After last night’s 10-7 Syracuse Mets loss, Chad Kreuter met with the media on a Zoom call. Here are some of the highlights:
I asked
about the plan for the current Major League players in Syracuse - Michael Conforto, Albert
Almora jr, and Jeff
McNeil.
Chad said
that the plan is formulated each day before the game. If he had to guess Almora and McNeil may have
the day off tomorrow (Thursday) because they have played two games in a
row. Conforto will play tomorrow
(Thursday).
He has not
been told if Brandon
Nimmo or J.D. Davis
will be joining Syracuse soon.
Chad was
asked about how the rehabbing Major League Players impact the rest of the team – Chad said
that McNeil getting a hustle double – showing guys that he is not going to jog
to first base – by playing hard – the faster they can get to NY. He mentioned Almora playing well in CF and how
he hustled to try and score in the 6th inning (he was thrown out – Chad
thought he may have been safe). Being
aggressive on the base paths and playing hard is the type of play that Chad is
trying to instill in this 2021 Syracuse Mets team.
I asked Chad about Thomas Szapucki’s outing Wednesday. Chad said that he thought he took a step back last outing as he couldn’t get through the 4th inning. Tonight, Chad thought he made a step forward and at least made it into the 5th, but that he threw a “lot of pitches”. He did not always use us off speed pitches to set up his fastball. He said that overall Szapucki had very little time at AA [in 2019] and missed last year…he needs more experience. Overall, Chad noted that Syracuse pitchers are now pitching for a longer period than they have in two years. In addition, they are pitching on a 6 man rotation which may be causing them to be “out of kilter”. Szapucki's line last night - 4 innings, 4 runs – all earned, 5 hits, 5 walks,6 Ks – 97 pitches, 52 strikes;
In
reference to players on the Syracuse Injured List:
Franklyn
Kilome – out with shoulder strain and Chad also thought he was fatigued and
dehydrated after pitching the 7 inning shutout.
David Thompson out with hamstring.
Arodys
Vizcaino – tweeked his knee. Chad
thought this would be a slow recovery because it is his “landing” knee.
2 comments:
Very nice interview, John.
In general, the offsetting view of excuses for players is that other teams are not experiencing the same things. At least Szapucki got his pitch count up to 97.
You should have asked him if David Thompson requested that his rehab games be with the Mets in Citifield. Switch things up a bit. Can't hurt to try. :)
Thank you for putting this up John. Seems that Szapucki will need pitching experience and learning how to compete at each level no matter the stuff that night. I’m wondering if he’s better than Oswalt at this point. Being a lefty is an advantage.
Kreuter sounds like a straight shooter, but he should have pointed out that Almora ran through a stop sign ans those aren’t things you want your players to do.
There may be a problem adjusting the 40 man roster next week, but Mason Williams is certainly the first to go. Drury might be the second.
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