Pitch
Profiler @pitchprofiler
Clay Holmes DEMANDS
October baseball in Queens
Mets Mailbag
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6653579/2025/09/23/mets-mailbag-meltdown-pete-alonso/
Is Carlos Mendoza in
trouble? Two years is not a lot of time for a new manager, but would this team
have shown more fight with someone else? And who is responsible for the
defensive lapses? — Alex W.
Tim:
Two years has been plenty of time for Mets managers lately, no? Mickey Callaway, Luis
Rojas and Buck Showalter all got two
years; Carlos Beltrán got two months.
That said, it would be uncharacteristic of Stearns to
move on from Mendoza this quickly. Certainly, some of the shine has come off
Mendoza this season, as he’s been unable to generate the same kind of
turnaround he pulled off last summer.
Has Mendoza made some in-game moves I disagree with? Of
course. He’s a major-league manager in 2025; they all have. But he’s not the
tactical liability that Callaway was (among other things). He hasn’t lost the
clubhouse the way Rojas did in 2021. I know Stearns doesn’t view him as an
uneasy philosophical fit, the way he did with Showalter after 2023.
When MLB adopts ABS challenge system next season who
benefits and who loses?
No major league catcher is better at framing pitches and
coaxing borderline strike calls than Patrick Bailey.
Bailey has turned pitch framing into its own art form.
It’s the reason he’s viewed as a valuable major leaguer, even though the .222
hitter has been one of the least productive offensive players in the league
this season.
So you might imagine what Bailey thinks of the automated
ball-strike (ABS) challenge system that Major League Baseball’s competition
committee approved on Tuesday for the 2026 season.
“I think it’s a bummer for catchers across the league,”
Bailey said. “But I don’t think it’s going to take away the value of framing.
You still have to get calls and keep strikes (as) strikes. At the end of the
day, I still think it’s going to be really valuable to know the zone.”
For Bailey and other pitch-framing savants, the saving
grace is that MLB isn’t going full robot. Rather than use high-speed cameras to
automate all balls and strikes, which was among the systems tested at the
Triple A level when ABS experimentation began in 2022, the league will
implement the challenge-based system it used in selected spring training
ballparks earlier this year.
Teams will receive two challenges per game. Following a
pitch, a challenge can be implemented by the catcher, batter or pitcher
involved in the play. They must immediately signify their intent by tapping the
top of their head. Successful challenges will be replenished. For extra-inning
games, teams that have exhausted their challenges will receive an extra one per
inning.
Mets
Prospect Group @bkfan09
Adrian de la Rosa (C)
will sign officially with the Mets on January 15, 2026
Final MLB Farm System Rankings of 2025 After September
Call-Ups
4. New York Mets (Preseason Rank: 14)
Top 10 Prospects
1. RHP Nolan McLean (Tier
1)
2. RHP Jonah Tong (Tier
2)
3. OF Carson Benge (Tier
2)
4. SS Jett Williams (Tier
2)
5. RHP Brandon Sproat (Tier
4)
6. OF A.J. Ewing (Tier
4)
7. 3B Jacob Reimer (Tier
4)
8. SS Elian Peña (Tier
4)
9. 1B Ryan Clifford (Tier
4)
10. RHP Jack Wenninger (Tier
5)
Right-hander Brandon Sproat was the headliner in the Mets
system when the season started, with Jonah Tong (No. 8) and Nolan McLean (No.
9) slotted as Tier 4 prospects near the bottom of the top 10 list. Now that
trio represents the future of the Mets starting staff.
Those three impact arms, alongside breakout performances
from Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing and Jacob Reimer have vaulted this system into
the top five.
Ernest
Dove @ernestdove
Nolan McLean BB/9
College - 5.3/9
Minor leagues - 3.7/9
MLB - 3.0/9
Brooklyn
Cyclones @BKCyclones
Dylan Ross began the
2025 season as a member of the Cyclones and has been called up to join the Mets
today.
In just 140 days he will go from Brooklyn to the bigs.
Amazin.
Starts. Here.
Tangotiger @tangotiger
Players who contribute the most on the defensive side,
naturally mostly C, SS, CF...
Jim Koenigsberger @Jimfrombaseball
"Gil Hodges was a
gentleman. He commanded respect. He knew the game inside out. He was always
three steps ahead of the other manager" Jerry
Koosman
"Gil brought what we as young athletes, professional
athletes, were missing, which was the
understanding of the definition of professionalism.
Gil Hodges taught me more about being a big leaguer than
anyone else in my life"
Tom Seaver
"The later it got, the better a pitcher Nolan Ryan was going to be."
Gil Hodges
"The first thing my Dad did with the Mets, was teach
them that it's not okay to lose"
Gil Hodges Jr.
Gil Hodges popularized the five-man rotation, which
became a baseball industry standard. Hodges did so to protect and develop young
pitchers such as Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Jerry Koosman, Tug McGraw, all of whom were between 21 and 25 years old when Hodges joined the Mets.
Those four pitchers threw a combined 85 seasons in the
major leagues.
Hodges, Koosman, Seaver, Ryan
10 comments:
Morning
Stearns said he didn’t want people learning on his dime. I would hire Beltran if Mendoza’s removed, but he’s also going to be learning on Cohen’s dime. But while Beltran is rumored to also be smart and sees things, Mendoza is no dummy either. I’m not old enough to know, but did Gil Hodges have a learning curve? When was he hired and how did he do initially? I think the Senators were his first gig, no?
Well, I just looked it up. Hodges managed five really crappy years with the Senators and one not so hot year with the Mets. So, six losing seasons and then a miracle Woorld Series win, followed by two more 83 win seasons. Hard to see Mendoza’” or anyone else having that much rope.
They were some really crappy Senators teams
I have been told (don't tell anyone, okay?) that, going forward, Cohen, Stearns, and Mendoza are joined at the hip
You don’t pay $2.3B for anything and someone joins you at the hip.
The Mets were a .500+ team in 1973 if Gibson had not beaned Agee in his first 1968 spring at bat. Agee’s traumatic head injury blew up his1968 completely. So that is a BIG Hodges factor to consider.
Cal Raleigh strong defensively and Hit 60 HRs? AS A CATCHER?
Sorry, Aaron, he is the AL MVP.
Have to agree.
Gus, when you are not versed about a subject, best to stay quiet. Mendoza has limited baseball smarts.
Thanks Ray. I’ll remember that.
While I don’t know a thing about Hodges, I know Mendoza from last year and this year and I listen to him speak, so I know he has the IQ. He may not have the stones to stand up to millionaires, but he has the IQ.
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