In need of a sixth starter to take a rotation turn this weekend against the Cardinals, the Mets are turning to high-upside prospect Blade Tidwell, who had been pitching for Triple-A Syracuse.
Tidwell will make his big league debut on Sunday at Busch Stadium and won’t follow an opener, manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed ahead of Friday’s game.
“He earned it. We know the stuff is there,” Mendoza said. “We saw flashes of it in spring training. Even though some of the numbers are inflated a little bit, he’s throwing strikes, using all of his pitches. When we needed a spot-start, he put himself in a position and he’s getting the call.”
The 23-year-old’s stuff has played up very well over his last two starts, with Tidwell striking out 18 batters in just 9.0 innings while allowing four runs.
His season ERA is 5.00, but is inflated due to pitching in the hitter-friendly environment of the International League and some extremely bad luck on balls in play.
Tidwell has surrendered just two home runs this season, but his BABIP is .369 — making it the fifth-highest among all qualified minor league starting pitchers, via Matthew Brownstein.
In spring training, Tidwell opened eyes when he fired an immaculate inning on March 1 as he struck out Rays hitters Josh Lowe, Eloy Jimenez, and Jose Caballero on nine pitches.
Tidwell’s four-seam fastball can reach the upper-90s, and he has a plus slider. He also features a sweeper, two-seam fastball, and changeup.
“You’ve got to give him credit,” Mendoza said of Tidwell. “He worked extremly hard and put himself in a position where he came in and pretty much impressive everyone in camp because of how he looked physically and how the ball was coming out… It comes down to executing, throwing strikes, because we know how electric his stuff is.”
As SNY contributor Joe DeMayo noted on his latest top 30 Mets prospects list, the belief had been that Tidwell would debut this season. That it’s coming this early likely has to do with how his schedule lined up.
Fellow pitching prospect Brandon Sproat — also with Syracuse — pitched on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Nolan McLean — with Double-A Binghamton — is scheduled to pitch on Friday during their doubleheader after his expected start on Thursday was rained out.
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