With sports cards back on shelves in local Target and Walmart stores across the country, Fanatics is flexing their muscles on a still thriving marketplace.

Just a year ago, Fanatics sent shockwaves through the trading card industry by obtaining exclusive licensing rights to manufacture trading cards for three of the four major sports in North America. This caused the $1,300,000,000 dollar SPAC merger that the private investment firm and Topps Trading Cards owner Torante had planned with Mudrick Capital Acquisition to collapse days after Fanatics’ massive marketplace shake-up. Earlier this year, Fanatics continued sending shockwaves through the industry by announcing earlier this year their purchase of the Sports and Entertainment division of Topps Trading Cards, ensuring that the iconic Topps Baseball Cards brand would exist for many years to come.

Fanatics began August by continuing their trend of industry bombshells by announcing a new distribution pact with the popular sports apparel store Lids. More commonly known for selling hats at local malls across the country, Lids was already selling Topps Trading Cards for MLB, UEFA Champions League, Formula One, and other non-sports cards that Fanatics acquired earlier this year in over 300 stores nationwide. Fanatics has plans to increase the number of Lids stores selling Topps Trading Cards to more than 500 over the next few months.

The distribution pact between Fanatics and Lids should come as no surprise to people watching the sports apparel industry. In 2018, Fanatics purchased a minority stake in the Lids parent company, FanzzLids. Topps Trading Cards will have their own display set-up in each Lids store and the selection of cards being sold will vary by location.

As if that wasn’t enough, news began leaking that two major distributors will no longer be receiving Topps products after 2022. Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin has been quite clear in interviews about reimaging the distribution chain of Topps products by cutting distributors out of the picture and dealing directly with hobby shops and customers. One such distribution company that has been identified as losing Topps products is longtime Topps partner GTS Distribution.

Distribution companies of have been vital to the trading card industry for years. They have long been responsible for supplying trading cards to hobby shops and chain stores across the continent, along with common trading card supplies. In recent years, they have also been supplying Topps products to breakers.

Breaking has helped revitalize the hobby since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Collectors can purchase spots in “live breaks” of trading card boxes or cases on eBay auctions. Winners are provided livestreaming links to watch the packs of cards opened.

The implications of Fanatics severing the relationship with GTS Distribution has sparked discussion throughout the industry as to how Topps products for 2023 will get into collector’s hands and also how it may impact pricing. Fanatics and Topps has not released any details on their future plans for distribution, but one can surmise that we will begin seeing Topps products sold in greater quantities on Fanatics website in the near future.

As almost an afterthought, this week the 2022 Topps Baseball Card Factory Sets were released this week. The factory set contains all 660 cards from 2022 Topps Baseball Series 1 and 2. You can find the 2022 Topps Baseball Card Factory Set as low as $49.99 at Target.

The post Fanatics, Topps Continue Trading Card Industry Shake-Up appeared first on Metsmerized.

Credit: Jim Rassol-USA TODAY Sports

Chris Bassitt was placed on the injured list Friday, the Mets announced. They added that right-hander R.J. Alvarez has been selected from Triple-A Syracuse, while Locke St. John was sent outright to Triple-A.

Bassitt was placed on the IL for a non-injury issue, Anthony DiComo of MLB reported. This means it’s very likely related to COVID-19. DiComo added that Peterson will pitch Friday in Bassitt’s place.

In better news for the Mets, Max Scherzer will come off the IL to start Tuesday in Cincinnati, per DiComo. This comes after Scherzer made two rehab starts for Double-A Binghamton.

Bassitt has a 4.01 ERA this year in 15 starts. He had the best outing of his season on June 14, pitching eight scoreless innings after a rough stretch.

Bassitt joins Jacob deGrom, Scherzer, Tylor Megill and Joey Lucchesi as Mets starters who haven taken a hit this season. Carlos Carrasco was also pulled from his start on June 22, but he made another appearance June 28. With Scherzer coming back Tuesday, deGrom has also been making progress on a relatively soon return.

