Mike's Mets - Microbes, Gizmos, and Being a Bit Greedy

 

By Mike Steffanos

As I expected, the rest of the weekend series against the Nationals was postponed, and now we have to wait until Monday for the Mets' Opening Day. As much as that sucks, it seemed inevitable once the first game was called off. The only thing that's going to put an end to all of these "out of an abundance of caution" covid stoppages will be when most MLB players and coaches are vaccinated. It will be a relief not to have the ever-present threat of having baseball taken away with no warning hanging over our heads any longer. In the meantime, this is proof-positive that, while normal may be in sight, it's not here yet.

I'm not going to spend any further verbiage on the bummer of having to wait four extra days for our long-awaited team opener. Nats GM Mike Rizzo keeps assuring everyone that it's not the team's fault and it could have happened to anyone. It would be most uncharitable of me to point out that 29 other teams were able to avoid multiple infections coming out of spring training. 26 of those clubs opened as scheduled, while the vagueries of weather merely caused Red Sox and Orioles fans to wait one extra day for their season to start. Perhaps Rizzo can use this weekend to convince his players to stop licking Petri dishes. Just saying.

If there is one silver lining for Mets fans, their 2021 Opening Day game will now be on SNY rather than ESPN. Even being in Philadelphia can't detract from that good fortune. Okay, not bitter at all — moving on.

I wrote a piece early in the week where I happily geeked out about the Mets' ongoing efforts to incorporate the newest methods and technologies into developing pitching talent. This was long overdue and one of my biggest hopes when the club was up for sale.

It's not that I believe there is some sort of magical "secret sauce" waiting out there to be discovered by the Mets. If there is a technology that has shown promise for aiding in player development, there are clubs out there already taking advantage of it. There were also plenty of indications that the Mets worked to up their player development game under Sandy Alderson and Brodie Van Wagenen, even as ownership limited the tools available to them. While certainly not considered one of the top organizations in the sport, the Mets have done a better job developing homegrown talent in the past decade or so.

But they've still lagged behind the top clubs in that respect, and it was mostly reflective of ownership that wasn't all in on doing what it took to make the marginal improvements required to be an elite organization. It requires an understanding of the value of taking advantage of the latest and greatest stuff and an ongoing commitment to keep pushing the boundaries to be among the best.

Still, the payoff is well worth the effort. If the Mets just do a bit better in developing some of their own talent, keeping them a bit healthier, and helping them achieve more of their potential, the ultimate benefit will be more wins, more trips to the playoffs, and, ultimately, more profits.

If you're interested in learning a bit more about how smart teams are taking advantage of technology to help their pitchers and hitters, there was an excellent piece from Tom Verducci in Sports Illustrated from March 2019 about how technology was changing the game. As Verducci pointed out, all 30 teams were using this stuff to some extent. The difference was how much a club would invest in getting the most out of all this glittering tech.

This technology won't create great players from those who weren't born with athletic gifts, but it can help players reach their maximum effectiveness by maximizing things like the spin pitchers put on their pitches. It can also be used so a pitcher can see what isn't working for them and perhaps scrapping a pitch or using it less.

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