Spring training results the ball flies down here I mean but you got to hit it with backs spin to get it and nothing makes you feel better as a hitter than when you hit a ball out of the ballpark so that’s good good positive that they
Can take out of there right now however the Mets put a seventh spot on this last inning and we got to get some runs this inning to try and win the game shanto fujinami debuted in the major leagues last year at age 29 coming over from
Japan is on the mound for the Mets Baltimore has been doing some great things with their pitchers and he didn’t have any success with Oakland early Baltimore picked him up and he had a pretty solid finish cut his walks bumped his strikeouts but they
Let him go at the end of the year after 30 Innings of work in Baltimore but guarantee you they probably helped him if not revive his career certainly move on to the next team in better shape and New York Mets have picked him up candidate for their
Bullpen Carlos Mendoza at the plate his first at Battle of the game breaking ball in the dirt all kinds of defensive changes for the New York Mets with the pinch Runners we saw in the last inning this is where you really got to push yourself there’s guys that have
Made the team team haven’t made the team have a chance to make the team and you get late in these games like this is is a chance to impress you talked to Paul about Paul goldi earlier he came in in the ninth inning of a game from the
Minor league side and hit a home run and that got our attention Adam eat and another the little left hand hit player he did the same you got a chance to make an impression right here because the coach Es are all there there’s a good
Advent that bat like that in the two two count Mendoza sharp Line Drive single to left the coasters are going to be there till the end and it’s a real opportunity to get your name on the map good job of not trying to do too much with that ball
Gibby just just going with it y hitting it in that six hole right there it’s good good plate he just served it right through there this is what Andy has done this spring he is he’s taking advantage of every at bat he’s going to lay in the
Weeds here try to Ambush a fast ball I bet you think he leads the team Dan is that right he leads or tied with another guy for the team leading homers this spring yes he has just been very consistent at bats for Andy bones bat has been a little quieter of
Late but again tigers are tracking the good at bats and he continues to have good at bats just reiterate that I’m the guy you want to take give you a good at bat here sharp late breaking slider down in the way it’s a cutter at 88 to get the
Swing and Miss six run lead he throws a two- snap Dragon he has pretty good late life in it I I always like to look at the bats look at the handles how everybody does things is just a little different how they hold it shot fouled down the third
Baseline then you can see the the the other end the big end of the head of the bat some are CED some have rounded or more rounded there this one here is kind of squared off they’re trying to find a balance did I see a signature on that
Bat o half cut on the fast ball up definitely one too far and indy bz strikes out well that one maybe goes back to the bat rack put that in the back of the line right there you try you try and get get everything tuned up I mean we’re down
By six runs right now just add is getting me to wander off a little bit just trying to find something to look at here well Jonesy you mentioned earlier the the value of having some veteran hitters lengthening a lineup this guy right here yes is going to help you
Lengthen a lineup absolutely abolutely yeah 277 career hitter I know the power was off last year but he’s got extra base and occasional home run power doubled in this game reached third on an error GI or shell is going to help lengthen the lineup with Mark Canon well
Just because you don’t hit home runs doesn’t mean that you’re not a threat and and you know we’ve we’ve added two we’ve added two guys this year and in in Mark and Gio that that are going to give you professional at bats day in and day
Out and continue to put pressure on on the pitcher and it’s and it’s it’s hard to like be able to to show like like in a box score what what’s going on but like if if he if Gio right here keeps fouling pitches off foul pitches off
That’s just going to add to the pitcher’s pitch count and it’s just going to have a cumulative effect and Help The Help the lineup be competitive the whole way through that’s good that’s a good slider right there sure was yeah he loves his slider the last two hitters on a 2 count
With a six-run lead he’s throwing a 20 slider and he just went there with the 2-1 slider is’s a high heater another slider looked like yep staying off speed Michelle couple of years ago last year was the injury shorten season with little power but a couple of seasons go
43 extra base hits and 500 at bats with the twins and you don’t get that number of at bats if you’re not producing quality at bats throughout the year round balls kind of served out to second base Dak short will field and flip over to First Mendoza scoots over
To third he’s there with two outs Tigers down six pretty good pitch there you had to protect and really nothing you could do with that one tip your hat that brings up Dylan dingler this is certainly somebody to keep an eye on we’ve heard a lot about him coming up
Through the minor leagues but I was really interested in how AJ hinch has talked about Dylan dingler and the impact that he’s had everywhere he’s been on a pitching staff they love his defense the offense is the next and kind of final piece that needs to fall into
Place but don’t forget about Dylan dingler and what he’s going going to provide in terms of value behind the plate in the years ahead when you have both sides of the ball you’re invaluable terrific athlete center fielder at Ohio State his freshman year then move behind the plate that’s how
From center field to wow catcher wow that’s right that many that do first you know Dan you were saying the the the catchers that can help a pitching staff those are the ones that stick around they play 10 15 years yep everybody knows pza right because he hit
Home runs but there’s 15 or 20 catchers that I played with that that could manage a game and and could handle a pitching staff and encourage pitchers and uh you know keep them on task and that’s why they that’s why they had the careers that they had the Rodriguez and
The and the and the pazas are just they don’t come around too often right we see a lot of guys into their 30s who maybe have never done a lot offensively but they’re still around at the major league level because of their ability to handle a staff their defensive work behind the
Plate the ability to handle the staff is kind of a generic turn but there’s so much that goes into it isn’t there Jonesy oh there sure is you’ve got to know all the personality of all the players you’ve got to know their pitch Tendencies and their sequences and how
They what they like to throw and how they like to call the game and then then you know what is what is frustrating is um when there’s catchers back there that will kind of check out when the game’s out of hand and just call fast balls um
You know that’s you’ve got to be grinding with your pitcher with you pitch behind dingler and nice play by catcher O’Neal def flip it to Fu junami but Mendoza creates the run all on his own we were talking about timing earlier on secondary they let’s look right here watch at top he’s got
Good he’s off with the [Applause] races that’s a good secondary lead you’ve been talking about all day Gibby yeah he did did a great read on it you know what you read on TV is a lot easier than what you read at when you’re on the
Base that ball bounc away like that got the job done good at bat got around the bases long scored on the pass line drive hooking foul and with that and with that secondary lead you were talking about earlier today that’s a that’s a little bit easier ball to read because you’ve
You you’ve done the you’ve done the work so when the opportunity presents itself you can then you can then score and and yeah it’s a you know it’s a maybe a little bit too too little too late but it’s still it still leaves things in AJ’s
Mind the 3-2 he got him with that really short late breaking cutter Carlos Mendoza ends up creating a run all on his own starts with the
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