Stanton’s homer surge no surprise to ex-Marlin AJ
AJ Ramos was teammates with Giancarlo Stanton for five-plus seasons before the Mets acquired the relief pitcher from the Marlins last month. The two are friends and he got to witness Stanton’s jaw-dropping power up close for a long time. So Ramos isn’t the least bit surprised by what Stanton has been doing recently, 11 homers in his last 13 games entering Friday.
“It’s not off-par for him,” Ramos said. “When he’s healthy and he’s locked in, he’s one of the best hitters in the game.”
With the Marlins in Flushing this weekend, this marks Ramos’ first series against his former club, and he’s looking forward to the challenge of potentially facing Stanton. It didn’t happen during the Mets’ 3-1 loss on Friday as Ramos wasn’t used.
“Definitely gonna be fun. That’s bragging rights for the rest of the year,” Ramos said before Friday’s game. “Hopefully I’ll face him a couple of times. We talked about it a little bit, and we’ll see what happens. I told him I might have to do something after I strike him out, and he said if he hits a home run he might have to do something too. So we’ll see what happens. It’s gonna be fun. He’s been on a crazy tear. This is exactly when I want to face him. I don’t want to face him when he’s not doing well.” One thing Terry Collins has noticed about Ramos — who had 92 saves with Miami over the last three seasons — in his first seven outings with the Mets is how much better he seems to be in pressure situations.
“When it’s crunch time, he’s immensely more focused,” Collins said. “If it’s a save situation, his stuff, I can see why he’s got a lot of saves … I’ve seen it from closers, but I’ve really seen what a tremendous
difference — his fastball has more life, his offspeed pitches have more bite.”
With Jeurys Familia (blood clot) having begun rehab games, the question becomes whether Familia would immediately retake the closer’s job from Ramos when he’s ready. Collins, who said Familia at some point needs to feel comfortable throwing 30 pitches and have a two-inning rehab game, added that Familia might not return to the ninth-inning role right away.
CECCHINI’S CEILING
Gavin Cecchini slashed .325/.390/.448 with Triple-A Las Vegas last year but this year dropped to .267/.329/.380. The 23-year-old infielder, a first-round pick from 2012, made changes this season that Mets hitting coaches are trying to fix, Collins said. But Collins remains optimistic about Cecchini. “This guy has bat potential,” Collins said. “So I still think he’s got a chance to be an everyday player. ”
WHEELER BACK ON MOUND
Zack Wheeler threw off a mound for the first time in nearly a month Thursday. The Mets righthander said it was a light session, but that it went well. Wheeler, who is pitching in his first season after 2015 Tommy John surgery, has been on the disabled list since July 24 with what the team said was a stress reaction in his right upper arm. Wheeler, who just began throwing with a regulation-weight ball a week ago, felt good enough after his first mound-session to throw off flat ground on Friday. The team said they were not sure what the next step for Wheeler will be.
BACK IN THE FLO
Wilmer Flores (rib cage) returned Friday after missing two games and went 1-for-3 with an RBI at first base. Dominic Smith and Michael Conforto both didn’t start but each went 0-for-1 as pinch hitters.