Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Buck Showalter talked to reporters on Monday before the Mets took on the St. Louis Cardinals in Jupiter with David Peterson on the mound. Here are the important notes from the Mets’ second-year manager:

Escobar in The Outfield?

Showalter said that third baseman Eduardo Escobar could play in a game on Tuesday in left field, though he’s not sure if it will be a Grapefruit League game or on the backfields in Port St. Lucie. The Mets say they’re putting Escobar in left field because Team Venezuela said they might use the veteran infielder out there during the World Baseball Classic.

Escobar has 43 games of experience in left field with the most recent time being in 2017 for the Twins.

Mets’ third base prospect Brett Baty is off to a strong in camp after two hits in the intrasquad game last week and then a home run on the first pitch he saw in a spring training game.

Verlander Making Debut

Mets co-ace Justin Verlander will make his debut on Saturday when the team travels to Jupiter to play the Marlins. The game starts at 1:10 p.m. and can be seen on MLB TV. Max Scherzer will start the game on Friday, giving Mets fans their first chance to see the future Hall of Famers pitch back-to-back.

Verlander says he plans to use his changeup more this season after the pitch had been kind of hidden in his repertoire in recent seasons. The veteran threw the pitch only 2.4% of the time in 2022 and hasn’t thrown it more than 10% since 2014 when he was with the Tigers.

Scherzer Embracing Rules, Technology 

Max Scherzer held out from using PitchCom until late July of the 2022 season and after the game said the technology that sends the pitch call and location from the catcher to the pitcher should be “illegal.”

Now, in his first start this spring, Scherzer was seen with PitchCom on his glove so he could send the pitch call to the catcher. Scherzer told reporters that he would use the device to call pitches at certain times when he had a pitch he knew fit into the gameplan and that the catcher will still continue to make a majority of the calls.

Scherzer told The Athletic that the new pitch clock rule would be something he would actually use to his advantage to control the pace of the at-bat. “I can’t pitch until ‘8’ (seconds left), but as soon as his eyes are up, I can go,” Scherzer said.“I already had the pitch call and we already know it, so I can come set. Now, I can’t fire until his eyes are up on me. But if his eyes are up on me with 12 seconds left, I can fire. So, just another play I can use.”