PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- In an exhibition against Team Nicaragua on Wednesday, Max Scherzer recorded nine outs. All nine were strikeouts.
The rest wasn’t as clean as that stat line might make it seem, as Mets fielders committed two errors behind Scherzer, who also allowed a home run to Cheslor Cuthbert and walked the leadoff man in the fourth inning to end his night after 68 pitches.
“It’s just weird,” Scherzer said of his performance in a 2-0 Mets loss. “Anything can happen in spring.”
Making his third spring outing, Scherzer said he was working specifically on his slider and changeup. He wasn’t happy in particular with the slider, which he struggled to use as an out pitch.
“But that’s one of my bread-and-butter pitches,” Scherzer said. “So I’m not worried. I’ve just got to sharpen that up.”
Of greater issue against Nicaragua was New York’s offense, which was missing Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Francisco Lindor, Eduardo Escobar and Omar Narváez to the World Baseball Classic, as well as Starling Marte and Brandon Nimmo to their personal spring progressions. Of the projected Opening Day starting lineup, only Daniel Vogelbach took the field for the Mets, who did not record a hit until Ronny Mauricio legged out an infield single in the seventh on a borderline play that could have been ruled an error.
Welcome back
Infielder Danny Mendick made his spring debut against Nicaragua, playing in his first real game since tearing the ACL in his right knee last June 22. Playing three innings at second base, Mendick finished 0-for-1 at the plate. He signed with the Mets for $1 million this offseason after appearing in 31 games for the White Sox in 2022 before his injury.
“I asked him if he slept last night,” manager Buck Showalter said. “He said, 'Not much.' He said, ‘I’ve been waiting to get back on the field for a long time.’”
Marte, who is recovering from offseason groin surgery, is also slated to make his debut on Friday, followed by Nimmo over the weekend.
“I think we’ve taken every possible precaution you can take,” Showalter said of Marte, “almost to a fault.”
Repping his country
Because David Peterson is still recovering from a bruised left foot, rookie Jose Butto will step into his rotation slot for Thursday’s exhibition against Venezuela. It should be an impactful assignment for Butto, one of several Venezuelans in camp.
“I think that’ll be a nice moment for him,” Showalter said. “Maybe he wants to show them that they should have taken him. Of course if he pitches too good, they may call and ask.”
Butto can expect to face a lineup featuring two of his Mets teammates: Escobar and Narváez. Neither of those two started in Venezuela’s exhibition against the Astros on Wednesday.
From the good news department
Former Mets third baseman Howard Johnson, who is in camp as a guest instructor, said his grandson, Tanner, continues to improve following a lawnmower accident in 2021 that cost him all the toes on his left foot. Tanner, who lives in Nashville, Tenn., has taken to playing baseball at his father’s hitting facility.
“Tanner’s in the cage most of the time by himself, just picking up balls, putting it on the tee, hitting the ball, getting another ball, put it up, hit it again,” Johnson said. “It’s almost like a normal existence for him.”
To cope with his disability, Tanner wears a shoe filler on his left foot. He will eventually need an additional surgery to correct complications caused by the normal growth of his foot, but in all other ways he is a healthy, happy 3-year-old.
More alumni news
Also in camp this week is former Mets outfielder Mookie Wilson, who has founded a catering business in South Carolina using his mother’s recipes. The mobile operation takes place in a trailer featuring a 20-foot kitchen and almost 12,000 square inches of cooking space.
“Mostly Southern cuisine,” was how Wilson described it, noting that he does much of the cooking himself. “We don’t cook hot dogs. What we do are the basic Southern dishes of pulled pork, ribs, mac and cheese. We do pork sirloin. We do beef tenderloins. We do a lot of stuff.”