Photos From Port St. Lucie: Gomez Plays in Minors Game

Photo by Ed Delany, MMO

Veteran outfielder Carlos Gomez played in a minor league game on Sunday afternoon after being cleared for minors action.

I was able to stick around to watch his first at-bat in the back fields at First Data Field before heading over to West Palm Beach. He singled up the middle and eventually came around to score on a Wilson Ramos double. Gomez was playing center field.

Photo by Ed Delany, MMO

Travis d’Arnaud was playing in minor league camp today in an effort to get him a significant amount of at-bats. After hitting an RBI single in his first at-bat in one game (Advanced-A players), a pinch runner came in for him and he went right into hitting in the other game (short season players).

The oft-injured catcher is battling with Devin Mesoraco for the Mets back-up catcher role behind Wilson Ramos. D’Arnaud has a .750 OPS this spring in six games while Mesoraco has .652 OPS in 10 games.

Photo by Ed Delany, MMO

Left-handed pitcher Keelan Smithers was signed by the Mets to a minor league deal earlier this offseason as I reported. He kept hitters off balance today and had success during minor league spring game.

The former Princeton pitcher has never pitched in affiliated ball, and underwent surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome in 2017 according to a recent story by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com.

Smithers’ jumped on MLB team radars after being named best pitcher in Pool C of European Championship Baseball Qualifiers last summer.

Jeurys Familia was another one of the Mets pitchers that the team decided to throw in minor league games on Sunday. He was joined by Edwin Diaz and Justin Wilson.

Familia returned to the Mets the offseason after having been dealt to the Athletics last July. The right-hander figures to be the primary setup man to Diaz.