Mets prospect Tidwell hurls immaculate frame against Rays
Adam Berry
@adamdberryPORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- When Mets pitching prospect Blade Tidwell walked off the mound after his second and final inning Saturday afternoon, he had no idea.
He knew he had just struck out three Rays hitters in order, and he was pleased with the way he pitched overall, striking out five of the six batters he faced. But the only thing he heard hinting at the feat he had just accomplished came from his coaches and teammates, who told him, ¡°Way to attack the strike zone.¡±
In fact, he did it as well as it can be done. Tidwell, the Mets' No. 8 prospect at the end of 2024 according to MLB Pipeline, pitched an immaculate inning in the second frame of the Mets¡¯ 10-1 Spring Training victory over the Rays at Charlotte Sports Park.
¡°It was good. I felt good,¡± Tidwell said. ¡°I didn't realize I had one until after I got back.¡±
Tidwell said he learned of his accomplishment while checking social media after he returned to the visitors¡¯ dugout down the right-field line. He said he hadn¡¯t thrown an immaculate inning since he was in high school and noted that ¡°doesn¡¯t count,¡± anyway.
It was a little different doing it against big leaguers, especially with the Rays running out a fairly representative lineup. Leadoff man Yandy D¨ªaz was the only Tampa Bay hitter to put a ball in play against Tidwell, who got Brandon Lowe and Christopher Morel to strike out looking in the first inning.
In the second, Tidwell fired nine strikes and picked up three strikeouts against Josh Lowe, Eloy Jim¨¦nez and Jos¨¦ Caballero.
¡°I wanted to see how I stacked up against a big league squad, and I thought it was going to be fun and going to be a challenge,¡± Tidwell said. ¡°And it ended up being both.¡±
Unlike Tidwell, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he recognized right away what the 23-year-old right-hander had done. He immediately turned to pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and said, ¡°That¡¯s immaculate!¡±
¡°We knew in the dugout right away,¡± Mendoza said. ¡°I was just telling him that it¡¯s the same game. He¡¯s facing a pretty good lineup there. That goes to show you that when you are on the attack and throwing strikes, getting ahead, like, your stuff is gonna play.¡±
That¡¯s the message the Mets have been preaching this spring to Tidwell, a second-round pick in the 2022 Draft out of Tennessee and part of a wave of upper-Minors pitching that includes top prospect Brandon Sproat and No. 9 prospect Nolan McLean.
The 6-foot-4 Tidwell has impressive stuff, but his Minor League results have been mixed, due in large part to a high walk rate resulting from inconsistent control. Splitting last season between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse, Tidwell struck out 22.6% of the batters he faced but also walked 12% of them.
Looking to address that, Tidwell said he cut his arsenal down to five pitches: a four-seam fastball, a two-seamer, a ¡°gyro¡± (bullet-spin) slider, a sweeper and a changeup.
¡°It's better to have five mastered pitches than it would be to have, like, nine average pitches, if that makes sense,¡± he said.
He used all five pitches on Saturday and finished each of his three strikeouts in the second inning with a different pitch. It was a perfect example -- immaculate, even -- of what he can do when he¡¯s ahead in the count.
After getting ahead of Josh Lowe with a pair of called strikes, he finished the at-bat with a gyro slider. He got ahead of the veteran Jim¨¦nez and got him swinging on a 99 mph fastball, up and away. He threw two more called strikes to Caballero, then set him down with a sweeper.
¡°It was good to see it, especially against pretty good hitters there,¡± Mendoza said. ¡°Those are some of the things that we're trying to teach him, and it's good that he's going through it and experiencing those.¡±
Tidwell said he isn¡¯t worried about getting his name on Mets officials¡¯ radar in big league camp. He¡¯s taking their advice of, ¡°just riding the wave¡± and getting ready for his season, which will likely begin back in Triple-A.
But he¡¯ll admit he¡¯s thought about someday sharing a big league rotation with Sproat and Christian Scott, whose ascent to the Majors he followed closely last year. Days like Saturday make it seem a little more realistic.
¡°Obviously that's the goal and the dream, so, I mean, I feel like I can stack up with the best of them if I'm commanding the ball,¡± Tidwell said. ¡°That's what I'm just trying to work on day in, day out.¡±