Over the last three days, the New York Mets have had an intrasquad game as well as their first three Spring Training games.
There have been some exciting things that have taken place in the past few days in Port St. Lucie. Let’s take a look at a few of the top takeaways in the early part of Spring Training for the Mets.
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Mets early Spring Training takeaways:
Mets prospects getting off to a good start:
Three of the Mets’ top seven prospects, per MLB Pipeline, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Ronny Mauricio, all got off to fast starts in the last few days.
With Baty, it started in the intrasquad game Friday. He went 2-2 with an RBI. Both of his hits went to opposite field. His first was a single that went just over a jumping Francisco Lindor. The second hit was a double that Baty hit well into left-center field.
Baty followed up his fantastic start Friday with quite a bang on Saturday in the first exhibition game. In his first at-bat, Baty crushed a home run to center field.
After his two-run homer, Baty had another hit and a walk. He got on base all three times he was at the plate. Baty could not possibly have a better start.
Vientos also had one hit in the first game the Mets played on Saturday. His best moment yet came yesterday afternoon.
Vientos got a hold of one very well, showing off his natural swing and driving one deep into left-center. He drove in a run as Alex Ramirez scored from first, and Vientos reached second.
Lastly, with Mauricio, the hit of the weekend came in his one plate appearance during yesterday’s game. Off the bat, Mauricio had a ridiculous exit velocity of 110 MPH. He drove this home run 450 feet.
It is encouraging to see some of the Mets’ best prospects showcase their upside.
Joey Lucchesi and Jose Butto give the Mets solid starts:
In Friday’s intrasquad matchup, Joey Lucchesi got the start for the Mets veteran team. He did some quality work. Lucchesi saw seven batters, recorded one strikeout, gave up just one hit, and allowed a walk. It was a great way to get started for Lucchesi in his first outing since June 2021.
In the Mets Saturday night exhibition game, Jose Butto got the start and did well. He went 1.2 innings and did allow a run and two walks. However, Butto recorded four strikeouts in under two innings of work. He also got eight swings and misses on 18 swings (44% whiff).
Mets new addition Tommy Pham hits the ball hard:
He may not have reached base once in Saturday night’s game, but Mets’ new free agent addition, Tommy Pham, hit the ball incredibly hard in all three of his at-bats. Pham recorded three exit velocities of 107.2, 105.9, and 104.0 MPH. In yesterday’s game, Pham did get on base with two walks.
Mets benefitting from new shift rules:
On Saturday night, the Mets lineup consisted of mostly 26-man roster players, and they hit the ball well, recording 10 hits. Whether it be Daniel Vogelbach, Pete Alonso, or Francisco Lindor, who combined for six hits, there were examples of the Mets offense benefitting from the shift bans, reaching base with hits. Alonso went 3-3 with a home run in the Mets’ second game Saturday.
To this point, few Mets have gotten off to a better start than Vogelbach. He went 2-3 with an RBI Saturday night. Vogelbach followed that up with a 1-3 showing yesterday in which he drove in two runs. He got a hold of one low and inside very well, hitting it off the wall in right-center field. Vogelbach could have a much better second year with the Mets.