Alvarez, 31, hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2015 with the Athletics. In 28 major league innings, he has a 7.39 ERA and -0.6 bWAR. He has a 2.49 ERA in 25 1/3 innings for Syracuse this year.

St. John didn’t end up making an appearance for New York in his brief stint with the big club. He’s pitched two major league innings this year with the Cubs, along with 6 2/3 innings for the Rangers back in 2019.

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Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Prior to game one of Tuesday’s doubleheader with the San Francisco Giants, the New York Mets announced that they have officially activated center fielder Brandon Nimmo from the COVID-19 injured list.

Both Nimmo and Mark Canha have been on the shelf since testing positive for COVID prior to Friday afternoon’s home opener. Mets manager Buck Showalter indicated pregame Tuesday that it was possible the team would have one of or both outfielders back for today’s games.

While Nimmo remains out of the starting lineup for the first game of the set, he is officially back with the team and on the active roster. Canna, on the other hand, remains on the injured list for the time being.

Nimmo was enjoying a nice start to the 2022 season hitting atop the Mets lineup. He reached base in five of the six games he appeared in and recorded two home runs, a double, a triple, a .429 on-base percentage, and a 1.137 OPS. 

In a corresponding roster move, the Mets have optioned outfielder Nick Plummer back to Triple-A Syracuse. The 25-year-old appeared in just two games in his first stint with the club and lined out to center in his only at-bat.

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Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

With the Mets’ home opener less than two hours away, and on the same day the team is revealing the long-awaited Tom Seaver statue unveiling, the Mets are dealing with COVID-19 in their locker room.

Hours before the game, Newsday‘s Tim Healey reported a Mets staff member tested positive for COVID. Soon after that, he reported both Brandon Nimmo and Mark Canha tested positive for COVID but are asymptomatic, according to Mike Puma.

Healey also previously reported that “a bunch of players and coaches” were potential close contacts to the originally reported staffer and were in the process of getting tested. For now, it seems at least Nimmo’s and Canha’s tests came back positive.

The New York Daily News‘ Deesha Thosar reported soon after that it was “possible” that four Mets regulars would be out of the starting lineup due to testing. The lineup was released just after 11 a.m., and Nimmo and Canha were the noticeable absences. Dominic Smith is also not in the lineup against a right-handed pitcher despite the absences of the two outfielders.

Travis Jankowski and J.D. Davis are starting at center field and designated hitter, respectively, and Robinson Canó is playing second base with Jeff McNeil manning left field.

Here is today's Home Opening Day lineup! #LGM pic.twitter.com/ZHSUDUBbWm

— Metsmerized Online (@Metsmerized) April 15, 2022

Nick Plummer and Matt Reynolds are with the Mets in Nimmo’s and Canha’s place, manager Buck Showalter said.

The Mets reportedly have one of the lower rates of vaccination against COVID-19 in the league.

If a player is a close contact and not vaccinated, they have to quarantine for five days before being able to return, as Bradford William Davis points out. Vaccinated players who are close contacts can play after one negative test. All other personnel in the locker room who weren’t close contacts can continue as normal without a test unless they become symptomatic.

Mike Puma and the New York Post polled some Mets on their vaccination status during spring training. McNeil, Max Scherzer and Robinson Canó all said they were vaccinated. Multiple other Mets (Francisco Lindor, Carlos Carrasco) have said in the past that they’ve been vaccinated. Smith, Nimmo, Davis and Pete Alonso all declined to talk about their vaccination status, though Alonso hinted he was vaccinated last season (he was part of a COVID-19 vaccine ad campaign).

More news about players testing positive or being cleared to play will likely come out over the next few hours.

DeGrom MRI Scheduled, Walker Plays Catch

In other injury news, Jacob deGrom said he has a follow-up MRI scheduled for April 25 to check in on the stress reaction in his scapula. The Mets announced deGrom would be shut down for four weeks on April 1, so deGrom may be able to resume throwing on April 28 (or around there) if his April 25 MRI comes back clean.

