PHILADELPHIA — Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner was in a hurry, running late to a meeting as the Mets prepared for batting practice before their game against the Phillies on Friday night.
With questions to ask, we turned to the assistant pitching coach.
The person holding that unofficial title for the Mets has won three Cy Young awards and needs one win to reach 200 for his career.
“You’re not far off, because I am older than Hef,” said 38-year-old Max Scherzer, nodding in approval at the assistant pitching coach moniker.
Carlos Carrasco, in recent days, hit the injured list with an oblique strain and Taijuan Walker is now dealing with a bulging disk in his back that still had him questionable for his Sunday start. The Mets will play a doubleheader on Saturday at Citizens Bank Park, in which they will deploy David Peterson and Trevor Williams in some order as the starting pitchers. If Walker can’t pitch Sunday, Jose Butto from Triple-A Syracuse might make his major league debut.
From Scherzer, we wanted to know if he thought the Mets’ success this season plugging the rotation had toughened that unit. After all, the Mets were without Jacob deGrom for four months to start the season and Scherzer himself was sidelined for nearly seven weeks.
The assistant pitching coach agreed with the premise, but thought it could be stated differently.
“Different guys have had an opportunity to step up and contribute to this team,” Scherzer said before the Mets’ 7-2 victory. “Trevor Williams, Tylor Megill and David Peterson in particular, those guys have answered the call more often than not and they have gone out there and delivered really good outings for our team and those guys going out there and getting an opportunity to showcase what they can do, that is a credit to their work behind the scenes and everybody around them to allow them to perform at a high level.”
Their chief NL East competition, the Braves and Phillies, added starting pitching at the trade deadline, but the Mets stood pat, instead focusing on platoon hitters and the bullpen. The Braves got Jake Odorizzi and the Phillies traded for Noah Syndergaard, who is receiving extra rest this weekend and won’t face the Mets.
In determining that deGrom’s return would be enough of a trade deadline boost, the Mets banked on Peterson, in particular, as their best line of defense against a rotation gap. The left-hander has pitched to a 3.30 ERA in 18 appearances for the Mets this season, 14 of which have been starts.
“I think he’s at the phase of his career where now he is trying to truly establish himself and be consistent, have three pitches every single outing and be able to throw strikes on a consistent basis,” Scherzer said. “He’s identified something he wants to get better at, and he is going out there and doing something about it.”
Williams has shuffled between the rotation and bullpen, and his best success has occurred in relief.
“He has been the Swiss Army knife of this team and for this pitching staff,” Scherzer said. “Whether it is pitch in relief, pitching long out of relief, making spot starts, I guess fans don’t understand how difficult that is, that is an extremely difficult role to fill because you don’t know when you are going to pitch.”
It’s clear Scherzer is enjoying himself almost as much on his days between starts as when he is pitching. This staff has coalesced, with Scherzer perhaps the glue that has strengthened the bonds the tightest.
But Scherzer won’t take that credit alone. In the bullpen, there are veterans Adam Ottavino and Tommy Hunter (set to return from the IL on Sunday). Chris Bassitt, who shined in the series opener Friday, is an ace at reacting to what he sees from the opponent, according to Scherzer, and imparts that to other members of the pitching staff.
Scherzer has his own approach, especially with younger pitchers such as Peterson and Megill.
“The young guys, it’s trail crumbs,” Scherzer said. “You can’t give them the whole cookie. You have got to give them little crumbs and just take one little thing at a time, like, ‘You need to do this to get from here to there.’ That is the hard thing when I am talking to young guys is just to take it gradually, because they want the cookie. They want to know everything and they don’t realize you have got to do one thing at a time.”
Solid advice from the assistant pitching coach.