What are the Mets doing well in the first two spring games?
Plus, the Mets beat the Yankees to even their spring record on Sunday in Tampa
What’s Up with the Mets? 🌴
The Mets defeated the Yankees 6-4 in Tampa on Sunday (box)
The Mets hit four home runs on Sunday - one each from Jared Young, Luis Torrens, Hayden Senger, and JT Schwartz
RHP Justin Hagenman started for the Mets and allowed a run over 2.1 IP
What I’m Watching 🎥
Watch the Mets hit four home runs in their 6-4 win over the Yankees on Sunday in Tampa.
Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
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Today’s Game 🏝️
Match-up: Mets (1-1) vs. Blue Jays (1-1)
Where: TD Ballpark - Dunedin, FL
Starters: RHP Clay Holmes (0-0) vs. RHP José Berrios (0-0)
When: 1:07 PM ET
Where to Watch: MLB.tv
What have the Mets done well in the first two games of spring? ✍️
I always find it surreal when we are able to watch and talk about baseball while looking at 1-2 feet of snow on the ground. It’s hard to believe that with this snowstorm, we are basically a month away from a baseball game being played in New York.
I certainly hope it all melts by then.
Anyway, it’s been an interesting first couple of games on the Grapefruit League slate for the Mets. They had a boring loss against the Marlins on Saturday in the opener, with many starters getting 2-3 at-bats before exiting, and then a skeleton crew that traveled to Tampa managed to out slug many of the Yankee starters at Steinbrenner Field on Sunday.
There’s been some good and some bad, but it would be unfair to be overly excited by the good or overly concerned about the bad in February.
The best part about the first two games is that, well, we are watching baseball for the first time in nearly five months. Even if it doesn’t count. I’ll take it, especially after this miserable winter in New York.
But I will start with the positives, and those positives have been with the pitching from both Brandon Waddell and Justin Hagenman. They both gave the Mets positive contributions on an otherwise miserable year for the pitching staff in 2025, and they’re off to a very good start in camp with their starts in these two games. Hagenman in particular was successfully able to navigate the best of the Yankee lineup for 2.1 IP on Sunday short of one mistake to José Caballero to start the third inning. And Waddell had a nice start against Miami on Saturday himself.
Neither of them is at the top of the depth chart for the Mets. If they’re relying on either of them for any length of time over the course of the season, they’re probably not going to be in great shape. But they’re going to be important pieces in short bursts for the Mets like they were last season. They’ll be the guys who give the Mets quality long relief efforts one day and find themselves back in Syracuse the next. And, that’s okay as they’re used to piecing together a season which will undoubtedly have its lumps with the pitching staff at times.
That’s what these guys are for.
It was also nice to see JT Schwartz power up for a three-run blast on Sunday. He is a former high-end, big power prospect for the Mets, originally taken in the fourth round of the 2021 draft. But, he has struggled to stay healthy. But, right now he’s healthy and he hit a three-run home run against the Yankees which apparently just landed at Yankee Stadium.
Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Bo Bichette’s first game action at third base on Saturday.
I think he was a little unfairly criticized for his throw which pulled the first baseman off the bag on Saturday. Sure, there wasn’t a lot on the throw, but it wasn’t a bad throw by any means and the runner would’ve been out if the ball was handled as it should’ve been. The problem for Bichette was that the throw was representative of his below-average arm, which could ultimately get overexposed from third base, a position which is further away from first than shortstop, as we all know.
All the Mets need for Bichette is to simply be competent at third, and I think he will end up being a better overall defender there than he was at shortstop with Toronto. It’s not going to be pretty all the time, especially at the beginning. It’s unfair to judge the player on one play on day one at a completely foreign position, even if he’s a big leaguer making $42 million a year.
What the Mets don’t need is for Bichette to take his inevitable growing pains at third base to the plate with him. That’s going to be his main challenge through this entire transition between a new position, a new club, and an expensive contract. So, all the Mets can do is continue his progression there and just feed him to the wolves in these Grapefruit League games and minor league to get him as much experience as they can over the next five weeks.
As for the overall offense, the Mets have made a lot of contact over the first two Grapefruit League games. I know, these games don’t matter and the regulars have hardly seen any action over the first 18 innings of the schedule. But, the starters on Saturday combined to strike out four times, and the team struck out six times total on Sunday.
Again, this is a small February sample, so its nothing to get that excited about right now, but we have been discussing this subject with every move the Mets have made this winter, so it is contextually relevant. This is clearly the direction the Mets are taking their offensive philosophy. It’s built into their new acquisitions but also their organizational hitting plan as well. This strategy should help limit the team-wide slumps, help them be less station-to-station, and in turn improve the club’s ability to hit with runners in scoring position and score more runs.
It’s a refreshing transition, and long overdue for this organization. They’re going to be giving up some power in the process, especially due to those who have departed, but that’s fine - they don’t need to be so homer-dependent at the expense of stagnation when the home run ball goes dry.
After all, contact is bliss, and good things tend to happen when hitters don’t strike out.
Around the League 🚩
The Guardians agreed to sign 1B Rhys Hoskins to a minor league contract (Athletic)
Twins RHP Joe Ryan has inflammation in his back, but it should not lead to a long lay off (MLB.com)
Dodgers 1B Freddie Freeman would like to play four more seasons and retire with the Dodgers (MLB.com)