Taijuan Walker, on the other hand, was recently placed on the injured list with right shoulder bursitis, but he said he has played catch two days in a row, according to Tim Healey. He plans to pitch in a rehab assignment next week if all goes to plan, then he can re-join the rotation for his next turn through.

Walker is eligible to come off the IL on April 22, which would be his turn in the rotation. Though the Mets haven’t announced it yet, David Peterson is the likely candidate to fill in for Walker on Sunday after the lefty threw four scoreless innings in relief of Walker last Monday.

The post Brandon Nimmo, Mark Canha Test Positive for COVID-19 appeared first on Metsmerized.

Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

New York Mets players not vaccinated against Covid-19 will not be allowed to play in home games this season, reports the NY Daily News.

A Mets spokesperson told MLB.com reporter Anthony DiComo that the team is not publicly commenting on the news today. The Yankees say that president Randy Levine is “working with City Hall and all other appropriate officials on this.”

Players on the Mets and the New York Yankees are covered by the same private sector employer mandate that applies to Brooklyn Nets basketball star Kyrie Irving. Irving has yet to play a home game this season due to a private employer mandate put in place by former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Dec. 27.

The spokesperson told the Daily News that the fact that baseball is played outdoors has no bearing on the mandate.

No word has been made about road teams.

The Toronto Blue Jays are not allowing unvaxxed members of other teams to cross the border and play road games at Rogers Center.

“We have to worry about the health of almost nine million people. No one is trying to hurt Kyrie Irving or a Yankees player,” the spokesperson told the Daily News.

The Mets won’t have their first home game until April 15, giving players a month to comply with the mandate and get vaccinated or to wait and see if it will change. Mayor Eric Adams has been adamant about not changing the mandate or making exceptions to the rule despite repealing the Key2NYC vaccine mandate on March 7 that covered indoor spaces like gyms, dining, and entertainment. Around 1,500 city workers were fired for refusing the vaccine in February.

Members of the Mets are vaccinated like Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, and Max Scherzer. Manager Buck Showalter on Wednesday said “they can stick it wherever they want to stick it” regarding a fourth Covid-19 vaccine shot.

Still, the Mets were one of the least vaccinated teams in the league last season, failing to reach the 85% threshold to loosen Covid protocols. New York has added new players this offseason and it is presently unknown where the team stands.

Any Met who chooses to not get vaccinated will miss games unless the mandate is changed before the home-opener. In a season where the team is expected to compete for a World Series title, that’s unacceptable.

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Citi Field will become a mega COVID-19 vaccination site on a 24-hour basis from Wednesday’s through Saturday’s according to New York City councilmember Mark D. Levine.

According to Levine, the appointments will consist of 50 percent for taxi drivers, delivery drivers and food service workers from anywhere in New York City, and 50 percent for residents of Queens in eligible categories.

Citi Field was originally slated to open as a mega vaccination site at the end of January, but due to a shortage in vaccines, was postponed indefinitely.

Last month, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said that the mass vaccination site was going to be huge for New Yorkers.

“This is going to be fantastic. This is going to help so many people get vaccinated,” de Blasio said. “We welcome Queens residents. We welcome all New Yorkers. We even welcome Yankees fans. There is no discrimination.”

“When we heard about your initiative, we were just so excited to participate in this program,” Mets owner Steve Cohen said about the plans to open Citi Field as a mega vaccine location. “It’s so important. We know the suffering that’s going on with COVID. Anyway the organization could help support this effort, we were going to do it. We talked about being involved in our communities and I can’t think of any way that’s more important than what this hub is going to do.

“The goal is to just get the vaccine in people’s arms so we can get this crisis over with and get back to living a normal life,” Cohen added.

To sign up, visit: https://nyc.gov/vaccinefinder or call 877-VAX4NYC.

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Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

Since 2015, no pitcher has appeared in more games than right-handed reliever Jared Hughes with 372. His 358.1 innings pitched in that span is the third-highest total, while his 61.4 percent ground-ball rate is the 11th-highest mark among qualified relievers.

