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For decades Spring Training in Major League Baseball has served as the unofficial start of spring and the end of a long-cold-winter, depending on where you reside of course.
Regardless, baseball is back in full swing. The crack of the bat, the pop of the mitt. The sunny skies in either Arizona or Florida.
It also serves as a controversial period, where some fans and definitely not all, evaluate their team for the new season.
This article aims to discuss the one big question that surfaces every single year.
Do fans during spring training overreact on such small sample sizes or are they just having fun?
For me, it’s a simple yes. Fans 100% overreact early in spring training games, whether it’s in a positive or negative way.
Let us focus on one specific player early on in Mets’ big league camp, who has since been reassigned to minor league camp.
Before we do, it is imperative to understand that every single player in said camp has different goals.
Some players know they made the team and will be on the Opening Day roster and are just working on things. Others are on the bubble and want to produce from the outset and make a name for themselves. While others know they are not making the big club out of camp but still want to impress.
Let’s highlight right-handed pitcher Blade Tidwell as an example. Tidwell, 23, a Mets’ pitching prospect, who was drafted in the second-round of the 2022 MLB Amateur Draft from the University of Tennessee.
Tidwell had an outing for the ages on Saturday in his spring debut.
Tidwell, the Mets' number 8 prospect at the end of 2024 according to MLB Pipeline, pitched an immaculate inning in the second frame of the Mets’ 10-1 win over the Rays at Charlotte Sports Park on Saturday afternoon.
Not only did he pitch an immaculate inning, (in baseball, an immaculate inning is when a pitcher strikes out all three batters in an inning using only nine pitches). This means that each batter is struck out on three pitches.
Tidwell struckout five Rays’ batters in the six batters he faced, but also was hitting 99 MPH on his sinker.
In fact, Tidwell didn’t even know. He said he learned of his rare feat while checking social media after he returned to the visitors’ dugout.
Here is the fun debate that now transpires between Mets’ fans.
Before his two-inning masterclass, Tidwell wasn’t on the “proverbial map” of prospects for the Mets’ organization and Mets’ fans.
In 2024, the 6-foot-4 righty had electric stuff, but was very inconsistent splitting time between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse.
In Double-A he had a 2.41 ERA in five-starts and was rewarded with a call up to Syracuse.
That is where he struggled. Going 1-9, with a 5.93 ERA in 17 starts. His inconsistent control left mixed feelings among the top brass of the Mets’ organization.
However, in just his two-innings on Saturday, Mets’ fans were glazing over what they think they might have in him.
All social media outlets were talking about Tidwell and rightfully so after an immaculate inning and utter dominance.
Some fans were saying this is why the Mets didn’t sign Jose Quintana, who was signed by the Brewers on Monday. Why? Because just like Brandon Sproat waiting in the wings, they have Tidwell.
To me, this is a complete overreaction due inpart to just two-innings.
Simply put, Quintana, as noted in an earlier article, was much needed in the Mets’ injury ridden starting rotation.
Take nothing away from Tidwell’s outing. He deserved the praised he got. But, since it’s just two-innings, for me, it is not enough to agree with some fans that “he is the future.”
Tidwell will most likely join Sproat in Triple-A and work on his control, while Sproat, the Mets’ number one prospect is just a few good starts away in Syracuse from his big-league debut.
The Mets, after injuries to Sean Manaea (oblique) and Frankie Montas (lat), decided not to offer Quintana a contract. Milwaukee ultimately signed the left-hander to a one-year deal for $4.5 million.
The ceiling is high for Tidwell, but as a win now team with World Series Champion aspirations, I think at least in my opinion, there should be more talk on why Quintana was not signed than Tidwell’s two-innings.