What are you most interested to see in Spring Training?

The Mets made it to the NLCS last year, spent a ton of money in the offseason and now head to Spring Training with both a ton of interesting players and no shortage of things that make people question if they can come close to the success the team enjoyed in 2024. If there’s no right way to enjoy a regular season game, there’s no right way to focus on action in Florida. With that in mind, today’s roundtable question is: What are you most interested to see in Spring Training?

Joe Vasile - I'm interested to see how the young pitchers perform, namely Dom Hamel, Blade Tidwell and Brandon Sproat. Obviously Spring Training is a time where pitchers aren't always doing the same things that they are doing in-season, but for three guys who will either all factor into the future of the pitching staff, I'm interested in how they look against Major League competition in the Grapefruit League. Of the three, I'm most interested in Tidwell after his struggles in Triple-A last year, especially when it comes to his walk rate in the pros. He had a good improvement in Double-A from 2023 to 2024, so hopefully that can translate in Triple-A this year and perhaps see him crack the big league roster at some point. With Christian Scott out until 2026 and starting pitching being a fairly big question mark for the Mets this year (at least from a depth standpoint), how the upper minors pitching depth fares could be a huge factor in the season.

David Groveman - It's hard to pick one thing for me to be looking for in Spring Training. I am tracking a lot of stories this Spring but I think the general theme is I'm checking in on the kids. I want to see Luisangel Acuna and see if he continues his odd and statistically unsupported successes since his cup of coffee promotion. I want to see Mark Vientos pick up where he left off and see if Brett Baty will make any waves. I want to see Francisco Alvarez get off to a good start and see if he can show the middle of the order batting star he used to in the minors. I want to see a healthy Drew Gilbert and Jett Williams play some time in the outfield (or second base for Williams). Mostly, I will be zeroed in on all appearances by Sproat, Tidwell, Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong. None of them will make the major league squad out of Spring Training but all of them should see some amount of time on the mound. I will be posting a Top 50 Prospect List once the Spring Training cuts start falling into place.

Chris Flanders - I am most interested in seeing the development of the starting pitching staff and the competition for the sixth starter. I want to know whether Kodai Senga is ready to stand up and be the leader that he is expected to be, by turning out fit for duty and ready to throw as the team #1, or will he still be the "ghost pitcher" from last year. Also lurking on my mind is news about Clay Holmes and an expanded pitch selection is going and what metrics the team is hoping for to be called the transition a success. Lastly, there are a lot of chuckers in the battle to see time as the sixth and seventh starters. I'm getting the popcorn ready to see who outpitches the others in a total barroom brawl on the mound.

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As for me, the thing that most piques my interest is to see Juan Soto in a Mets uniform and how he interacts with his new teammates. Is he one of the boys? Is he on the top step of the dugout, ready to congratulate others on the team for a job well done? If it returns in 2025, will he stand next to others holding up the OMG sign? Will he try to help less-established players, like Francisco Lindor has done since he arrived on the Mets? Or will there be an invisible barrier between Soto and the rest of the club? It seemed like a very harmonious group in 2024 and my hope is that the returning players embrace Soto, giving him every reason to feel comfortable his first year in Queens and avoid the slow starts that Lindor and Carlos Beltran had before him in their first season on the Mets in a big-money deal.

And if you’ll grant me a second item, my eye will be on Brandon Nimmo and how he moves and performs. When we last saw him, Nimmo was playing thru plantar fasciitis. And while no one can question his toughness, a .426 OPS in the NLCS was far from encouraging. Will an offseason of rest fix his foot issues? Recently, Nimmo has eased into action in Grapefruit League play, not participating right away. That’s the plan again this year, too. So, it won’t be a surprise if he doesn’t play in a game the first week or two. But once he does play, it would be nice to see him hit the ball with authority and run the bases without restriction.