Hughes, 35, was a fourth-round pick by the Pittsburgh Pirates back in the 2006 MLB Draft out of California State University. He has been a durable pitcher who has appeared in at least 63 games in seven of his ten major league seasons.

The six-foot-seven righty recorded the finest season of his career in 2018 with the Cincinnati Reds, posting career-bests in ERA (1.94), games finished (23), innings pitched (78.2), FIP (3.27), WHIP (1.017) and bWAR (3.2).

Hughes posted the fourth-lowest ERA among qualified relievers that season, along with the fourth-highest ground-ball rate (65.4 percent).

Following his outstanding debut year with Cincinnati, Hughes’ 2019 season with the Reds was a tale of two seasons. In the first half, Hughes posted a 0.955 WHIP while opponents posted a .610 OPS against him in 35 games. Over his next 12 appearances, Hughes allowed nine earned runs in 11.2 innings pitched (6.94 ERA), with hitters posting a .941 OPS in that span.

In mid-August, the Philadelphia Phillies claimed Hughes off waivers. The veteran right-hander saw some positive improvements in his 25 games with Philadelphia down the stretch, including an over five percent increase in K% (17.1 to 22.2), a one and a half percent increase in SwStr% (9.1 to 10.6), along with a decrease in xFIP (4.35 to 3.82).

Whether he wanted to or not, Hughes played a big role in what would become a viral meme. In the August 30th game against the New York Mets, shortstop Amed Rosario hit a two-run single off righty Mike Morin to put the club ahead in the eighth. Manager Gabe Kapler decided to make a pitching change, calling on Hughes with two on and one out in the inning.

Catcher J.T. Realmuto, upset over the previous at-bat, was caught shaking his head standing on the mound while Hughes was doing his customary sprint in from the bullpen. The camera panned in such a way to make it appear that Realmuto was none too pleased with Hughes’ running entrance; however, the All-Star catcher later clarified his position.

Hughes signed a one-year deal with the Mets this past June after he opted out of his minor league contract with the Houston Astros back in March. His debut with the club would be delayed, as he tested positive for COVID-19. He made his Mets debut on August 3rd against the Atlanta Braves on the road, tossing two scoreless innings in the Mets’ 7-2 win.

While the season was delayed due to the global pandemic, Hughes built a pitcher’s mound in his backyard at his home in Texas and enlisted the help of Utah State University professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Barton Smith, on the effects of seam-shifted wake.

Smith had traveled to Florida to give presentations to major league clubs about his findings on baseball aerodynamics, but the tour was cut short when the sport was postponed. He then began presenting his findings on Zoom calls, one in which, Hughes was on.

The professor had been studying the effects of seam-shifted wake on a pitched ball for several years and found that with certain pitches, primarily sinkers and changeups, not only would a pitch rely on gravity and the Magnus effect for movement, but with a stable seam position can add a third force: seam-shifted wake.

Hughes, primarily a sinkerball pitcher, was intrigued at the prospects of adding more drag to his pitch, which would create more downward movement. The pair quickly formed a bond, and Smith became like another pitching coach to Hughes, aiding him in setting up the Rapsodo camera in his backyard, examining the videos Hughes uploaded along with the pitch-tracking data and providing him with analysis on how to get the most out of his stuff.

Comparing his sinker from 2019 to 2020, Hughes saw improvements in his average exit velocity (89.9 mph to 86.0 mph), whiff rate (18.9 percent to 27.6 percent), and average spin rate (1869 RPMs to 2009 RPMs).

Overall, Hughes appeared in 18 games with the Mets during the 2020 truncated season, posting a 4.84 ERA with 21 strikeouts over 22.1 innings pitched.

Hughes pitched well in the month of August, sporting a 70.3 percent ground-ball rate, a 2.70 ERA, and 1.20 WHIP. Those numbers took a 180 turn in September, however, as his ground-ball rate dropped to 40.6 percent, his ERA rose to 8.00 and his WHIP nearly doubled to 2.33.

