Is the Mets pitching lab at it again?
The Dodgers and Cubs open the MLB regular season in Tokyo. Plus, can the Mets pitching lab save Griffin Canning?
What’s up with the Mets? 🌴
The Mets return to spring action tonight against the Astros after enjoying an off-day on Monday
Mets RHP Clay Holmes and Astros LHP Framber Valdez will officially be the Opening Day pitching match-up in Houston next week
Today’s Game 🗓️
Match-up: Mets (9-13) at Astros (13-10)
Where: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches — West Palm Beach, FL
Starters: TBD vs. RHP Ronel Blanco (1-1, 9.00 ERA)
When: 6:05 PM EST
Where to Watch: N/A
If the Mets pitching lab can fix Griffin Canning… all hail the Mets pitching lab ✍️
When the Mets initially signed right-handed pitcher Griffin Canning to a one-year, $4.25 million major league deal this winter, a lot of people scoffed. Myself included.
For a club that was in need of as much starting pitching as they could possibly get, entering the offseason with just two viable major league starters on their roster (one of whom made one start in 2024) and was in need of an extra starter to run with a six-man rotation, Canning was far from the type of pitcher fans were hoping for. And rightly so.
Last season was an outright disaster for Canning, who made 32 appearances (31 starts) with the lowly Angels. In 171.2 innings of work, the 28-year-old pitcher had a 5.19 ERA, 5.26 FIP, 81 ERA+, and allowed the most earned runs in the league with a total of 99.
The rest of Canning’s career hasn’t been particularly swell, either, as the righty has a 4.78 ERA and 4.4 fWAR over 99 career appearances in the big leagues. From that regard, Mets fans were appropriately skeptical at best. Yeah, the Mets vaunted pitching lab flexed on all of us last year with what they did with Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, and David Peterson, but Griffin Canning? There’s no way… right?
And while you take all spring results with a grain of salt (even if they support your own personal narratives), it’s hard to ignore what Canning has shown so far this spring.
Through three outings so far this spring, Canning has pitched to a 0.90 ERA, allowing just one run with 16 strikeouts and two walks over 10 innings. Opposing batters are hitting just .171 against the righty so far in Grapefruit League play.
This past Sunday, in particular, was Canning’s most eye-popping performance of the spring slate, striking out nine of the 17 batters that he faced while generating 13 swings-and-misses. In the outing, Canning threw his slider 50.7 percent of the time, his four-seam fastball (averaging 93.2 MPH) 25.4 percent of the time, and his change-up 23.9 percent of the time.
Canning has also thrown a cutter, sinker, and sweeper at times this spring to give him a six-pitch arsenal, though pitch tracking metrics only recorded three pitch types in his most recent start.
While I generally try not to overreact to spring results, especially with journeyman-type players, it’s hard not to wonder if David Stearns and this Mets pitching lab are at it again here. They did some big things last year and have been praised league-wide for the strides they’ve been able to make in such a short time, but to be able to turn around Canning’s career would be their biggest coup yet.
‘I feel like every single day that I'm here, I'm getting a little bit better,” Canning told reporters on Sunday. “It’s fun to take some confidence into the games.”
It’s been interesting watching Canning pitch so far this spring as he really is a reverse pitcher – pumping in his off-speed pitches regularly in order to surprise people with his fastball that, to this point in his career, has been subpar at best.
This spring, Canning has thrown his four-seamer just 29 percent of the time, down from 37 percent during the 2024 regular season with the Angels. To contrast that, his slider usage has ballooned up from 27 percent last year to a whopping 41 percent this spring. This distribution of pitches has allowed Canning to keep opposing hitters off balance and work ahead in counts, where he surprises hitters with that fastball with two strikes after seeing a heavy dose of off-speed stuff.
It’s far too early to say whether or not the Mets pitching lab has pulled off another stunner, but if they have this truly would be the coup de grâce. And if they have, I’m not sure how any of us could ever doubt them again.
Around the League 🚩
The Dodgers kicked off the 2025 MLB season with a 4-1 win over the Cubs in Tokyo behind a strong start by Yoshinobu Yamamoto
The Braves reportedly signed former closer Craig Kimbrel to a minor league contract (MLB.com)
Astros RHP Lance McCullers made his first appearance on the mound since 2022, pitching a scoreless inning in Houston’s spring loss
The Rangers, looking for additional pitching depth, signed LHP Patrick Corbin to a one-year deal
Coup de grace is hardly the word to describe what the pitching lab is doing for Griffin Canning. And everybody gets it wrong about Griffin Canning anyway. What matters is what he says about himself. I have followed him for the last five or six years and I’ve never been disappointed. One thing he does well is keep runners off the basis. So there’s my two cents. And don’t come back and tell me stats because I’ve looked at them a lot. Looking forward to his performance with the Mets and hoping you guys treat him with some respect.