New York Mets: Syndergaard and Diaz Opposite Spring Debuts

Wednesday’s matchup between the New York Mets and Houston Astros came with plenty of headlines. Noah Syndergaard and Edwin Diaz made their first appearances of the Spring, and the villain Astros made their first trip to Clover Park. Syndergaard was dominant, Diaz struggled, and the Astros were booed.

Syndergaard had his good stuff working over his first two innings of work. He only allowed one hit and struck out two batters, both with his revamped slider. The slider looked brand new from 2019 with a more downward tilt and got four swings and misses on it.  Syndergaard’s velocity on his slider was in the 97-98 range as expected, with the four-seamer touching 99.

Diaz Struggles

Anxious was the word that summed up Diaz’s first outing of the Spring. He gave up three runs on two hits while striking out one over his only inning of work. The inning was no different than the ones that defined his horrible 2019. Electric stuff but inconsistent location. All three hits we hit extremely hard, and everything was center cut. The poor outing could be first outing jitters, but nothing was promising, which is an early concern.

Ryan Cordell was a late entrant into the Mets lineup but made a considerable impact, building on his strong Spring. He went 2-for-4 with a homer and a diving catch in Center Field. Cordell is 4-for-11 through his first four games. Despite being a minor league invite to camp, his strong play is giving him an outside chance at a roster spot in the future.

Thursday in Jupiter

The Mets travel to Jupiter on Thursday to take on the Miami Marlins as Rick Porcello makes his second start. He allowed a run on two hits during his first outing of the season against the same Marlins. Miami is the final undefeated team in Spring Training and hopes to make it six in a row to begin the Spring schedule.