The sinkerball pitcher remains optimistic that with continued use of technology, work with Smith, and commanding the zone better (as his BB percentage was in the 14th percentile in 2020), he still has more productive seasons left in him.

I had the privilege of speaking with Hughes in November, where we discussed the story behind him sprinting in from the bullpen, recovering from COVID-19, and his use of analytics.

MMO: Who were some of your favorite players growing up?

Jared Hughes: Frank Thomas because the White Sox were on WGN, and I would get home from school and turn it on and watch them play. Nolan Ryan because he struck everyone out and I thought that was awesome. John Smoltz, same thing. Those are probably my three favorites.

MMO: Who introduced you to the game at a young age?

Hughes: My dad did. He started teaching me how to play as soon as I could walk. He played in college at Carson-Newman in Tennessee. He also played basketball, but he definitely pulled me to focus on baseball, and it ended up being a good choice.

MMO: At what point during your development did you start to hone in on pitching?

Hughes: In high school. I went into high school as a first baseman and a pitcher. Then our coach saw me pitch and said, “Hey listen, we’re just going to stick to that.”

MMO: Given your height and how you mentioned that your dad also played basketball, were you a good player?

Hughes: I was not a good basketball player. I loved basketball, and maybe it’s because I spent all my time practicing baseball, but it never quite clicked.

I can’t really run fast – it looks like I can – can’t really shoot, can’t really dribble; it was not a pretty sight. But I played for a couple of years in high school.

MMO: What memories do you have from the 2006 Draft? Did you have an idea that the Pittsburgh Pirates were looking to select you where they did (4th round, 110th overall pick)?

Hughes: I knew all thirty teams were interested. I didn’t know where exactly in the Draft, I figured it would be in the first ten rounds. Around rounds two or three, I started getting some phone calls. It pretty much worked out as I expected it to in the ’06 Draft.

It went without hiccups, which is better than the 2003 Draft out of high school, where I thought I was going to go much higher and ended up falling to the sixteenth round (to Tampa Bay).

MMO: At what point did the Pirates ask you to transition to the bullpen? What was your initial reaction?

Hughes: In 2010, I switched over a little bit towards the end of the year because I had a terrible month of July. I remember our manager said, “Listen, we’ve got to ask you to go to the bullpen.”

I was upset, but I told him, ‘Hey, whatever the team needs, I will do.’

We ended up winning the championship that year, and I pitched in the championship game out of the bullpen. The following year I went back to doing both. Eventually, at the end of 2011, I became a full-time reliever.

MMO: Were there any changes – be it physical or mental – that you needed to make to help aid your transition from starter to a reliever?

Hughes: The biggest change is when I started sprinting in, and that was at the end of 2011. That was huge! When I started doing that, I went from being not a prospect – more of an organizational player that had been around for a while and could log some innings and throw strikes – to a guy that was major league capable.

What the sprint did was basically get my heart rate up, get my intensity up, and I started throwing a little harder and my stuff played better.

MMO: The sprinting anecdote came up with your former minor league teammate Brett Lorin on his podcast, Too Tall Sports. As you mentioned, that piece of advice you received from your catcher in the minors on sprinting in from the pen seemed to be a major boon for your career.

Hughes: Oh yeah, that was huge. I was at the end of the road. I had just gotten called up to Triple-A, because I was the oldest guy in Double-A, and we had two guys get hurt in Triple-A. They called me up as kind of like a fill-in, and I did terribly. I sat for eight or nine days.

One of my catchers, Kris Watts said, “You need to go in there next time and grunt, throw as hard as you can. Just go nuts, man. Go nuts.”

I did it, and it clicked. It worked.

MMO: I read the terrific article by Stephen J. Nesbitt in The Athletic, which detailed some of your work with Barton Smith in 2020. Can you talk about how Smith helped you and the information he provided on your sinker?

