With Opening Day arriving just days away, New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza has announced who exactly will be in the team’s starting pitching rotation to begin the 2024 season. The specific order is still to be determined. However, we know that Jose Quintana and Luis Severino will be at the top of the rotation.
Quintana is set to be the Mets’ Opening Day starter on March 28 against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field. A couple of days after that game will be Severino’s turn as he’ll be lined up to pitch the second game of that series. Obviously, it’s disappointing for the Mets to be without Kodai Senga, the National League Rookie of the Year runner-up last season, to start 2024. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to struggle and not do so well. Here are a few ways in which they will be good to kick off the 2024 Major League Baseball season.
Why Mets Starting Rotation Will Succeed to Begin 2024
Experience
Isn’t this an important part of a player’s and/or team’s success? The more experience you have, the better the chances will be in determining your ethics.
Just about everyone in the current Mets starting rotation is a veteran. In fact, four out of the five current starters have been in the big leagues for seven seasons or more. The only one with the least experience is Tylor Megill, who’s been pitching for the Mets since 2021. And, let’s not forget, Mendoza announced that Megill will be the No. 5 starter in the rotation to start the 2o24 season. That must’ve been a hard decision for Mendoza, who was contemplating whether it should be him or José Buttó, the former No. 27 prospect via MLB.com who’s now in the Mets’ minor league camp. In the end, however, the decision came down to the experience levels of both Megill and Buttó, and Megill won that battle.
Overall, this current Mets starting rotation has a good chunk of experience under their belts. It will be interesting to see how all these pitchers can continue to show what they’re capable of while pitching for the Mets, whether or not it’s their first time on the team.
Spring training highlights
Now, let’s talk about how these pitchers have performed up to this point in spring training.
It’s been pretty solid for the most part, especially since last week it was confirmed that the Mets have the best ERA in spring training this year. So far, Megill is leading the team in strikeouts with 16 of them. The rest of the pitchers who are starters have struck out a combined 40 hitters. Megill has also pitched more innings than the rest of the current starters.
Additionally, Severino has only allowed one earned run while pitching nine innings so far. He has also given up fewer hits out of the four other current starters. Let’s also not forget how solid Adrian Houser and Sean Manaea have been so far this spring. In Manaea’s last start, he struck out six hitters in five innings against the St. Louis Cardinals. Since changing his appearance by cutting his hair and trimming his beard, Manaea has been very reliable and could hopefully shift his talents into the regular season quickly. Houser’s performance has been similar to Manaea as he struck out six hitters in five innings against the Washington Nationals during his last start.
With all these outstanding statistics mentioned, chances are that Houser and Manaea could be a great combination to have on the other side of the rotation in addition to Megill at the bottom. We know Quintana is the ace as of now, and rightfully so because he has had a good spring so far and an overall good career. We’ll see if these numbers can transition into something meaningful starting March 28.
Final Thoughts
If you’re a Mets fan, you could probably agree with the fact that the Mets have been known for their pitching for a while now. Hopefully that theory can come into play this season. It’s also important to know that the team should be okay with finishing games even if a starter doesn’t perform well. That’s because they have tons of reliable relievers in the bullpen, and you never know, maybe a few of them could turn into a starter at some point. Nonetheless, until Senga returns, this is the rotation the Mets are going with.
Main Image: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
