First step for Bruce as insurance policy
Happy to escape unscathed in test run
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — In his courtship of a new position, Jay Bruce can at least say he got to first base on Tuesday.
“Nobody got hurt, so it was fine,” the Mets outfielder said after playing four innings at first base in his team’s 2-1 exhibition victory over the Astros.
Bruce’s only other major league experience at the position consisted of three games in 2014 with the Reds. Though the Mets have no plans to play Bruce at first base during the season if Lucas Duda is healthy, manager Terry Collins wants an insurance plan for a team loaded with outfield depth.
There was some thought in the offseason that Michael Conforto might become Plan B at first base. But the Mets want the 24-year-old Conforto to spend this spring focused on his swing instead of dealing with another position. So it’s Bruce as the backup plan, giving the Mets a level of comfort should Duda — who missed most of last season with a stress fracture in his back — incur an injury.
Bruce was tested twice against the Astros. In the second inning, Wilmer Flores bounced a throw from third base that Bruce scooped to record the final out. In the fourth, Bruce fielded a grounder and flipped to Jacob deGrom covering the bag for the final out. On that play, Bruce hesitated on his flip — a brief miscommunication — before getting the ball to deGrom.
“You’ve got to get the ball to Jake a little quicker,” Collins said. “But I saw stuff [Bruce] can learn and thought he handled himself well.”
Bruce said he has worked out at first base on three occasions this spring and expects to make an additional start at the position later in the exhibition season.
“There won’t be as much anticipation [next time],” Bruce said. “I think today there was as much anticipation as I’ve had for a spring training game in a long time.”
Part of the adjustment is figuring out where to stand.
“Like getting further away from the bag when a right-hander is up and knowing you can get back to the bag before the ball is thrown over there,” Bruce said.
“I talked to Jake and he said, ‘Just [flip] me the ball as soon as you can after you catch it.’ That’s one of the things, in my mind, I wanted to make it easy for him to get to the bag, but it’s just the little stuff you have to get up to speed on before it becomes natural.”
The Mets picked up Bruce’s option — worth $13 million in 2017 — as insurance against Yoenis Cespedes departing through free agency. When Cespedes re-signed with the club, Bruce became expendable, but the Mets whiffed over the winter in their attempt to find a suitable trade involving the lefty slugger.
It has left Bruce as the starting right fielder in camp, with Conforto possibly headed toward a stint at Triple-A Las Vegas to begin the season.
As much as the Mets might like to have Bruce and Conforto playing regularly in the same lineup, that likely won’t occur unless there is an injury.
“If something happens to Lucas and we have a situation, we’ve got to have somebody ready,” Collins said. “And I just think Jay is somebody who can do it.”
Bruce survived Round 1 and says he is ready for the next step.
“I think they wanted to get the shock and awe out of the way,” Bruce said. “I wanted to go out there and catch the ball and play the game.”