Hughes: Oh yeah, there’s a big-time article that came out today on Baseball Prospectus about it, too. It started to take off in the industry. You get on this pitch-tracking software and you see the movement or the hardware like Trackman or Rapsodo; you see the movement your ball has, and sometimes they measure it differently. My best sinkers that move down the most are the ones that I can prove hitters have less success off of; the launch angle goes drastically downward, so I get more ground balls, less damage and the quality of contact is worse.

So, I thought to myself a few years back, How on Earth can I continue to chase more downward movement? I kind of got to a point where I was just extremely inconsistent, and not that it’s not anymore; it’s still pretty inconsistent. But I understand more now that what makes my ball move downward is how the seams catch the air on the way to home plate. And that’s what I need to work on: Making sure those catch air the right way every single time so that the ball moves downward as much as possible.

Barton Smith has been a huge help in that regard. With the seam-shifted wake, I don’t understand all of it because I’m a baseball player, not a physicist, but what’s happening is the seams are creating a wake, and that’s creating drag, which is pushing the ball downward for me. And when that happens, I get way worse contact.

That’s something that I worked on with Barton over the break after the season was postponed this year, and I showed up with the ability to do it. And some days I did it great; other days I didn’t do it well. But working with the coaching staff and analysts in New York, they gave me some pointers on how to do it more consistently, and we learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t.

MMO: Do you still keep in contact with Barton?

Hughes: I talk to Barton all the time. We trade informationm, and I’ll send him my slow-motion video in my backyard, and then he’ll send me his take on what the seams are doing. We’ll talk about other pitchers around the league. Pitching Ninja [Rob Friedman] will put up a slow-motion video [on Twitter], and Barton and I will talk about the pitch and how it moves. He understands how the ball is moving much better than I do, but I understand grip and how the release of the pitches works for that pitcher, so we’re a good team.

MMO: You’re someone that has clearly embraced and utilized technology and analytics to try and improve your game. Was there a point that you can remember when you started to incorporate tech and analytics more into your routine?

Hughes: It’s been a learning process my whole career. When I got up to the major leagues, I couldn’t have told you what FIP was. I didn’t know much about any of the advanced metrics, but I believe that my career continued on and lengthened because of these metrics.

First off, when I was with the Pirates, I feel like the shift was extremely important for me as a ground ball pitcher. They said, “Just throw sinkers, and they’ll hit it into the shift.” And it worked! That’s what happened; they hit it hard, but they hit it into the shift.

Then I looked at charts of where guys hit the most ground balls, and I would hunt those locations with my sinker for those ground balls. Then if I can find out where they hit ground balls, maybe I should look to see where they swing and miss, and then I started looking where guys swung and missed at breaking balls.

It just kept advancing to the point where I was chasing vertical break because I realized that if I had the best vertical break, location wasn’t as important because guys would likely hit a ground ball.

MMO: Not long after signing a one-year deal with the Mets, you tested positive for COVID-19. What was that experience like, and how long did it take you to start feeling better?

Hughes: It was completely miserable for me; I got hit really hard. It took me about ten days to beat my symptoms, my worse symptoms. It took me back a few steps, and I was definitely worn out by the end of it.

I did continue to throw into a sock at my apartment and do arm work, so I was able to bounce back quickly on the tail end of it. But it hit me hard, and it was a scary process. I wasn’t expecting it to be that bad because I’m an athlete in my thirties, but it was an intense battle.

I lived in the city, and every night at seven everybody would clank the pans to honor the medical workers getting off their shift at the hospitals, and I did that too. Whenever I was home after I beat COVID, at 7:00 p.m. I would go outside and clank my pans.

MMO: How did you enjoy your time with the Mets?

Hughes: I loved it. I loved the guys in the clubhouse; it’s a good group. A lot of homegrown players came up the whole way with each other, which is really saying something about the organization in terms of producing some serious talent without having to acquire it elsewhere. So that was really neat, joining in their culture that they already formed up through the organization, and they welcomed me right in.

There’s a lot of really nice guys in the clubhouse. My locker neighbor was Pete Alonso, and he has such interesting things [about him]. He’s so smart – he’s very young – but he’s so smart for his age. He’s a very mature cat. And I think that’s going to help him have success for a very long time in the major leagues.

