We’ve all heard the jokes about the Mets sending Ruben Tejada, Wilmer Flores and Lucas Duda to do some offseason training this Winter, AKA Fat Camp.
However, the truth is that the placed is a state of the art facility that gets their athletes stronger, faster and more focused on their physical performance.
Tim Rohan of the New York Times wrote a terrific article about the Michigan based complex and the incredible work they do there.
You have to appreciate a training facility that has these words emblazoned on their wall:
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won’t.”
Anyway, what caught my immediate attention was a photo taken a few days ago of Wilmer Flores.
Gone is all the baby fat. Gone is the soft gut we saw last September. Remarkably, Flores now looks like a man made of steel, a warrior ready to go to battle, a man possessed.
This is not the same Wilmer Flores that left the field on the last day of the season when he spoke to us for an MMO Exclusive. Back then, he told us that he had two important missions for the offseason.
First, Flores emphasized to us that he is driven toward improving his selectivity and discipline at the plate. “I just need to work on getting a good pitch to hit,” said Flores. “And try not to swing on too many pitches out of the strike zone.”
Secondly, he told us his primary goal this winter was to improve his speed. “I will be trying to get quicker,” said Flores when we asked what he’ll do during the offseason. “That’s what I’m going to do.”
Flores told MMO that he wasn’t promoted to the major leagues to sit back and get comfortable. He said he was here to stay in the big leagues, and not to get comfortable, but to work even harder than he ever has before.
“On this team, I look at all the players,” said Flores. “The veteran players like David [Wright], and [Daniel] Murphy, I just like the way they work, I like the way they go about their business.” That’s where my head is at, he told us.
One look at that new photo of Flores, and you know he wasn’t feeding MMO a crock of BS. This kid is serious… If we don’t make room for him on this lineup and give him 500 at-bats, it will be the Mets’ loss.
Wilmer Flores is going to be a beast in this game. But will it happen with the Mets?
I thought this offseason was about making room for young and upcoming players like Flores, Juan Lagares and Jenrry Mejia to play everyday and have significant roles on this team. Now I’m not so sure what we’re doing.
(Photo: Joshua Lott, New York Times)
