MACK - MY WEDNESDAY OBSERVATION - Edwin Diaz, Jacob Reimer, Abner Meza, Tyler Naquin, Induced Vertical Break, Juan Soto, Nolan McLean, Reid Brignac, Jett Williams, ABS System

                        

Good morning… 

So. We’re down to the short hairs.

This night started almost two hours before game time when Cincinnati would host Pittsburgh.  There was nothing in this game other than be spoiler against a rival. The Pirates scored four in the top of the second and the rout was on.

As for the Mets, Francisco Lindor went yard and the Mets were up 1-0. Then, in the bottom of the first with two on and Carlos Santana coming up, the TBS announcers said that the Mets were playing ten feet too deep in the outfield. How can you not know this? The dimensions there aren't controlled by Brennan and have been the same for, what, forever.

Well, it will at least make it easier for, oh say, Juan Soto to catch a routine flyball (sic).

Checking back in Cincinnati... 4-2 Pirates after five.

It didn't take long before this game became rooting for the Pirates rather than the Mets. Question. When was the last time did "our" team played like they wanted this?

Nice throw Jeff.

Nice throw Jeff v.2.0

(turned on reruns for Dr. G. Medical Examiner)

I did check the final scores of both games before turning in. Figured I would have to write something like, well, at least Cincy lost and there is always tomorrow.

Funny game we play 

Pitch Profiler                     @pitchprofiler

EDWIN DÍAZ. TWO INNING SAVE. METS PLAYOFF HOPES STILL ALIVE.

45) Jacob Reimer

The Good

Reimer caught my eye early in the season thanks to his all-around offensive profile and improved defense at 3rd. The approach is sound, and the swing will keep the ball in the air.

 

The Bad

He showed some cracks in his hit tool following his promotion to AA and he grades out as a below average runner and defender.

Mets Prospect Group       @bkfan09         DSL TOP 10

4.            P             Abner Meza

Abner Meza is an 18-year-old right-handed pitcher in the New York Mets' minor league system, who played 2025 for the DSL Mets Orange, a Rookie-level affiliate. Born on May 6, 2007, in Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico, he stands at 6'0" and weighs 175 pounds

2025 – METS DSL Orange/Blue (2-teams):

       12-APPS, 8-ST, 4-3, 2.79, 1.13, 38.2-IP, 32-K, 10-BB

Former MLB outfielder Tyler Naquin hopes to be the sport’s next great pitching experiment

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6607970/2025/09/18/tyler-naquin-position-player-pitcher-transition/

His last few weeks as a New York Met in 2022 left him dissatisfied. His bid to extend his big-league career in 2023 fizzled. His phone stopped ringing in 2024.

And so, the 2012 first-round pick and 2016 ravishing rookie, the guy who spent parts of eight seasons in the majors as a solid left-handed-hitting outfielder? He’s a right-handed pitcher now.

It takes a certain type of position player — maybe daring and brave, or foolish and naive — to even consider such a sweeping change, to attempt slinging sweepers and changeups after years of swinging at them.

Naquin isn’t the first to try. In fact, it’s become an alluring option to several players in recent years, with so many more resources available to anyone who can grip a fastball. There are more coaches with more data and technology that can provide more immediate feedback.

 

The ‘rising fastball’ was a tantalizing myth. Then teams started teaching Induced Vertical Break

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6634605/2025/09/17/mlb-rising-fastball-induced-vertical-break/

For more than a century, it was the hidden secret behind some of the game’s greatest fastballs, an ability so powerful that it was long considered a myth, dismissed by science but recognized by scouts. Their reports told of fastballs with “life,” of four-seamers that turned “invisible.” These pitches could rise like ghosts, and hitters would swing right through them. This was more than velocity. These pitches were special, and could seem to move upwards in some immeasurable way.

Then, roughly a decade ago, curious minds began to gather fresh data and learn the truth behind the rising fastball.

It was real, in a sense. When a ball doesn’t fall at the rate our brains expect it to, it looks to the human eye like it is rising. That perception of rise is created by a ball spinning on a proper axis, generating lift from the seams, fighting gravity as it crosses the plate. The phenomenon came to be known as induced vertical break, a discovery that has changed everything about modern pitching.

