Strawberry in camp
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Darryl Strawberry didn’t come to Port St. Lucie with any sort of prepared speech for the Mets or any message he wanted to speak about. Strawberry just wanted to get away and be around baseball for a few days.
“I don’t really have [a message],” Strawberry said Tuesday at Clover Park. “I kind of just wanted a break, so I’m taking a break from working to come down and put a uniform on.”
Strawberry is working as a guest instructor in Mets camp this week, something that he has done in the past though only sometimes regularly. The outfielder, who helped both the Mets and Yankees win World Series championships, has been making more frequent appearances with the Mets, as have many former franchise greats since Steve Cohen took over ownership of the team from the Wilpon family.
Strawberry is a fan of Cohen’s biggest offseason move, the hiring of president of baseball operations David Stearns, saying he sees similarities with how Frank Cashen built teams with an eye toward sustainable futures in the 1980s.
“He’s doing exactly what Frank did,” Strawberry said. “He’s doing a good job because he’s looking at the future of the New York Mets.”
Strawberry, now 61, who will have his No. 18 retired June 1 at Citi Field, is hoping to forge a relationship with Stearns. He commended his baseball IQ and said he believes that Stearns knows how to win.
On the farm: Catcher Hayden Senger might be the best young defensive catcher in the Mets’ system, but the 26-year-old backstop is coming off the worst offensive season of his career, having hit just .188 with a .602 OPS in 81 Double-a games last year. however, the improvements at the plate have not gone unnoticed by Mets coaches.
Senger, an Ohio native who played college ball at Miami (Ohio) with righthander Grant Hartwig, used the offseason to work on getting the ball into the air more with a hitting coach in Nashville. He showed some of that work over the weekend when he hit his first opposite-field home run, the Mets’ first one of the spring slate.
Debut on deck: Edwin Diaz is finally ready to field his position. The Mets closer threw live batting practice for the third time this spring Wednesday morning and took PFP for the first time. However, the Mets still aren’t ready to use him in a Grapefruit League game. Diaz will throw another live batting practice session and then pitch in a backfield game before getting into a spring training game.