Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
From the good, the bad, the in-game experience, the on-the-field happenings and so on, the last MMO Roundtable of each month will be a look back on what surprised us the most — positive or negative, about the Mets or just with baseball in general.
First up – April 2021
Sal Manzo
Although it’s tough to call April the first full “month” of the season for the Mets this year thanks to awful some awful weather and scheduling, there have definitely been some good surprises to speak about. It might be easy to pick the overall success of the starting staff outside of the great Jacob deGrom to start the year, but that was not so shocking to me and was one part of the roster I expected to success out of the gate.
One player that has been a very pleasant surprise comes out of the bullpen, and his name is Miguel Castro. The flame-throwing right hander has been a late-inning weapon so far in 2021, commanding that upper 90s fastball which had fans salivating over his potential in 2020. Although the fastball command has taken a giant leap forward, it’s been the development of his power changeup as a legitimate out pitch that has really impressed me overall.
Another surprise in this early season (which might be more of a revelation for me) is that Brandon Nimmo is a much more valuable piece to the Mets long-term than Michael Conforto. As much as it pains me to admit, it might be in the Mets best interest to let Conforto walk this winter and lock Nimmo up to a long-term extension instead. Here’s hoping the Mets can play a full month’s worth of games in May with many more pleasant surprises to come!
Marshall Field
When you are sitting in Citi Field, near the press box off the first base line, you get a pretty good view of the pitcher and the quality of his stuff that evening. That’s where I was perched on Friday, April 23 when Jacob deGrom pitched against the Washington Nationals. The evening was like a concerto for pitching culminating with a denouement in innings six and seven where Jake struck out the side on his way to a career-best 15 strikeouts. The mood around the stadium was electric as chants of ‘MVP” were heard throughout the contest. It was the first time I’d ever seen Jacob pitch in person and it was well worth the 2 hours of traffic I sat in to get to Queens. I believe I witnessed a masterpiece, a tremendous performance that is still be talked about several days later.
A virtuoso performance is often repeated. I felt lucky to see Tom Seaver pitch. I feel just as fortunate seeing Jacob deGrom. Incidentally, I realize this roundtable was supposed to be what surprised me the most about the Mets this past month. I wasn’t surprised last Friday night, rather elated. Enjoy it while it lasts, because it may take a generation or more to see the like again.
Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Ryan Finkelstein
The most surprising part of the first month of the season for me has been the play of the Atlanta Braves. Atlanta was supposed to be the Mets stiffest competition in the NL East this year, and while they still might be, their slow start has changed my perception of how good they are going to be.
The fact that the Mets have been in first place for most of the season, despite a struggling offense, is a great sign that this team has the potential to take off in the near future. Once the bats get hot, the Mets could really create separation from their opponents in the NL East standings.
Rich Sparago
The biggest surprise of the season to me is actually two surprises – the Oakland Athletics and the Kansas City Royals. Think about what the A’s have done. They began the season 1-7, and went on to win 13 games in a row. And just to rub salt in the wound for Mets fans, Jed Lowrie has been a strong contributor to their efforts.
As I write this, the Royals have the best winning percentage in MLB. Who saw that coming? This might be the biggest story that no one is talking about. Who are the Royals? Their best player by OPS is Carlos Santana, followed by a Mets’ 2015 nemesis, Salvador Perez. Other than former Brave Mike Minor, their starting pitchers are not household names. Yet, the Royals are rolling along atop the American League’s central division. It’s hard not to root for them. Though it’s very early, they’re playing the underdog role quite well.
Michelle Ioannou
Since everyone spoke about positive surprises, I’ll be the one to bring up the elephant in the room — the biggest surprise is how many games the Mets have already missed! It was quite the weird start to the season, one we have already spoken about on these Roundtables so I won’t get back into it. But, aside from all that, the Mets being able to find themselves in first place for the majority of the month despite that, is a great and promising sign.
