Crowded race for back end of pen
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Rain canceled Wednesday’s Mets game against the Astros at CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches, which means a deep battle for the last spots in the bullpen took a day off.
In what has to be the most wideopen competition in Mets camp, there are about a dozen relievers still vying for the last two seats in the bullpen when the season opens.
Track record and contractual situations should guarantee slots to Edwin Diaz, Adam Ottavino, Brooks Raley, Jake Diekman, Jorge Lopez and Drew Smith. Presuming the Mets carry five starters into the season, the Mets would have two spots open at the end of the pen.
The front-runner for one spot is Michael Tonkin, who is signed to a split contract and on the 40-man roster. The well-traveled 34-yearold pitched to a 4.28 ERA with the Braves last season and is especially valuable because the righty can offer length, capable of taking down a couple innings at a time.
Finding a favorite for the other spot is a more difficult task. A quick rundown of the possibilities: Austin Adams, Phil Bickford, Shintaro Fujinami, Reed Garrett, Grant Hartwig, Nate Lavender, Yohan Ramirez, Sean Reid-Foley, Yacksel Rios, Chad Smith, Cole Sulser and Josh Walker.
“We’re going to get to a stretch here where we’ll get a better look at some of them and we’ll see where we’re at,” manager Carlos Mendoza said this week, adding that he will be watching for the pitchers who attack the strike zone. “So far I’ve been really, really pleased with the way they’re throwing the baseball.”
The most intriguing option is Fujinami, a flamethrower who has hit 103 mph and owns a nasty splitter. But the second-year major leaguer could not find the strike zone last season with the Orioles and is starting slowly in camp after tending to a visa and personal issue in Japan.
The 29-year-old was expected to make his first spring appearance Wednesday before the game was called.
“We see the stuff is there,” Mendoza said of Fujinami, who can be optioned to the minors. “I’m excited to watch him pitch.”
Among the pitchers who are on the 40-man and do not have options — and thus, have a leg up because they may be lost to waivers if they do not make the team — are Bickford, Ramirez and Reid-Foley.
This is the right spring for ReidFoley to emerge as an early standout. The 28-year-old, originally acquired in the 2021 trade that sent Steven Matz to the Blue Jays, has pitched just 38 ¹/₃ innings in parts of three major league seasons with the Mets largely because of 2022 Tommy John surgery. He successfully returned last season and now is trying to make the club.
The first spring without any remaining options can be pressurefilled for some. Reid-Foley is not among that subset.
“You either go out, pitch well, or you pitch bad,” the righty said. “I either play for the Mets or another team, you know what I’m saying? There ain’t no pressure.”
That attitude — or maybe it’s the four-seamer, changeup and slider that have been effective so far — is working. Through three innings of the Grapefruit League, the righty has allowed no hits and one walk while striking out six. He struck out the side Tuesday against the Yankees, who swung eight times and missed six.
Reid-Foley said his arsenal is unchanged, though his pace has picked up.
“I’m really working on just trying to move a little quicker on the mound,” Reid-Foley said. “I’m getting there.”
Another spring standout has been Lavender, who pitches both with deception — pauses in his windup that mess with timing — and whose stuff plays up because of his long limbs, delivery and release point. The lefty’s fastball sits in the low-90s, yet it has proven consistently difficult to hit because Lavender sneaks up on the hitter.
Last season, Reds closer and Edwin Diaz’s brother Alexis led baseball with an average extension — how far off the mound he releases the pitch — of 7.7 feet. In Lavender’s two spring innings, he has averaged 7.4 feet, which would have tied for the eighth-farthest in baseball last year.
Lavender, who struck out 86 in 54 ¹/₃ innings between Double- and Triple-A last season, said he realized his fastball played differently while at the University of Illinois.
“I was never searching for velocity,” said Lavender, who has struck out four in two perfect spring innings. “You don’t really need to fix anything if it’s not broken.”
It would be tougher for Lavender to crack the Opening Day roster because the Mets are still able to option him to the minors.
Still, his early work has made him one more candidate in a wide-open field.