JUPITER, Fla. — Blade Tidwell has the title and the stuff to be a giant leaguer beginning pitcher, however the fireballing 24-year-old now has to show he has the command too.
The Mets’ eighth-ranked prospect, Tidwell made the primary Grapefruit League begin of his profession Monday in opposition to the St. Louis Cardinals, showcasing a blistering fastball with a simplified pitch combine. He touched 99 on the gun and allowed three earned runs on 4 hits, strolling one and putting out one, with all three runs coming by way of a house run by Luken Baker.
Nonetheless, of the 30 pitches he threw, 19 had been strikes, which could have been essentially the most encouraging facet of his begin. Tidwell has been wild since popping out of school in 2022, at one level proudly owning the very best stroll price amongst all Mets minor leaguers at practically 13%, however going from eight pitches to 5 ought to assist him with management in 2025.
“He was around the zone, and that’s something that from Day 1, coming into camp, he knew he needed the work on,” mentioned supervisor Carlos Mendoza. “To go out there and watch him do that against a pretty good lineup — you’ve got, pretty much, their [main] players there — he was on the attack the whole time and he was aggressive.”
St. Louis had lots of their large league hitters within the lineup, together with Masyn Winn, Nolan Arenado, Iván Herrera and Jordan Walker, with Tidwell hitting 99 MPH together with his four-seam fastball in opposition to Arenado. He didn’t again all the way down to any of them, and the house run ball was considerably wind-aided, plus the fences had been not too long ago introduced in at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
“It was pretty calm before the game and leading up to the game,” Tidwell mentioned. “Even when I gave up that home run, I was still calm out there.”
Tidwell received off to a great begin in Double-A Binghamton final season, however the promotion to Triple-A proved difficult. The Tennessee native posted a 5.93 ERA and walked 5.6 hitters per 9 innings, attributing his struggles to being uncertain of the place his focus ought to have been. With eight pitches, Tidwell was doing an excessive amount of.
“Think I was just trying to work on a lot of different things — too many things, at that,” Tidwell mentioned. “By the end of the year, I kind of narrowed my sights in and focused on what I need to do to get to the next level.”
Tidwell dropped the arch slider and the cutter, and he stopped attempting to seam-shift together with his changeup, whereas retaining a four-seam fastball, a two-seam fastball, a slider, sweeper and he discovered the appropriate grip for his changeup. He sits round 96-97 MPH together with his fastball, however can throw tougher when wanted.
Nonetheless, throwing a 96 MPH fastball within the zone is extra preferable to throwing a 100 MPH fastball exterior of it, so the following step for Tidwell is solely to regulate the zone.
QUICK HITTERS
– The Mets fell 7-4 in opposition to St. Louis, with former Mets’ left-hander Steven Matz throwing two scoreless innings with one stroll. His former teammate Pete Alonso drew that stroll within the first inning.
– Alonso drove in two runs off right-hander Ryan Helsley within the third inning with a line-drive double to middle area, scoring Rafael Ortega from third base and Juan Soto from first. In his second Grapefruit League sport of the spring slate, third base coach Mike Sarbaugh was capable of simply wave the star outfielder round third to attain together with his environment friendly baserunning.
Mendoza discovered this to be helpful because the Mets work on communication with new gamers all through spring coaching.
“For him to just give Sarby a chance to wave him home, it goes to show you that he’s feeling good,” Mendoza mentioned. “I checked with him and he was like, ‘I’m ready to go.’ So, yeah, it was good.”
– Jose Butto and Huascar Brazobán pitched scoreless innings in reduction of Tidwell. Brazobán is competing for a spot within the Mets’ bullpen, with the Mets hoping for extra consistency from the right-hander this season. A late-blooming 35-year-old, Brazobán’s calling card is his means to suppress arduous contact. He threw 17 pitches in his first Grapefruit League look of the yr, with the hardest-hit ball clocking it at solely 76.3 MPH off the bat.
Initially Printed: February 24, 2025 at 5:06 PM EST
