Jon Niese vs. Marlins 3/25

Hey, the Mets decided to not Start Santana against the Braves and decided to start Jon Niese instead. The Mets have been hyping Niese so I figured I'd get a look for myself and write it up.

Stat wise: Niese is a lefty sinker baller which I believe led to his .344 BABIP in the FSL. At higher levels I could see a lot of those ground balls being outs. With that, he had a GO/AO of 1.42 which is pretty good considering. 105 SO in 122 IP with just 28 walks its pretty good. I'm excited to see how he does in AA. Burkhart says during the game that Omar said he'll bring him up this year in the right situation. Final 8 starts: 4-1 2.18 ERA 42 SO

Stuff: He has a nice sinking fastball and does a great job of keeping it low in the zone. It sits in the 90-92 range, but he'll take a little off it too and throw it at 88.

His curveball is great. Its got a very big break but for its size pretty sharp with an 11 - 5 break. It sits around 70-73.  It looks a lot like a Zito Curve in terms of break, but isn't as close to 12-6 as that.

His change sits at 80 mph and has some downward movement too. Seems like an average pitch but definitely has potential.

First Inning: Blanco (CF) leads off  and flies out on a nasty curveball. Escobar takes a sinker up the middle. Frenchy: Lines out on a sinker at his shins. Gets Diaz to a 1-2 count but gets Escobar stealing.

Second Inning: Diaz grounds to second on a sinker. Prado walks on a 3-2 Count. Lillibridge looks like he is 8, and he flew out to right. Thorman pops to shallow right center.

I really like the way he is attacking the hitters. The Prado walk was a good AB and he made Prado work for that walk. His control seems pretty good, and when he is missing he is missing low. Of course something you want to see with a sinkerballer.

Lillibrigde honestly looks my little sisters age, its quite funny. Today he is playing 3rd base. Seems to have a strong arm, he just flicked his wrist to get the ball to first.

Third inning: He doubles up on changes ups to Miller(C). Then has Hudson break his bat on a low inside sinker. Blanco's AB started with a sinker at the knees, then a fastball just off the inside corner. A nasty 70 mph curve on the outside corner. He doubles up on the curve which misses and then strikes him swinging out with a fastball,

In general Niese has good presence  on the mound and goes after the hitters. Niese works very quickly which helps the defense say on their toes.

Fourth inning: Escobar lead off with a curve in the dirt, then change up low and away, Niese throws a fastball to brush him off the plate. 3-0 fastball for strike one, 3-1 sinker fouled back. Walked Escobar on a full count. Frenchy starts off with a change up low. Swings over a change away. Then a big curveball over the middle for strike two. Curveball at the shins fouled off.  Frenchy bounces a 1-2 sinker up the middle to Reyes for a double play. Diaz swings at the first sinker and bounces out to Reyes.

Fifth Inning: Prado leads off the 5th and gets a bunch of fastballs which quickly gets walked. Niese's velocity slips into the mid 80s. He looks a little tired. To this point he only let up one hit, the single up the middle. Lillibrigde is up he saw five 85 mph fastballs and is also walked. After a mound visit, Scott Thorman pops up to shallow center, but with the wind blowing in the ball drops, bases loaded.  Niese seemingly regained his velocity gets strike one with a change, strike two with a fastball that breaks Corkey Miller's bat. Niese misses close on a few pitches then walks Miller and in a run. Brian Pena is up. Curveball for strike one, then a curveball high, then a third one low. Niese gets a ground ball double play on a sinker.

I don't think that this inning was that horrible. The first two ABs Niese was clearly winded. His velocity dropped off to 85 from 88-91. For a young kid in ST it was clear that he got tired. First four innings great. The fifth was too much for him right now. Not a good ending for him.

Hope you someone enjoyed. I understand it was choppy but I had a good time doing it.

Josh