Mickey Callaway gets his first big league manager gig with the New York Mets. What can he bring to the table, and what is in store for the Mets? So far in his first couple of weeks, Mickey Callaway has shown he’s ready to make his presence known.
Culture Change
Mickey Callaway made a big statement to the team with his recent handling of top prospect Dominic Smith. Before their first Spring Training game, the Mets had a team meeting. A meeting their first base prospect showed up late to. When the day began, Dominic Smith was supposed to start at first base for the Mets in their first Spring Training contest. However, Callaway decided to scratch him from the lineup, due to his tardiness.
In recent years, something like this would be brushed under the rug, probably never to be heard of. However, that is not how Callaway is going to run this team. As Callaway said and John Harper of The New York Daily News reports, “Everything starts with culture”.
A message has now been sent to the roster. Rules will have to be followed, deadlines will have to be met, and things in this clubhouse are going to be done correctly.
With this change, younger players in the clubhouse like Brandon Nimmo and Dominic Smith, won’t learn bad habits. This is especially important because we all know how every little thing matters when trying to compete.
Manager and player relations is something that Callaway has also started to improve. Having his players fill out a questionnaire to gauge their goals in the organization, he is trying to be involved in all aspects of their careers. This can help with player attitude, and the connection of personal career goals and team success. I think this aspect of the culture change with the Mets could be huge for the organization and their team success.
A culture change is something that they Mets truly need. The culture that surrounds this clubhouse has been detrimental to the team for a long time, and I think that needs to end with Callaway. Bad habits and attitudes have messed with this team for far too long. If he keeps holding the team accountable like he did with Dominic Smith, I think that detrimental culture will come to a screeching halt.
Assisting the Pitchers
I think another huge part of bringing Callaway in is the handling of pitchers. With Callaway, a former major league pitcher and pitching coach, the starting rotation now has a manager that they can confide in. Callaway will be able to understand certain troubles they have along the season, and can help in assisting them in any way he can. Along the season, he can try to gauge certain aspects of the pitchers game such as fatigue. Hopefully, this can help with their recent injury trouble.
Players like Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, and Steven Matz should be happy about this aspect of Callaway. These three players have been riddled by injury and underperformance in the last few years. If Callaway can help with pitching mechanics such as release angle and wind up, he may be able to help them. This can be a huge advantage for a Mets team who relies on their rotation for success. With these pitchers being huge parts of the rotation, their success is key to team success.
Callaway also brings some different ideas to this team to help the bullpen. One thing he has been open about is his plan to handle the bullpen pitchers. As Mike Puma of the New York Post reports, he thinks it is important to not make them warm up, if he does not plan on putting them in the game. This seems like a great idea because it avoids bullpen pitchers using energy that is not needed. Hopefully, this can lead to the solution of a huge problem the Mets have faced in recent years: Injuries.
Bringing pitching coach Dave Eiland on board will give some extra help to the pitchers as well. So far, the Mets pitchers seem very pleased with both staff members, and a strong relationship seems to be coming to fruition.
With Callaway on-board, this team is looking to have a healthier, more effective starting pitching rotation in 2018 which could be the key to everything.
