The Talented Mets
Good Morning,
It was a busy weekend in Mets Land. The team conducted a talent show, Max Scherzer struggled with the pitch clock, both Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga made their spring debuts and Mark Vientos flashed some serious power.
There were also a few injuries. José Quintana withdrew from the World Baseball Classic due to tightness in his left side. And David Peterson is considered day-to-day with a bruise on his left foot.
Meanwhile, nine Mets left the team on Sunday to prepare for the World Baseball Classic, which kicks off on Tuesday.
With plenty to talk about, let’s jump into three key takeaways from the weekend before catching you up on everything else you need to know.
1️⃣ OUT OF RHYTHM
Let’s start with the bad. Our friend Noah Woodward did an excellent job highlighting how Max Scherzer used the pitch clock to his advantage during his first start of the spring.
Scherzer has found two loopholes in the “start as soon as the hitter’s eyes are up” clarification. Depending on the length of the pitch clock (15 seconds with nobody on base, 20 seconds with runners on), he’s either rushing or freezing hitters.
Trying that again on Friday, Scherzer ran into issues. First, he was called for a balk trying to quick pitch Victor Robles on an 0–2 count. He was later called for an automatic ball after failing to beat the clock on a pitch that would have turned into a double play. Combined with two errors by Luis Guillorme, and it turned into a disastrous inning for Scherzer and the Mets.
