Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Max Kranick all shine on the hill
Plus, perhaps there is a suitor for Starling Marte this spring...
What’s up with the Mets? 🌴
The Mets and Marlins played to a 1-1 tie on Monday night at Clover Park (box | game highlights)
Kodai Senga started for the Mets and delivered two scoreless innings before finishing his night with a bullpen session (watch)
David Peterson followed Senga with three scoreless innings of his own, and Max Kranick struck out three over 1.1 dominant innings
Donovan Walton - who is in play for the final bench spot - singled and made a strong defensive play at second base
José Azocar got a gift triple and scored the only Mets run in the sixth inning
Injury Updates 🏥
OF Brandon Nimmo experienced knee soreness after his Grapefruit League debut on Friday. He is running at 70 percent and neither he nor the team are very concerned
OF Starling Marte (knee) is expected to make his Grapefruit League debut soon
Rumor Mill 💨
The Royals might be interested in a trade for OF Starling Marte (NY Post)
Down on the farm 🌾
RHP Brandon Sproat (46), INF Jett Williams (57), and OF Carson Benge (100) all made MLB’s top 100 prospect list (MLB.com)
Sproat was named the Mets top prospect, followed by Williams, Benge and Ryan Clifford
Today’s Game 🗓️
Match-up: Mets (4-5) vs Cardinals (3-6)
Where: Roger Dean Stadium - Jupiter, FL
Starters: RHP Tylor Megill vs. RHP Michael McGreevy
When: 1:05 PM EST
Where to Watch: ESPN
Some concerns about the pitching staff were eased on Monday night… ✍️
We are in that mundane phase of Spring Training. The players have been there for just about a month now. They’ve done all of the interviews and said all of the things they’re expected to say, over and over, and over again.
Even so, there are still important takeaways as each day passes and we inch closer and closer to Opening Day.
Believe it or not, we are 23 days from games that actually count.
Of course, that is a lot of time for things to happen, and one of those things perhaps began to evolve on Monday night in Port St. Lucie when the Mets sent three notable starting pitchers to the hill.
Kodai Senga was on the bump for the Mets, and he was expected to throw just one inning and finish getting his pitch count up to where the Mets wanted it in the bullpen behind the third base side of the ballpark.
The latter did in fact happen - Senga was seen throwing and working on his mechanics in the bullpen after his outing. But he was good enough and strong enough to give the Mets two innings on the bump against Miami, during which he was both crisp and efficient if not a little bit rusty (which is totally expected) with his fastball location. Even so, Senga threw 31 pitches, 20 for strikes, and allowed two hits with two strikeouts and no walks during his official outing.
Then came David Peterson, who was making his Grapefruit League debut but honestly, he looked like he was in mid-season form and not missing a beat from his stellar season from a year ago. He was lights out over three innings, throwing 25 of his 37 pitches for strikes and netting five strikeouts in what can only be considered a dominant three-inning performance for the Mets.
On the surface, one might expect that was good enough for the Mets in an otherwise monotone evening for the Mets at Clover Park, who somehow only produced two hits, one of which was a gift triple from José Azocar, and just the lone run on the scoreboard.
But Max Kranick entered the game in the eighth inning and put on a show of his own with his high-90s fastball and utter dominance of whatever version that was of the Marlins’ offense. He was just as good as Peterson and Senga was, if not better, fanning three batters over 1.1 IP, throwing 10 of his 15 pitches for strikes.
These three performances alone went a long way towards easing some concerns with a very concerning starting rotation.
I wrote last month that I have no idea what to expect from Senga. Last year was nothing short of a toilet flush for him, and he was unfairly put in a spot during the playoffs where he was expected to ramp up in a spring training sort of way while competing in the club’s most important games of the season. But when a player misses so much time, it’s hard to really project how he or she might perform going forward. Players age no matter what, and when they don’t play, their skills inevitably erode, and it takes a long time to get back to the level they expect to be at.
But Senga on Monday helped put to rest a lot of those concerns about him and this rotation for that matter. The Mets need him to be what he was in 2023, and that’s a difficult expectation to pin on him after what happened last season. I think his personality will serve him well - he doesn’t seem like the kind of person who puts negative pressure on himself. He’s always smiling and joking around and keeping it loose while taking his craft seriously (I hope everyone who was watching last night took notice of how he was working in the bullpen, even after he was done throwing), so I believe all of the ingredients are there for him to put 2024 behind him and for him to re-emerge as a top-of-the-rotation arm for what is unquestionably a very thin starting staff.
And then there was Peterson. I am the first to admit he is a pitcher who has always made me feel like he was teetering on the edge of dominance and non-competitiveness. Even last year when he was pitching so well, I unfairly was waiting for that shoe to drop and for someone to absolutely destroy him on the mound.
But it never happened, and after last night, there’s no reason to expect it to happen. His mechanics are crisp, he’s repeating them, his arm slot is finally consistent after years of problematic releases (do you remember when he would miss badly away with his pitches to right-handed hitters? That doesn’t happen anymore), and he looks like he could seriously emerge as a top left-hander in the league with the way things are trending.
Sure, his peripherals from last season might suggest he had a lot of luck on his side. But anyone who can produce a 50.8 percent ground ball rate in this league is doing something right, and Peterson’s 2.90 ERA from a year ago and the fact he allowed three runs or fewer in 17 of his 21 starts is indicative of a pitcher throwing with more than a bottle of good luck in his liquor cabinet.
Then Kranick rounded out the night for the Mets. It’s not immediately clear where Kranick might fit into the mix. He’s been used as a starter this spring but has also made two relief appearances. If I were the Mets, I’d be stretching him out as a starter right now even though his stuff might eventually play better as a reliever. He’s a hard thrower and he’s been dominant this spring although it is early. But while he’s showing a capability he can serve in a variety of roles for this club, I’d like to see him become a starting pitching option if possible. The club needs that right now more than they need front-end or even back-end relievers, and with his stuff, he could emerge as a viable, medium-term option for this staff even after Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea return.
All in all, if you can sift through the monotony of that game at Clover Park, you can see the important progress this pitching staff made against the Marlins. One lazy game on March 3 doesn’t mean much for most clubs, but for the Mets and this starting staff, it could’ve meant a whole lot more than other days have and will as we get closer to the season.
Around the League 🚩
LHP José Quintana agreed to a one-year deal with the Brewers (FanSided)
OF Adam Duvall will retire from baseball if he doesn’t get fair market value in free agency (NY Post)
Yankees RHP Luis Gil has been shutdown for at least six weeks with a high-grade lat strain (ESPN)
The league office is reviewing a petition for MLB to remove Pete Rose from the ineligible list (ESPN)
...a bottle of good luck in his liquor cabinet.
That IS the quote of the year.
I have many bottles of bad luck in my liquor cabinet.
Good description of Peterson teetering. Hopefully, that is all behind him now.