An Amazin’ glut in center field
WASHINGTON — Brandon Nimmo and Juan Lagares have gone from sharing center field to waiting for any opportunity to contribute.
The Mets outfielders were bumped to the back burner with Michael Conforto’s return from the disabled list on Thursday, a full 3 ¹/2 weeks before the team had originally planned. And manager Mickey Callaway admitted it will be “tough” finding playing time for everybody.
“We have got a lot of tough decisions coming up,” Callaway said. “I think Lagares deserves to play, Nimmo deserves to play and Conforto is going to show he deserves to play, so it’s going to be tough to f ind everybody the at-bats they probably deserve.
“But hopefully we are going to pick and choose and in the National League we are using everybody almost every night, so hopefully we can pick a spot when they are on the bench to help impact the game.”
Nimmo played a role Thursday, delivering a pinch-hit double in the seventh inning of the Mets’ 8-2 victory over the Nationals.
The Mets bullpen has a 1.16 ERA, which was the second-best figure in the major leagues entering Friday. Only the Cubs were lower, with an 0.62 ERA. Robert Gsellman, Seth Lugo, AJ Ramos, Jerry Blevins, Hansel Robles and Jeurys Familia have yet to allow an earned run.
Zack Wheeler allowed one run on three hits, walked one and struck out six over five innings for Triple-A Las Vegas on Friday in his first action of the season.
The right-hander lost his opportunity to begin the season in the Mets’ rotation with two straight underwhelming performances against the Nationals near the end of spring training. Friday wasn’t an off day for all of the Mets. Noah Syndergaard threw a morning bullpen session at Nationals Park. Among those who intended to absorb some of the city’s history on the off day was Kevin Plawecki, who — through a family connection — planned to tour the West Wing of the White House.