WORLD BEATER
Lugo impresses Mets with Amazin’ WBC outing
PORT ST. LUCIE — Seth Lugo may be over 2,000 miles away, but the right-hander is still making his case for a rotation spot. Friday night, the Mets were watching as he pitched 5.1 scoreless innings against what was supposed to be a dominant Venezuelan lineup in Puerto Rico’s World Baseball Classic win.
“It can have an effect absolutely,” Sandy Alderson said Saturday morning. “You know the thing I like about the competition is that it shows you something you can’t get here, in spring training, that’s the intensity.”
Alderson said the Mets do have a scout watching the WBC games, but the front office back here in Florida is also keeping an eye on what is happening with their players. Lugo was dominant Friday night, giving up one hit, to Tigers’ slugger Miguel Cabrera, and striking out three. He did not walk a batter and threw 65 pitches.
“Against that lineup, you better believe it does,” Terry Collins said when asked if Lugo could be making an impression while away with the WBC. “Those national teams are playing for a little integrity. Shut down that lineup he did last night, that’s pretty impressive.” This spring, Lugo needs to impress. With the Mets’ vaunted rotation returning to camp healthy this season and the expected eventual return of Zack Wheeler, Lugo’s role is not yet determined. He and Robert Gsellman, who also stepped into the rotation last season, are seemingly batting to hold that fifth starter’s spot for Wheeler, who will begin the season in extended spring training. Gsellman came into camp ahead of Lugo in the Mets’ depth charts.
In three Grapefruit League starts before he left to join team Puerto Rico, Lugo allowed three earned runs in seven innings with seven strikeouts.
The battle for the fifth spot has some pretty high stakes. After being burned by injuries to their starters last season, the Mets are talking about sending Lugo or Gsellman to Triple-A instead of the bullpen. But the Mets have yet to have any reliever establish himself this spring enough to takeover the role of long man in the bullpen, forcing the Mets to reconsider their plans. Some are arguing to use Lugo in that role and others want to keep them all stretched out and ready to step in just in case there is another serious injury this summer.
On Saturday, the Mets had on the mound a reminder just how fragile their rotation can be. Steven Matz was shut down last season with a shoulder injury and had offseason surgery for a bone spur that plagued him all season. Saturday he threw three innings, allowing one unearned run on three hits against the Nationals. He struck out two.
Matz spent time on the disabled list each of his two seasons in the majors and has a goal of making every start this season.
“When you have setbacks and you get injured, it’s part of the game,” Matz said. “You’ve just got to keep working to get back out there.
“Right now. I am just happy with where I am at physically.”
But with Matz’s history of injuries and with Matt Harvey (Thoracic Outlet Syndrome) and Jacob deGrom (ulnar nerve) both coming off surgery, the Mets have concerns about health. So this spring, Lugo and Gsellman could be pitching for their spot on the 25-man roster. Friday night, Lugo made a strong case.
Alderson said that the WBC’s intensity is a great test for Lugo and other players.
“Sometimes it’s not just a playoff intensity, it’s like a Game 7 intensity,” Alderson said.
“You can’t recreate that here.”
Lugo showed the Mets he can get major league hitters out last season when he stepped into — and helped rescue — an injury-ravaged rotation. He went 5-2 with a 2.67 ERA over 17 appearances, including eight starts.
While Gsellman fits the Mets prototypical hard-throwing starter mold more than Lugo, there are some in the organization that wouldn’t count him out.
“Nothing he does surprises me,” pitching coach Dan Warthen said. “He’s a good pitcher.”
l More Mets on pages 68-69.