ROUGH DEBUT
Betances struggles in his first spring outing for Mets as he battles back from injuries
PORT ST. LUCIE — Only 15 Grapefruit League games remain, and the Mets rotation is no clearer than it was three months ago when Michael Wacha joined the Amazin’s with the expectation of being a starter.
To make matters more unclear for the team’s pitching coaches — pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and assistant Jeremy Accardo — Steven Matz pitched three perfect innings in his third outing of spring on Friday.
Matz faced the minimum nine batters with three strikeouts over 43 pitches in the Mets’ 5-0 loss against the Nationals. He looked sharp and confident on the mound as he quickly worked through low pitch counts.
“I feel good with all my pitches. That’s really important,” Matz said. “I can go out and attack hitters and I can work on different stuff.”
The left-hander said his curveball, which he used as his putaway pitch for two strikeouts on Friday, is usually something that doesn’t start to feel good until the end of spring training. But he already feels comfortable throwing it with three more exhibition outings remaining.
Matz and Wacha are fighting for a job in the Mets’ rotation, and both pitchers are quick to convey their lack of concern over the topic. The former has a 1.50 ERA and the latter has a 1.25 ERA over three starts each. Both pitchers have said they feel as good as they’ve ever felt at this point.
Mets manager Luis Rojas said he has not posed the sixman rotation as a competition to his pitchers and he doesn’t want them to be concerned about it.
“We’ve told our starters that they’re starters,” Rojas said. “Everyone is getting stretched out, everyone is getting their pitches where they
need to be right now and that’s our plan.”
That’s their plan for the time being, and Rojas has maintained that it’s too early to begin defining roles for his players just yet.
In the meantime, he’s thrilled to see his starting rotation compile a 1.75 ERA over 16 games this spring. “We’re pleased with everyone that starts for us,” Rojas said. “Right now the six names that come up have been starters in the previous years. Everyone is getting built up, getting stretched out. Just enjoying watching them execute out there. Still too early to go one way or the other.”