to back Cy Young years and there’s not much more that can be said about how great he has been. Definitely the reason to watch the home broadcast today.
On the road Michael Wacha will make his second start of the Spring. Rick Porcello and Matz each had great second outings this week. Wacha had the more impressive debut of the three, allowing one hit and no walks over two innings while striking out two. He looks to build his case for being the fifth starter today.
Many Players Batting Today:
Against Miami on the road:
- Amed Rosario
- Eduardo Nunez
- Dominic Smith
- Jake Marisnick (DH)
- Tomas Nido
- Ryan Cordell
- Max Moroff
- Jake Hager
- Johenshwy Fargas
At home against the Nationals:
- Jeff McNeil
- Brandon Nimmo
- Robinson Cano (DH)
- Pete Alonso
- Michael Conforto
- Wilson Ramos
- Luis Guillorme (2B)
- Jarrett Parker
- Andres Gimenez
There’s nothing too surprising here. Amed Rosario is the lone regular starter that is in the lineup against the Marlins on the road and he’s flanked by a ton of guys trying to get in on the roster like Cordell who has been impressive throughout the first week of play and Moroff who had a big day yesterday. Several regular back-up/bench players are also with that squad today with Dominic Smith, Marisnick and Nido.
At home the roster looks like what you expect. The top six batters are all regular starts for the Mets, Guillorme is still fighting for a bench spot, Parker continues to get a long look this spring and the top prospect gets to stay home. Gimenez had an excellent first week of Spring and dating back to the middle of last year to now has really shown hitting development. Rosario is clearly the starter right now but Andres is trying to make us question that.
Let’s Go Mets! Check 213 Miles From Shea for more Mets insights.
