With baseball still on hold, New York Mets relievers Jeurys Familia and Dellin Betances have been training hard at Impact Zone Fitness in Norwood, New Jersey with owner and celebrity trainer Dave Paladino.

The two pitchers spoke with Metsmerized in an exclusive interview at the facility over the weekend to discuss several topics including the health concerns that a shortened season could potentially bring for players around the league.

“I think it’ll cause a lot of injuries,” said Familia to Metsmerized. “Most guys aren’t fortunate enough to have the same level of training as me and Dellin.”

“Thank God Dave is allowing us to use his facility so we can throw every day, stretch out our arms, and get the proper physical training we need to prepare.”

The Mets signed Familia’s new teammate and training partner this winter in Dellin Betances, whose coming off an injury plagued 2019 campaign with the Yankees.

The setup man missed most of the year with a shoulder issue before blowing out his Achilles during his season debut against the Blue Jays last September.

While there is certainly reason to worry about the health of Betances in a shortened season with less time off in between games, he gave an update on his status and says his body feels good and is ready to go whenever they get the green light to resume play.

However, there are some additional concerns surrounding the All-Star reliever’s velocity. Betances is known as a hard thrower with his pitches reaching the upper 90’s on a consistent basis. Unfortunately, this was not the case for the 32-year-old during live exhibition action as he was down around 91 mph and only topped out at 93 mph during Grapefruit League play.

Betances had a similar issue last spring with the Yankees, which later revealed a bone spur in his shoulder after receiving an MRI. Despite this previous injury, he is not worried about what the radar gun says as he claims this is a norm for him.

“It’s good right now (my velocity). It’s typically down every year in spring training for me. It has always been low early in the season so I’m not worried. My body feels great and I’m doing everything I can to stay prepared,” said Betances.

Betances was once one of the league’s premier setup men not too long ago. He is also the only reliever in MLB history to record 100 strikeouts in five-straight seasons.

According to Betances, the Mets showed a ton of interest in him when he hit the market last winter, which helped motivate his decision to sign a one-year $10.5 million “prove it” deal with them.

“They (the Mets) were one of the hotter teams pursuing me in free agency. I liked what they were doing with their roster and as a team and I was looking for a place that could compete.”

“They were right there (the playoff race) in the end last year, so I wanted to come here and help them win some more games,” said Betances.

Familia and Betances have been working out with Paladino Monday through Saturday in order to stay in peak physical shape until the time comes to get back to work.

“We’ve been in contact with the team trainer, so we come here every day to work on what they give us to do. We’ve been staying physically and mentally prepared. That’s the key for us,” said Familia.

For those who may recall, Paladino is the same trainer that helped Familia drop 30 pounds this off-season after he pitched at 270-pounds in 2019.

Not only did he help with Familia’s body transformation, but Paladino is the man responsible for the recent photo circulating around the web of C.C. Sabathia, who lost a significant amount of weight since he started training with him post retirement.

After signing a three-year $30 million deal in free agency last year, Familia endured the worst full-season of his career posting a -0.4 bWAR, 5.70 ERA, 4.88 FIP, and 1.733 WHIP in 66 appearances.

He also surrendered seven home runs and 38 earned runs, while struggling with his command issuing 42 walks.

Familia says his weight gain affected his delivery, which resulted in a poor season because he has never been that heavy before. Luckily, he felt back to normal in spring training where he looked sharp on the mound.

When asked if it would be strange to potentially play games in empty stadiums this year without fans, Familia admitted it could take some time to adjust.

“It’ll be different but, in my mind, you play for something and that’s to win a championship. The adrenaline will be there, you just have to adjust mentally. I want to try and get a ring. That’s my focus.”

“If we get the opportunity to play, it’d be huge for everyone right now since we cannot do anything (due to Covid). It’d be nice for the fans to be able to watch us on TV,” said Familia.

Betances reiterated that baseball is the distraction that fans and society need given everything that has been going on the world.

If a season does happen, the Mets will be without co-ace Noah Syndergaard, who underwent Tommy John surgery in March. While Familia expressed his disappointment that the team will be missing a crucial piece to their roster, he believes the Mets staff is deep enough to get by without him.

“It’s tough for us but it (injuries) happens to everyone (all pitchers). We have enough guys in our bullpen and our rotation is still really good so I think we will be ok.”

“I think if everybody is healthy, not just the bullpen, we can get to where we want to be and that’s winning a World Series championship,” said Familia.