Thursday, March 7, 2024 • 6:10 PM
Clover Field • Port St Lucie, FL
RHP Jake Irvin (0-1, 17.18) vs. LHP José Quintana (0-1, 10.80)
SNY

If you went outside in the tri-state area yesterday, you got an idea of what the weather was like in West Palm Beach – rainy. The Mets and Astros had to cancel their game yesterday, which was a shame because the Astros were going to have three solid pitchers play against the Mets.

With the cancellation the Mets have made some changes to the pitchers slated to go. Yesterday, five pitchers were scheduled to have outings. Today, seven pitchers have scheduled outings, and Joey Lucchesi has been removed from the list, leaving Quintana as the only starting pitcher on the list today. Ottavino, López, Diekman, Fujinami, Walker, and Hartwig are all scheduled to follow Quintana today. If you forget about Quintana, it almost feels like the lineup of pitchers you would send out for a bullpen game.

Personally, I find Fujinami the most interesting in this group, and we’ll focus on him in a bit. Ottavino, López, Diekman, and Fujinami all signed contracts with the Mets this off-season to bolster the bullpen. Walker and Hartwig are competing for a bullpen spot because of these four signings. This should be interesting to watch today!

Shintaro Fujinami, Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Mets Lineup

  1. Brandon Nimmo LF
  2. Francisco Lindor SS
  3. Starling Marte RF
  4. Pete Alonso 1B
  5. Brett Baty 3B
  6. Francisco Álvarez C
  7. Mark Vientos DH
  8. Joey Wendle 2B
  9. Harrison Bader CF

Opposing Lineup

  1. Lane Thomas RF
  2. James Wood CF
  3. Joey Meneses 1B
  4. Joey Gallo DH
  5. Ildemaro Vargas SS
  6. Carter Kieboom 3B
  7. Drew Millas C
  8. Jacob Young LF
  9. Darren Baker 2B

Game Notes

Joey Wendle and Shintaro Fujinami are making their Mets debuts.

Jeff McNeil will begin swinging a bat on Saturday.

The Mets announced their top prospect-loaded Spring Breakout Roster, including Jett Williams, Luisangel Acuña, Jeremy Rodriguez, Marco Vargas, and Drew Gilbert. The game will take place on March 15.

Three Things To Watch For

  1. José Quintana’s second start: Quintana’s first spring start was rough, where he allowed two runs from two hits and three walks over 1 2/3 innings while facing nine batters. It’s difficult to read too much into the first spring start because you don’t exactly know what the pitcher is working on, but walking three batters over two innings doesn’t feel great. We are hoping for a smoother start today where he can get his work in stretched over multiple innings.
  2. Fujinami’s Mets debut: Fujinami can throw a baseball hard. His fastball averaged last year at 98.4 and would frequently top over 100 mph. He’s 6’6″, which also helps the fastball seem faster. He wasn’t effective as a starter last year and the Athletics moved him to the bullpen. Then, something clicked for him in late June. From the 28th to the end of the season, he pitched in 39 games with a 3.98 ERA and 3.70 FIP with 44 strikeouts over 40 2/3 innings. In his 38 1/3 innings before that, he had a 10.57 ERA. We are excited to see his first step today in his Mets journey.
  3. A different Joey makes his spring debut today. Joey Lucchesi was supposed to make his debut yesterday before the weather got in the way. Today, Joey Wendle will make his spring debut. Wendle was signed this off-season as infield depth, before the Ronny Mauricio injury. The idea was that Joey would be a veteran backup to all of Brett Baty, Ronny Mauricio, and Mark Vientos. Last season was Joey’s worst at the plate in his career, registering a 50 OPS+. The Mets would love to get him going over the next couple of weeks before the start of the season.

Let’s go Mets!