Paul Articulates – Not seeing it yet

Spring training goes by very quickly.  After a highly anticipated start, those six weeks go by in a flash.  We are already halfway done.

So far, we have not seen a lot of breakout performances that would drive optimism for the upcoming season although there have been some highlights.  

The highlights are some great performances by margin players that are trying very hard to make the final roster.  Trayce Thompson stands above all with a 1.783 OPS so far, but is still a long shot for that 5th outfielder position.  JT Schwartz, Jeremiah Jackson, and Alex Ramirez have posted very admirable stats, but they are going to spend more time refining their games in AA this season.

Of the “main” players, only Pete Alonso has stood out with his .385 batting average and 1.423 OPS.  Otherwise those guys you expected in the starting lineup are hitting .250 or below.  Averages in spring training don’t mean much because it is such a small sample size, but I still wanted to see someone ripping the cover off the ball.

The Mets have a team batting average of .241 so far in 315 at-bats. That feels so much like all the prior seasons.  This time, we don’t have the unfriendly winds of Citi Field to whine about.  Chalk it up to players not squaring up the ball enough (yet).

The pitching has been a different story.  There have been many solid outings mixed in with just a few duds so there is reason to believe that we actually can hold teams down after the starters have hit the showers.  The Mets lead all NL teams in spring training with a 3.13 ERA. 

Tylor Megill looks sharp, Jose Butto has pitched well, and Luis Severino has not given up a run so far.  There are several bullpen pitchers like Hartwig, Raley, Smith, and Reid-Foley that have also not given up a run.  Nate Lavender looks like he may have a shot at making the team – my look says he is ready.

Jose Quintana and Brendan Houser on the other hand have some kinks to work out – they have not had good outings so far.

My overall impression is that the first half of the spring looks a lot like the Mets we are used to – decent pitching supported by very little run support.  Those bats have to get going, so Eric Chavez has to get to work.