The Mets were off on Thursday and will begin a six-game west coast trip tonight against the Dodgers in Los Angeles
Mets pitching prospect Calvin Ziegler is going to have Tommy John surgery (MMO)
The Mets will debut their new city connect uniforms later today
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Roster Moves 🗞️
Optioned RHP Grant Hartwig to Triple-A Syracuse
Mark Vientos (Triple-A) collected two hits including a double
SS Colin Houck (No. 7 prospect, Single-A) 1-for-4, 2B, BB, 2 R
1B Ryan Clifford (No. 4 prospect, High-A) 1-for-4 2 RBI
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (10-8) @ Dodgers (12-9)
Where: Dodger Stadium — Los Angeles, CA
Starters: LHP Sean Manaea (1-1, 4.30 ERA) vs. RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (1-1, 4.50 ERA)
When: 10:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
The Mets started the 2024 season abysmally, dropping their first five contests and causing it to feel as though the sky was falling in Flushing. Again.
Since then, they’ve ripped off wins in 10 of their last 13 games to emphatically right the ship, and as Rich wrote the other day, the Mets have quickly become immensely exciting to watch.
The Mets have received significant contributions all over the roster during their dramatic turnaround over the last two weeks. Guys like Harrison Bader, Tyrone Taylor, D.J. Stewart, and Joey Wendle all have come up with huge hits during the recently completed homestand, and the offense as a whole has seemingly settled into a nice groove.
Jose Buttó has vastly exceeded expectations in the starting rotation and the bullpen has been a serious strength really from opening day on.
And while several Mets have stepped up to deliver difference making contributions during the club’s hot streak, I simply do not think anyone on the roster has exceeded their preseason expectations more than righty Reed Garrett.
Just before opening day, I wrote an in-depth piece breaking down the Mets bullpen and pitching staff as a whole. In it, I anticipated the Mets starting rotation would struggle to get deep into games and there would be a glaring need for a multi-inning bullpen weapon.
Nearly three weeks into the season, that has proven accurate, unfortunately.
While last month I expected Sean Reid-Foley and Michael Tonkin to be interchangeable long men in the club’s relief corps, that hasn’t been the way this has shaken out.
Reid-Foley was placed on the injured list before the season even began, and Tonkin struggled in his three outings with New York before being designated for assignment, traded to Minnesota, and then reacquiring him earlier this week in a waiver claim of their own.
Instead, the Met that has grabbed this integral role by the horns is Garrett, who has been nothing short of a lifesaver here in April out of the bullpen.
Thus far, the 31-year-old has made four appearances and gone multiple innings in every one of them. He hasn’t allowed a single run in his 8.2 innings of work, has pitched to a tremendous 0.81 WHIP, and held opponents to just a .181 batting average. Perhaps most impressively, he’s punched out an eye opening 17 hitters, tied for the most among any reliever in baseball.
The Mets have won all four of the games Garrett has appeared in, and he’s earned the victory in two of them. He’s pitched his way into a substantial role on the club’s staff in a short amount of time, and has filled a massively important role in the middle of games as a long man, perfectly buying time for this team to come from behind and win games, or hold the fort for multiple innings to bridge the gap to the club’s short relievers late in games.
Prior to 2024, Garrett had pitched in parts of three Major League seasons and never finished with an ERA south of 6.41, so understandably there are questions about whether or not he’ll be able to sustain this level of success.
But for now, the Mets are happy to ride the wave while hoping Garrett’s enormous renaissance is a product of having more experience and figuring things out at the sport’s highest level.
What’s been working for Garrett so far this season? An improved splitter and sweeper has helped lead to an elite chase rate, elite swing and miss rate, and elite strikeout rate. Again, is it sustainable? We will see how the league adjusts to him.
Regardless of how this ultimately shakes out, Garrett has been a critical part of several Mets wins here in April, and he’s been one of the most fun Mets to watch in a month that has had plenty of other options.
Around the League 🚩
RHP Jack Leiter struggled for the Rangers in his MLB debut, allowing seven runs in only 3.2 innings
Ex-Met Carlos Carrasco fired 5.2 strong innings and earned the win in Cleveland’s 5-4 win over the Red Sox
Max Scherzer is recovering faster than expected from off-season back surgery and could be available in May (Dallas Morning News)
Arizona’s RHP Ryne Nelson had to leave his start against the Giants early after taking a comebacker off his wrist, and while he’s fine, his team was shutout by San Francisco 5-0
Yandy Diaz and Amed Rosario both collected a pair of hits in Tampa Bay’s 2-1 win over the Angels at Tropicana Field
