LAKELAND, Fla. — Dominic Hamel had no nerves before making his first Grapefruit League start against the Detroit Tigers. He got some big league spring experience last year when the Mets chose him to start an intrasquad exhibition game and when he pitched for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic.
The 25-year-old right-hander out of Arizona made one Grapefruit League relief appearance a few weeks ago. He was ready.
And then he got rocked.
Facing the Tigers at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium Thursday, Hamel gave up leadoff homers in each of the three innings he pitched and an extra one in the third. Parker Meadows hit a 1-1 changeup in the first, Colt Keith golfed an 0-1 cutter low and inside in the second, and Riley Greene swung on 3-0 in the third, driving it out to the grassy hill above the left field fence.
While a Grapefruit League game isn’t exactly a big league game, it was still a sort of welcome-to-the-bigs moment for Hamel.
“They definitely came a little sooner in the outing than I wanted, a little more frequent than I wanted,” Hamel said of the four bombs he allowed in the Mets’ 10-5 spring training win over the Tigers. “But I feel like I limited [the damage] and gave my team the best chance I could. I definitely feel like I can offer more, but just for the time being in the situation, I was in compete-mode. So yeah, I got a taste, I guess.”
With only three games left in spring training, the prospects and minor leaguers are just about finished with getting their taste of the big leagues. The Mets have not announced a pitcher for Friday’s game against the Yankees in Tampa, but it will likely be a minor leaguer given the rainy weather conditions expected around George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Left-hander Jose Quintana, the Mets’ Opening Day starter, will get his final tuneup before pitching against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field next week, and left-hander Sean Manaea will make his Monday when the Mets break camp with an exhibition against the Yankees.
Hamel pitched three innings and allowed four earned runs on six hits, walking one and striking out two. He fell behind hitters often, forcing him to use his fastball instead often. It wasn’t exactly a banner outing but he received positive feedback in his first big league camp and is happy with his stuff overall.
“The biggest thing I feel like is that the action all of my pitches is what I wanted,” Hamel said. “It’s just actually utilizing it the right way, getting it in the zone and working halves on certain guys. But it felt good and my stuff felt good. It’s utilizing it as a separator, for sure. It’s the execution.”
Hamel has not yet been told where he will be starting the season, but after a solid season with Double-A Binghamton, he’s anticipating a promotion to Triple-A Syracuse.
“I’m leaning more towards ‘Cuse,” he said. “I proved myself last year in Binghamton.”
WHAT A RELIEF
Closer Edwin Diaz threw on back-to-back days for the first time since October 2022, completing a 10-pitch minor league outing in Port St. Lucie one day after a Grapefruit League outing in Jupiter. Diaz will make one more outing before Opening Day, likely in one of the two home games over the weekend.
“No issues there,” said manager Carlos Mendoza.
The Mets finally got an extended look at right-hander Michael Tonkin against the Tigers. With the ability to throw multiple innings, the Mets wanted to push his pitch count. Tonkin got up to 46, blanking the Tigers over 2 1/3 innings. He gave up one hit and two walks and struck out one. He entered with one out and runners on second and third in the fourth, walking the first hitter and retiring the next two.
“We wanted to get him three ups and get him pretty much all the way to 50 pitches,” Mendoza said. “He came in with traffic and I thought he handled it pretty well.”
STANDOUT PERFORMERS
Harrison Bader hit his second home run of spring in the third inning off Detroit starter Matt Manning. … Brett Baty hit his third, also off Manning. … Zack Short hit a two-out grand slam in the eighth inning off reliever RJ Petit.
