Mets Blade Tidwell shows off electric stuff in…
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Blade Tidwell glanced on the Rays’ lineup and acknowledged lots of the names.
This was a consultant, main league batting order.
Leadoff hitter Yandy Díaz had been the AL batting champion in 2023.
Batting second was Brandon Lowe, who has a 39-homer season to his identify.
Junior Caminero was absent, however Christopher Morel, Josh Lowe, Eloy Jiménez and José Caballero rounded out a high six that won’t be radically totally different from a regular-season Rays’ high six.
Blade Tidwell had a good day on the mound in the Mets’ 10-1 exhibition win over the Rays. IMAGN IMAGES by way of Reuters Connect
“It’s always good to see … how I stacked up against a big league squad,” Tidwell mentioned after the 10-1 Mets win at Charlotte Sports Park. “I thought it was going to be fun and going to be a challenge, and it ended up being both.”
Those Rays batters had been more challenged and had much less enjoyable.
One of the Mets’ high pitching prospects introduced himself Saturday, when he threw an immaculate second inning — 9 pitches, 9 strikes, three strikeouts — and put on a strike-throwing and bat-missing clinic.
Mets prospect Blade Tidwell throws immaculate inning. @MarkWSanchez with the newest Mets updates at spring coaching. pic.twitter.com/tHD1Ves44Q— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) March 2, 2025
In all, Tidwell confronted six batters.
The first, Díaz, hit a sinking liner to heart that Jose Siri caught with a dive. The subsequent 5 all returned to the dugout with their heads down after strikeouts.
Of Tidwell’s closing 19 pitches, 18 had been strikes.
“Pretty impressive,” supervisor Carlos Mendoza mentioned of Tidwell, a large, 6-foot-4 righty. “It was good to see — it was fun.”
Mets’ Blade Tidwell threw an immaculate inning on Saturday. Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
Tidwell had all the things engaged on the afternoon.
His sinker almost touched triple digits, and 4 different choices had been equally untouchable.
He had a bigger, nine-pitch arsenal final yr, when he reached Triple-A Syracuse however struggled (5.93 ERA on the stage) as a result of he believes his repertoire was too deep.
This spring, he has boiled it down to a four-seamer, two-seamer, slider, changeup and sweeper.
Each one baffled Tampa Bay hitters.
Tidwell’s first inning was stable and ended with a three-pitch strikeout of Morel.
He continued that domination in a blazing second inning.
Josh Lowe noticed three pitches and cut by a slider transferring south. Jiménez was the unlucky sufferer of Tidwell’s hardest heater, swinging by a 99.1 mph fastball.
“Up and away,” mentioned Tidwell, who added he reached back so as to add some humph. “That’s the only pitch that I remember that I really hammered down.”
Caballero — with 243 video games of main league expertise — didn’t appear to be a main leaguer with a weak, half-hack at a sweeper that bent away from him.
“I feel like I can stack up with the best of them if I’m commanding the ball,” mentioned Tidwell, a second-round select of Tennessee in 2022, “and that’s what I’m just trying to work on, day in and day out.”
Blade Tidwell throws a pitch during the primary inning of the Mets’ exhibition win over the Rays. IMAGN IMAGES by way of Reuters Connect
Immaculate innings are uncommon — the Mets solely have two in their historical past (Nolan Ryan in 1968 and David Cone in 1991) — and sometimes more of a one-off novelty than a reflection of a pitcher’s value.
Yet, the type of excellence the Mets have seen from their younger beginning pitching prospects over the previous two days is encouraging for a workforce which may need them.
The Mets have already got at the least quickly misplaced Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas.
Kodai Senga is a thriller after his wiped-out 2024 season.
Who is aware of how many innings Clay Holmes can contribute as he transitions from a reliever to a starter.
David Peterson threw 121 main league innings final yr, a profession high.
Maybe the Mets will need Tidwell earlier than they could envision. Maybe Brandon Sproat — who made his spring debut Friday and sat down all six Nationals batters he confronted whereas maxing out at 99 mph — will get an early call.
Maybe equally high-ceilinged Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong power their methods to the majors, and perhaps a pitcher comparable to Dom Hamel — who has retooled his supply and appeared robust Saturday, when he adopted Tidwell by throwing two scoreless, hitless, three-strikeout, one-walk innings — is summoned for a rotation that wants help.
“Full trust in our player development group,” pitching coach Jeremy Hefner mentioned.
For the Mets, the previous two days have been immaculate.
“That’s a good feeling when you have two guys like that at the Triple-A level knocking on the door,” Mendoza added.
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