The New York Mets need dominance from Edwin Diaz whenever baseball returns again. As MLB starts to work on plans to return in the next month Diaz is keeping himself ready to go in Puerto Rico.
— Edwin Diaz (@SugarDiaz39) May 7, 2020
Diaz has done this multiple times throughout the season’s postponement. His fastball reached 97 mph and his slider got clocked at 91 mph. While the hitters he faced were not major league quality, the stuff does not deceive the eyes.
Small Improvements
One of the reasons new pitching coach Jeremy Hefner spoke of was Diaz’s arm side run on his fastball. His control with both pitches was on and off but his fastball leaking to the middle of the plate burned him. Through the video, we see more of a forward release with his motion which makes it looks like he is placing the ball into the glove.
We never saw the grip on the fastball but some work had to be done with that to put more control on it. The biggest thing that cannot be simulated is the crowd at Citi Field booing him after his first mistake. One thing that separates Mets fans from others is that as much as they are scared of him in the ninth, they want his success more than anything.