Has Anyone Noticed Familia's Perfect Spring?

Of course, since I'm writing this a day early, I'm sure I will jinx the young man, and you will be reading this after he gives up a run...............

 But I will try to do it anyway.................

 So, again, has anyone noticed Jeurys Familia?

You know, the flame thrower who spent the past few years sitting in the top 5 in prospects in the Mets organization. The one who had a few cups of coffee in the Mets rotation, but who's wildness and propensity for walks led him to the bullpen. You know, the kid who is still only 24 years old.

 Well, its spring 2014. He's still on the team. He's healthy. He's putting up zeros when he pitches. And....... wait for it...... he only has 1 walk in 6 innings pitched!!!!!! Yes, small sample size, but for the forever pessimistic Mets fans out there who know all about Familia usually hovering around 5-6 walks per 9 innings, this is pretty amazing. Familia appears to be throwing pure heat ever since winter ball this year. And he also appears to be throwing more strikes, and challenging hitters this spring. So, while we continue to spend all of springtime complaining about having no shortstop, no first baseman, and no concrete and solid 8th inning guy (in others opinions), All Familia has done is throw in the upper 90s, average almost a K per inning, and has only allowed 2 innings in his various and brief stints on the mound.

 So I figure, if we are going to go crazy over each spring error and plate appearance that Ruben Tejada goes without success, then when we should also get more and more excited about this one time prized possession and his control this year. Will it last, I don't know. But heck, I'm also assuming that Tejada won't go out their in April and hit .150 either. Lets focus on what's going right this spring. No matter how much Matt Harvey talks with the media, wants to pitch this year, or rehabs in New York, it still doesn't change that fact that he's not walking out that Citi field dugout any time soon to take the mound.

 The Mets will also not seemingly (magically) wind up with a new starting first baseman in the next 2 weeks. And while the Mets continue to screw with that other flame throwing (Mejia), They have at least fully decided and committed to Familia in the 2014 bullpen, and beyond. Whenever I've seen Familia pitch over the past couple of years, I've noticed three things. He has either been hurt, walking people, or dominating hitters.

During winter ball this year, the walks continued. However, he remained healthy, and he struck out a lot of guys. So, here we are, counting down the days till opening day. The organization has not fully committed anyone to the SP5 spot. Heck, we don't even know for sure what Niese's status is for start of April. Parnell is still not breaking 90 mph with his fastball.

And Vic Black, AKA Rick Vaughn, is not exactly throwing a ton of strikes yet. So who will be the go to guy in the bullpen?

 We all know how Terry Collins loves to put in numerous pitchers, from batter to batter, Inning to inning, starting around the 7th. Well, I'm becoming more and more confident in the ability of Familia to come in, whether for an inning, or one hitter, and get the job done. Let's face it. The Mets need something positive going into the start of the season. And I think they have that, in the form of Jeurys Familia. Amazing how a consistent top organizational prospect can seem to go so unnoticed in hype and exposure this spring, but it has happened. Well, ok, the team, and its fans, seem to have plenty of other drama in their minds to focus on. I'm wanting to currently focus on the positives. And Familia is the positive.