Young Mets Relievers Shine In 6-4 Loss To Team Venezuela
Bryce Montes de Oca, Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
Thursday’s friendly matchup between the Mets and the Venezuelan World Baseball Classic team started with a bang and ended with a 6-4 win for the national team at Clover Park in Port St. Lucie.
On playing for his country’s team, Mets third baseman and Team Venezuela member Eduardo Escobar said that wearing his country’s uniform is “very important for me, because you want to compete with the best players from the best countries.” He said he misses his teammates and being in Mets camp, but “every game is like a Game 7. World Series Game 7” when you have the chance to play for and represent your home country.
Once action got underway in Port St. Lucie, the Venezuelan team put up three runs in the first, thanks in part to a leadoff first pitch tank from Jose Altuve. The Mets and José Butto wound up allowing three first-inning runs, putting the Mets in an almost immediate hole that they would never fully come back from.
Altuve led off the second inning the exact same way, giving the national team a 4-0 lead with only three outs recorded. The Venezuelan team was teeing off on fellow countryman Butto, who was making his first start since a spot in the Mets’ rotation opened up due to Jose Quintana’s injury last week.
Butto was unable to impress to the tune of five earned runs and four walks. After Butto’s departure, the Mets were able to rally and get some runs on the board. Following Butto and Nolan Clenney came Drew Smith, who threw a scoreless inning in the only frame he worked. Next came a trio of relievers who impressed for the Mets on Thursday: Stephen Nogosek, Bryce Montes de Oca, and Grant Hartwig.
Nogosek did not allow a run over two innings, but loaded the bases in his first frame before escaping the jam. In four innings of work this spring, Nogosek has put five runners on, but has escaped every outing unscathed and still has his 0.00 ERA in tact. Nogosek had a duck on every lilypad on the proverbial pond in the fifth inning, but got out of the jam by inducing a Gleyber Torres popup. His second frame went much easier, in which he set the side down in order.
Replacing him was Bryce Montes de Oca, who continued his incredibly impressive spring. De Oca set Andrés Giménez down on what ended up being a 101 mph fastball, a speed he marked three times in his outing.
101 mph with 21 inches of horizontal break from Bryce Montes de Oca to strike out one of the AL’s best players in 2022.
— Michael Mayer (@mikemayer22) March 9, 2023
De Oca, much like Nogosek, still has a 0.00 ERA for the spring. Now three innings in, de Oca has hit the three-figure mark in each outing, and has sat down six of the nine outs he’s recorded with the strikeout. The ability to hit triple-digits with insane movement is not something that is common in baseball, and his freakish ability makes him an incredibly attractive option for the Mets’ bullpen this year.
The last of the trio for the Mets was Grant Hartwig, one of the greatest stories in the Mets’ system this year. Speaking to him before the game, Hartwig mentioned that his increase in velocity is from “training smart, training better, and having more freedom in training.” Hartwig went on to dominate in his outing, setting his Venezuelan counterparts down 1-2-3 with a pair of strikeouts.
Hartwig topped out at 97, sitting in the 94-96 range while also working in a cutter that he said he had been working on to go along with the slider and change.
Hartwig mentioned that going to 11 pitches in his first at-bat wasn’t in the script of his ideal outing, but he “felt good overall” and was pleased with how his day went. Hartwig, as humble as he is dominant, said he doesn’t have specific goals of reaching the bigs in 2023, or view not cracking the New York team as a failure. After a 2022 that saw him play for every full-season affiliate the Mets have, he is just ready to get back to playing and see what the new season brings for him. If that moment comes calling, he’ll be ready for his chance.
Grant Hartwig says the jump in velo is from
1) Help from the Mets
2) Being shortened up to a reliever
3) Being an adrenaline based pitcher
He didn’t say that making the bigs is his goal for 2023, but if his moment comes, he’ll be ready for it.— Jack Ramsey (@jackwramsey) March 9, 2023
Talking to a few other arms in Mets camp this year, that seems to be the consensus: whatever happens, it happens. But if that moment arises, you best believe they’ll be ready.
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