Why Mets will send (only) Luis Severino to Colorado early
Mets pitcher Luis Severino throws during the first inning of a game against the Twins at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: AP/Seth Wenig
ANAHEIM, Calif. — During this logistical hassle of a road trip, Luis Severino is the one lucky Mets player who will skip the largest inconvenience: a one-day stay in St. Louis between series at the Angels and Rockies.
He’ll break off from the team after Sunday’s game to head to Denver, where the Mets will arrive very late Monday (or early Tuesday). That will allow him proper rest and a brief chance to adjust to the infamous mile-high altitude ahead of his start Tuesday night.
As for Paul Blackburn and David Peterson, also scheduled to pitch in Colorado? They’ll stick with the team, Midwest detour and all.
“Where we’re landing is trying to keep everyone out of Colorado as much as possible, trying to get in and out of there,” pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said. “The elevation acclimation — I don’t know the exact science — is like 15 days. The longer that you’re there, you start to acclimate to the elevation. As soon as we leave, we go back to sea level [in Seattle]. If we send everybody ahead and they’re there for four or five days, that may be counterproductive physiologically.”
Initially, though, Hefner thought maybe it was best to send all three starters to Denver ahead of time.
“That’s where we started the conversation,” he said. “Then we talked to sports science, talked to the trainers in terms of their programming. It started to feel like we were overthinking it instead of: Let’s keep it as close to a normal routine as possible. And we’ll do our best to give them more time away from the field to sleep or what have you.”
That is the advice Severino said he received: sleep plenty and drink lots of water.
He has never pitched at Coors Field before. What has he heard about the hitters’ haven?
“A lot of bad things,” Severino said. “But I’m blocking everything out and focusing on pitching.”
Diekman released
The Mets released lefthander Jake Diekman, whom they had designated for assignment on Monday.
Diekman posted a 5.63 ERA in 43 appearances after signing a one-year, $4 million contract shortly before spring training.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
