A night for the raccoons

Morning Dose: Thursday, May 15

☀️ Good Morning:

When you play 162 games, there will be some clunkers along the way.

We got a clunker last night.

Under a rain-angry sky, the Pirates avoided the sweep by achieving a rare feat against the 2025 New York Mets: homering twice off the starting pitcher. It was the first time since March and only the second time this season an opponent has done that.

Perhaps if Clay Holmes could actually grip a soaked baseball the outcome would have been different.

But perhaps not, as the offense slept their way through the game, leaving the bases loaded in the first, recording no extra base hits and going 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.

All eyes will turn towards the Subway Series this weekend.

Maybe the Mets were looking ahead, if you can do such a thing in baseball.

Maybe it was just a night for the raccoons.

With little to talk about relating to last night’s game, I will catch you up on a few notes, before diving into Brandon Nimmo’s up-and-down season.

☕️ Grab your coffee for your morning dose of Mets Fix!

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Box Score | Full Standings

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◻️ SHUTOUT: The Mets were shutout by the Pirates for the first time since July 28, 2018 (36 games) and for the first time by the Buccos at Citi Field since June 14, 2016 (27 games).

🧤 NEW GLOVE: After Carlos Mendoza pinch-hit Brett Baty for Tyrone Tyalor in the seventh, Luisangel Acuña made his first major-league appearance in center field, shifting from second base. We had originally wondered if he would see more time out there after the Jose Siri injury. The Mets have decided to lean on his defense in the infield. But he got a look last night in center, adding to his versatility.

🗓️ OFF DAY: The Mets decided to give Juan Soto a day off on Wednesday so he could stack two days off in a row before being “welcomed” back to the Bronx on Friday. He apparently spent the day working extra hard in the weight room.

🍎 State of the Union

David Stearns met with the media before Wednesday’s game to discuss a variety of topics.

◾️ On the defense: “I think we have a couple of different players who are good defenders, very good defenders in certain cases, who have made some mistakes this year,” Stearns said. “That’s going to happen, and it gets magnified in smaller samples, like we’ve had over the first six weeks of the season. But I would expect us to be a better defensive team over the next 4 ½ months this season than we have over the first month and a half.”

◾️ On Brett Baty: “We learn all the time that it just takes different pacing for different players to establish themselves or break out, or whatever you want to call it, at the major-league level,” Stearns said. “When [a] player has that level of talent, they’re generally going to figure it out at some point and have success at the major-league level. And I think we’re seeing that with Brett right now.”

◾️ On Ronny Mauricio: “He’s still got a little way to go to get back to being a healthy player, to get back into that true baseball shape, ready to compete at a high level in the big leagues,” Stearns said. “It’s continuing to get him at-bats, get him reps in the minor leagues.”

◾️ On Nolan McLean’s minor-league dominance: “I think we’re going to let him perform at Triple-A,” Stearns said. “His first start was great. That was great to see and look forward to watching him continue that.”

◾️ Stearns also provided an update on Paul Blackburn, noting he is building up as a starter, with the plan to extend him to ~75 pitches in a rehab start on Friday. “Where he slots in when he’s ready is going to be dependent on the team need,” Stearns said.

⚾️ Nimmo on the Attack

After picking on him during a recent podcast, we owe Brandon Nimmo a proper deep dive on his play so far.

Before diving into the numbers, I should note that we try to balance two minds at Mets Fix (as if one isn’t enough). We offer push-your-glasses-up-your-nose analysis, using advanced metrics and graphs and the like, along with fan commentary. A blending of the two is what we hope makes this newsletter and podcast and community unique.