Mets Spring Training: Pitching Shows Promise, Position Players Ail

There was even a slight scare with Reyes as he fouled a Brad Penny pitched off of himself, but Jose has been in the lineup the last couple of days.

And then there is the outfield. 

In addition to Alou, Ryan Church is still sidelined from his collision with Marlon Anderson resulting in a concussion. Anderson is out too with a bruised sternum and jaw. 

Carlos Beltran and Endy Chavez join Castillo, Easley, and Valentin on Willie Randolph’s “not ready for action” list.

Without the aforementioned names, off-season re-acquisition Angel Pagan has seen the bulk of the action in center field. 

His bat has been hot while his glove has been questionable, committing an error against the Marlins and having some issues cutting off balls in the gap. 

Luckily, this behavior seems to be atypical for Pagan who only committed one error in parts of two seasons with the Cubs.

Another Met second-timer, non-roster invitee Brady Clark, has stepped up to the plate in the outfield, hitting a respectable .273 this spring as of Wednesday. 

He has been inconsistent in the field, also having trouble judging the ball, but had a nice diving catch against the Dodgers.

Young Fernando Martinez has also filled in, hitting .300 after going 2-3 against the Dodgers on Wednesday.  He has also been shaky in the field, making spectacular catches one day and dropping routine fly-balls the next. 

Assuming Church and Anderson return soon, Martinez will start the year off in the minors with many of the above names being well-seasoned.

The catching situation has also unexpectedly caused some befuddlement. 

Brian Schneider has come up with a bad hamstring leaving the majority of the work to Ramon Castro and the little yellow bus full of non-roster invitees that are hoping for jobs in New Orleans. 

Castro is only hitting .118 despite a hot start to the spring games.   Prospect Mike Nickeas is hitting .333 in limited action.

Are all of these injuries something to worry about, or is all the buzz simply the result of over-attention by the growing number of media outlets covering these players’ every moves? 

One thing is for certain; if a Met fan finds himself at a minor league game this season, chances are the names on the lineup card will look familiar from March.

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