Today’s pitchers throw bullpen sessions and make a game of guessing each fastball’s “vert,” and discussing its “ride,” another term for the phenomenon. Most big leaguers produce roughly 16 inches of induced vertical break with their four-seam fastballs, but a select few can routinely get to 20 inches.

 

Michael Baron                  @michaelgbaron

(going into Sunday’s game)

Juan Soto, NL ranks:

5.8 fWAR (5th)

172 wRC+ (2nd)

.534 SLG (4th)

.397 OBP (1st)

42 HR (3rd)

117 BB (2nd)

103 RBI (3rd)

34 SB (5th)

121 BB (1st)

MLB contender’s postseason pitching core

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6650028/2025/09/22/mlb-postseason-pitching-core-rankings/

13. New York Mets

The good: Rookies contributing off the rip

The bad: The tumult of this past month

Even with just one week remaining in the regular season, trying to pick out a Mets postseason pitching core right now is absurd. They’re on the precipice of throwing it all away, having lost their lead over Cincinnati in the standings. The Mets have rookies arriving, veterans rehabbing, and relievers shuffling roles. Their top three starters when we ranked them 13th last September, ahead of only the Tigers, were Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga and Luis Severino. Line change! Now it’s Nolan McLean as perhaps the only traditional starter, with the others likely limited to two turns through the order. Jonah Tong and David Peterson are options to contribute in quasi-piggyback roles out of the bullpen, going once through the order. It’s possible Senga returns at some point in the playoffs, but he also might be done for the season.

The Mets bullpen has delivered middling results this season — their 3.98 ERA ranks 14th in the majors — but on paper, it’s an excellent and experienced group. Former St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley has struggled mightily in Queens, but has been better lately and could regain leverage opportunities in October. If the Mets hold a late lead, Rogers and Díaz will almost always deliver the W. These past few weeks, though, leads have been rare and too many of them have been blown.

 

Which Rookie Pitchers Can Be Trusted to Start Playoff Games?

https://www.justbaseball.com/mlb/which-rookie-pitchers-can-be-trusted-to-start-playoff-games/?s=03

Nolan McLean – New York Mets

The Mets’ #4 prospect has only had seven starts in the big leagues but has been almost unhittable in them up to this point. After 113.2 innings at a 2.45 clip in Triple-A this season, he’s thrown 42.2 innings since his debut with a minuscule 1.27 ERA. McLean has only allowed six earned runs up to this point while striking out 9.70 batters per nine innings.

His best start came on August 27 while facing one of the best offenses in baseball. Against the Phillies, he went eight innings without giving up a run and striking out six while only allowing four hits. This outing alone shows that he could absolutely be trusted in an elimination game for the Mets.

 

Baseball America                             @BaseballAmerica

This year's Minor League Player of the Year for every organization

 Mets Mailbag

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6653579/2025/09/23/mets-mailbag-meltdown-pete-alonso/

Is there any sense of how much the organization sees the calamities of the last four months as a process issue (where fundamental mistakes were made in building the team) versus a results issue (where, bluntly, stuff happens and they got bad breaks)? I’m sympathetic to the latter despite the screaming in my head, but the fact that it’s the second time in three years gives me pause. That feels like it has more important implications for the offseason than whether any individual trade worked out. — Kevin

Tim: This is the question the Mets front office has to answer in the immediate aftermath of this season, pretty much regardless of what happens from here on out. And the private conversations I’ve had so far largely reflect what the club has said publicly: that it still feels pretty good about its process and thinks it has gotten some wonky results.

That’s probably not what you want to hear in this moment, but there is some merit to that thinking. Sequencing luck does exist, and a year after the Mets benefited from it, they have been victimized by it this season.

 

Binghamton Rumble Ponies                       @RumblePoniesBB

Jonah Tong is your Eastern League Pitcher of the Year

With the FRANCHISE RECORD of 90 Regular Season wins!! Reid Brignac is your 2025 Eastern League Manager of the Year

 

Eastern League Top MLB Prospect: Jett Williams

 

Just Baseball                      @JustBB_Media

The ABS challenge system is coming to Major League Baseball in 2026

Teams will have two challenges to use on ball and strike calls per game.