Plenty of promise on display from three Mets prospects on Wednesday
Plus, Francisco Álvarez made his spring debut, plus injury updates on AJ Minter and Francisco Lindor
What’s Up with the Mets? 🌴
The Mets were shutout 6-0 by the Cardinals in Port St. Lucie on Wednesday afternoon (box)
RHP Jonah Tong allowed one hit over the first two innings in his first start of spring training, before giving up a three-run homer to start the third
OF Carson Benge enjoyed a big day at the plate, going 3-for-3
OF A.J. Ewing continued his impressive start to spring, finishing 1-for-2 with a double
C Francisco Álvarez went 0-for-2 with a strikeout in his first Grapefruit League start
Veteran SS Vidal Bruján, who is also battling for a roster spot, went 2-for-2 with a pair of singles
Injury Updates 🏥
LHP A.J. Minter (left lat surgery) expects to throw his first live BP next week, and hopes to pitch in at least one Grapefruit League game before the end of spring training
SS Francisco Lindor (left hamate bone surgery) is roughly two-to-three days away from being cleared to do some impact activities
What I’m Reading 📰
Veteran Craig Kimbrel is pacing himself as he looks to win a spot in the Mets’ bullpen (SNY)
A deep dive on Mets prospect A.J. Ewing (SNY)
David Peterson, the longest-serving Met, served as one of the hosts for a team bonding night on Wednesday (NY Post)
A 30-year search for a long-lost baseball player came to an unexpected end (The Athletic)
Phillies star Bryce Harper opened up in a wide-ranging interview (The Athletic)
Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
On the latest episode of the Just Mets podcast, Andrew Claudio flew solo to recap the first weekend of spring games and host a live Q&A!
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Today’s Game 🏝️
Match-up: Mets (2-2-1) at Astros (SS) (1-2)
Where: CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches - West Palm Beach, FL
Starters: RHP Nolan McLean (0-0) vs. RHP Tatsuya Imai (0-0)
When: 1:05 PM EDT
Where to Listen: Audacy Mets Radio 880AM
Benge, Ewing, and Tong all flash potential against Cardinals ✍️
Spring training is rolling along nicely and, win or lose, there are always a bunch of interesting developments to explore.
Let’s get into a couple from Wednesday’s loss to the Cardinals…
Stock Rising
You wouldn’t think there would be many positives from a 6-0 shutout loss, especially offensively. But, believe it or not, we saw plenty of encouraging signs from the lineup on Wednesday, namely from a couple of top prospects.
Carson Benge had a really productive day at the plate, going 3-for-3 while showing a tremendous amount of discipline. All three hits came with two strikes in the count against major league pitchers. Yes, this is only spring training, but that shouldn’t take away from how impressive it was to see Benge really battle at the plate and grind through to get on base in all three of his at-bats.
Not only is it incredibly positive to see a rookie handling himself in that way this early in spring training, but Benge’s ability to always stay in the fight should make him even more of a lock to make the Opening Day roster. After all, the front office has put a lot of emphasis this offseason on building a roster that excels in delivering contact, not striking out, and making life tough for the opposing pitcher. Benge embraced all of those attributes against the Cardinals. Even if the results don’t come straight away, if he can at least produce gritty at-bats and not be an automatic out every time he’s up at the plate, then Benge should still be considered the favorite to win the job out in right field given his high ceiling, not to mention his plate discipline which could prove to be a real X-factor.
Given the new lineup’s focus on reducing strikeouts and making elite contact, Benge’s outing on Wednesday would no doubt have really impressed the front office. Not only did he gut out a 10-pitch at-bat in his third time up, but he laced a single to left field with an exit velocity of 101.2 mph in the at-bat before. Again, it is just one spring game, but it was hard to watch Benge yesterday and not get excited about the kind of player he could become for this team both in 2026 and beyond.
Benge wasn’t alone in excelling against St. Louis, however. A.J. Ewing also continued his impressive spring, going 1-for-2 with a double. The outfield prospect has flashed good range in the field so far this spring, as well as an ability to be both efficient and dangerous at the plate.
Ewing will begin the year in the minors, but his stock is continually rising and he is fast becoming yet another prospect Mets fans should get really excited about. He has the potential to morph into a really good defense-first center fielder, while his offensive skillset lends to being potentially a leadoff hitter who can get on base at a high clip. Plus, Ewing’s elite speed should make him a real weapon on the basepaths.
While it is the pitching that gets talked about a lot in terms of prospect potential, both Benge and Ewing are tantalizing proof that the Mets have a lot of talent on the come on the hitting side, too. And both players clearly fit the profile of what president of baseball operations David Stearns is looking for offensively. While they both still have a long way to go, Wednesday was yet another step in the right direction, particularly for Benge who is doing everything right in his bid to become an impact player for New York this year.
Cutter-Up
Jonah Tong’s outing on Wednesday was the perfect illustration of why it is important to look beyond the box score in spring training. While he finished his first start of spring training with three earned runs allowed, they all came on a three-run homer in the third inning.
For the first two innings, Tong was dominant. He allowed just one hit while striking out two with no walks, throwing 30 pitches in the process. More importantly, however, the righty used the outing to debut a new pitch: the cutter.
Going into the offseason, it was always clear that Tong needed to develop a new weapon in his arsenal in order to become an effective starter at the big league level. He showed promise in the majors last year, but a lot more work and seasoning was required.
Well, it seems that spending the winter cooking up new pitches in the lab has paid off. Tong leaned on his new cutter a lot against the Cardinals, throwing 18 of them for 36 percent of his 50 pitches, according to Baseball Savant. Only his four-seam fastball was thrown more frequently (23 times). Granted, it was the cutter that was sent out of the ballpark for a three-run home run by St. Louis’ Nolan Gorman. Still, those kinds of teething problems are to be expected with a new pitch.
The main thing is Tong is actively focusing on developing his arsenal and honing his craft. That’s vitally important. And now is the perfect time to work on new pitches and experiment with what works and what doesn’t. To be able to complement his fastball with both a curveball and now the cutter will give Tong a much better chance of dominating against major league hitters.
And the good news is that, aside from that one blip early in the third inning, which you could put down to fatigue, the cutter looked sharp. Tong will have the rest of spring to refine that particular pitch, and he’ll also be able to harness it a lot more down in Triple-A to start the season. If he can spend his time in the minors wisely by turning the cutter into a reliable weapon, while also further evolving his pitch arsenal, then a return to the major leagues probably won’t be all that far away. With Brandon Sproat now a Brewer, Tong is the next guy up and his first start of spring training was a positive indicator that he’s on the right track to becoming the kind of pitcher the Mets want him to be.
Around the League 🚩
RHP Max Scherzer is reportedly in agreement on a one-year, $3 million deal to return to the Blue Jays (NY Post)
The Yankees reportedly signed former Kansas City OF Randal Grichuk to a minor league deal (NY Post)
Hall of Famer CC Sabathia will have his number retired by the Yankees, in addition to having a plaque in Monument Park (MLB.com)
Making his first start of spring, Pirates RHP Paul Skenes struck out four over 2 1/3 innings against the Braves