Meeting with the media before the Mets traveled to West Palm Beach to take on the Houston Astros on Saturday night, manager Carlos Mendoza spoke about a number of topics and players with New York still in the thick of it during spring training.
Clay Holmes, the starter
When the Mets signed Holmes last offseason with the idea of converting the career-reliever into a starting pitcher, a lot of people were skeptical if it could work. Even if it did work and Holmes acclimated to the change and pitched well, concerns over his innings pitched were always at the forefront of discussions.
Despite a shaky second half at times, Holmes did, in fact, pitch well in his first year as a full-time starter. The right-hander went 12-8, finished with a 3.53 ERA in 33 games (31 starts) and pitched a career-high 165.2 innings.
The only time the right-hander ever really faltered came in July when he had a 4.91 ERA (1.57 WHIP) in six starts and even though he finished strong (3.09 ERA in September/October), Holmes’ midseason struggles were to be expected as he entered uncharted territories for the first time in his career.
But with that experience under his belt, Mendoza thinks his starter is now much more prepared going into his second season in the Mets’ starting rotation.
“Second year after a full year as a starter, he’s got a better understanding of what the routine looks like between outings, how he’s going to pace himself in outings, pitch usage, how he’s going to attack a lineup not only once or twice but three times through the order,” Mendoza said. “…This is a guy that wants to use all the resources, wants to use all the information and he continues to tinker with pitches. He’s got a pretty good repertoire versus lefties and righties and he’s in a good place.”
Not only does Holmes have more knowledge about being a starter, he’s looked the part of a starter during camp with his 2.84 ERA (0.71 WHIP) through 12.2 innings. Not only that, but Holmes also looked dominant in his lone WBC appearance, going three scoreless innings and striking out six against Great Britain.
With the addition of Freddy Peralta as well as the emergence of Nolan McLean, New York’s pitching staff should be less of a question mark than it was last season and Holmes continuing to improve has a lot to do with that.
Carson Benge, the starter?
While it’s too early to tell if Benge has proven enough in spring to be the team’s starting right fielder on Opening Day, the 23-year-old has been spectacular for the Mets and has at the very least put himself in the conversation.
“Hopefully that’s the case that we get to those last few days and we have to make some tough decisions because we got a lot of guys playing well and are healthy,” Mendoza said. “That’s the case with Carson. He continues to go out there, continues to give good at-bats, play good defense, run the bases, left on left – so he’s doing what he’s supposed to be doing on his end.”
Getting an extended look in camp, Benge has gone 10-for-27 (.370) with a triple, five RBI, four runs scored and a stolen base to go along with an .858 OPS in nine games.
After playing mostly right field so far, Benge is in center field on Saturday (batting third) which Mendoza says is about giving him exposure, like they’ve done with other players, to “prepare them for potential scenarios that can happen in the regular season.”
Mendoza isn’t worried about how his youngster will handle the position change because from everything that he’s seen and heard from Benge, he’s as even-keeled as it gets. It’s something that will benefit him in the majors whether he makes the Opening Day roster or not.
“You go by what you hear from people in player development,” Mendoza said. “[Benge is a] quiet, baseball guy that doesn’t get too high, doesn’t get too low and that’s kind of what we’re seeing here. I don’t think the moment is going to be [too] big for him. He’s a pretty neutral guy to be honest with you. He goes about his business, he plays baseball, goes home and comes back the next day and does it again.”
Francisco Lindor ‘day-to-day’ after minor league game
After playing in his second minor league game since hamate bone surgery, Lindor is considered “day-to-day”, per Mendoza.
The shortstop remains on track to play on Opening Day which has been New York’s message throughout the entire process. What Lindor does next remains to be seen, but he looked good in the game and had a couple of at-bats, per Mendoza.
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