MMO: You had both a rookie manager and rookie pitching coach with the Mets in 2020 in Luis Rojas and Jeremy Hefner. What were your impressions of both?

Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Hughes: I loved them. In terms of Hefner, he might be a rookie pitching coach, but he’s been in the game in terms of pitching for a long time. With the advanced metrics that are coming out, they’re allowing people to really understand how to approach hitters; how your ball is moving, and how to find your best movement. Jeremy’s in on that stuff.

He’s extremely well-versed; he’s fluent in the data, and it really made a difference for our staff. I know it made a difference for me as I was able to make adjustments based on what he said. And that’s kind of what you will see from the leading teams in the league now, is what Hefner is doing.

In terms of Rojas, similar things: His mind is set on winning. He’s going to make the decisions needed to win. Whether or not we go out there and do what we’re asked to do is a different story. I wish I would’ve performed better this year to help the team win, and I know a lot of other guys felt the same way. But we believe in Luis, and we really respected how he ran the team.

MMO: It was a small sample size given the playing time, but in 2020 you cut down your sinker usage by over 20 percent compared to 2019 (74.86 to 51.94 percent per Brooks Baseball) while increasing your slider usage by over 15 percent (11.35 to 26.7 percent). Can you talk about the reasons you altered your pitch selection this season?

Hughes: With the slider, I added some horizontal movement to it, and I slowed it down just a tad. And to be honest, I was told by coaches early in spring training with the Astros, and again when I got to the Mets, that I really needed to compliment that sinker for guys that are getting under it, because last year I gave up a ton of home runs and I didn’t have all that much success.

The idea was to mix in that slider more to get a few more swings and misses and to limit hard contact on my sinker. And my average exit velocity did go down this year (89.7 mph in 2019, 84.6 mph in 2020), my strikeouts went up, so there was definitely some truth to that.

At the end of the day, my struggles came from being wild. I didn’t consistently command the zone. I fell behind in the count too much, and the three best counts to hit in in the major leagues are 3-0, 3-1, and 2-0. Those are the three counts where exit velocities get up over 90 mph, and I found myself in those counts way too much.

MMO: Obviously, this was an unprecedented season for Major League Baseball. As a player, can you talk a bit about playing under the conditions that were put in place? What was it like playing without fans in the stands?

Hughes: When we were on the field it was normal. You still lock in when you’re on the field, that’s just how you train and play. But it was strange walking out to the bullpen every day and seeing the fan cutouts; I’m so used to chatting with people, signing autographs. And it was just cardboard cutouts. It was an eerie feeling, it was strange.

I was asked recently what we did for fan appreciation this year, and we kind of didn’t do enough. My thought is eventually when the stadiums open back up, and there’s a treatment for COVID and hopefully a vaccine, we can triple the fan appreciation in the major leagues.

MMO: You’re facing free agency again this offseason. Do you envision yourself playing for a bit while longer in the majors?

Hughes: Yeah, I definitely felt strong this year, and I was really encouraged by how the quality of contact went down against me. I thought there were a lot of positives and I’m working out and feeling strong here in Dallas this offseason.

In terms of free agency, with being a middle relief right-handed pitcher, a lot of the time it’s just a waiting game to see how everything looks. Right now, I’m just trying to learn more about baseball, and trying to continue to work out and stay in shape.

MMO: Thanks so much for some time today, Jared.

Hughes: I appreciate you giving me a call, man.

Follow Jared Hughes on Twitter, @locatejared

The post MMO Exclusive: Right-Handed Reliever, Jared Hughes appeared first on Metsmerized.

According to the Washington Nationals, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will throw out the first pitch of the Nats’ — and MLB’s — 2020 season opener versus the New York Yankees in the nation’s capital on Thursday.

Per the statement:

The Washington Nationals are thrilled to announce that Nats super-fan [Dr. Fauci] has accepted our invitation to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day, Thursday, July 23. 

Dr. Fauci has been a true champion for our country during the COVID-19 pandemic and throughout his distinguished career, so it is only fitting that we honor him as we kick off the 2020 season and defend out World Series Championship title.

Fauci, 79, is a native of Brooklyn and alumnus of Regis High School on the Upper East Side, where he was captain of the school’s basketball team, eventually graduating from the College of the Holy Cross in 1962 and Cornell University Medical College in 1966.

Fauci’s held the position of director at the NIAIA since 1984, has been an employee of the federal government since 1968 (National Institutes of Health), and has been an integral cog in our nation’s fight against this deadly virus.

We’ll keep you posted with more information as it becomes available.

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The early response around baseball to MLB’s initial COVID-19 intake testing results — positive results were generated from 1.2 percent out of 3,185 samples taken from players and staff around the league — was generally positive.

Confirmed cases were an inevitability considering the high-powered, highly contagious nature of this virus. Now, as camps have officially been open for three days, additional positive results have begun — and will continue — to roll in.

On Friday, Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon acknowledged the unavailability of “nine or 10” Angels players, telling reporters (per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register), “it has nothing to do with opting out”. Not great.

Keep in mind, if players do test positive, no one could divulge that information to the public without the players’ approval, per Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) guidelines.

On Saturday morning, Atlanta Braves Freddie Freeman, Touki Toussaint, Will Smith, and taxi squad member Pete Kozma were the latest confirmed positives. There will be more. Again, this was inevitable.

The players and staff who will be placing themselves at the highest level of risk throughout the season are presumably on board with assuming that risk, or else they wouldn’t be here. But what happens in the worst-case scenario?

Let’s say someone gets seriously ill, needs hospitalization, or is affected long-term by this illness? Would we look back on this experiment as wise? Would it have been worth it? I’ve been tossing that argument around in my head for months, and I keep getting hung up right there.

The willingness on the players and staff’s part to go out there and get back to work is commendable, but the risk associated with this is, at times — even from afar — absolutely terrifying.

Mike Trout, the best player of his generation and possibly this century, hasn’t been shy in expressing his concerns regarding the logistics of this plan.

The exact thought that continued crossing his mind as he was preparing for training camps to reopen was, as per ESPN‘s Alden Gonzalez, was, “Why are we doing this?”. Trout’s got more to worry about than playing baseball, as he and his wife, Jessica, are expecting their first child during the season.

Former Mets starter and current Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler and his wife Dominique are expecting a child later this month, as well.

Wheeler told NBC10 Philadelphia in April he wouldn’t miss the birth of their first child and is intent on following through with that plan, per Phillies GM Matt Klentak last week.

The harmful potential of overlap between those two worlds is harrowing, to say the least. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Under three weeks until Re-Opening Day, friends. Let’s hope for the best.

The post Hoping For The Best Through Harrowing Times appeared first on Metsmerized.

As reported by Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News, Major League Baseball is “inclined to allow local and municipal governments to take precedence” with regards to fans being allowed in MLB stadiums this season.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought MLB operations to a halt in March. Since then, multiple options for how to proceed with a shortened 2020 season have been discussed.

As the league’s owners and the MLB Players’ Association hash out safety measures and, more importantly, the financial details of this unprecedented agreement, states across the country have begun re-opening their economies.

The expected revenue loss due to a lack of fans in attendance has been a contentious talking point throughout negotiations. If fans were to be allowed in, even on a limited basis, the fiscal outlook of a truncated season would be incrementally rosier.

Per The Dallas Morning News, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Wednesday that “stadiums, whether it be where the [Dallas] Mavericks play or the Texas Rangers play or the Dallas Cowboys play, will be able to seat [at] 50 percent capacity”.

As the health risk posed by the coronavirus subsides, more and more cities will adopt these measures. Caution will be key, but this is encouraging news for the prospects of a 2020 season.

We’ll keep you posted with more information as it becomes available.

The post MLB Willing To Welcome Fans In Accordance With Local Guidelines appeared first on Metsmerized.