Mets have figured out formula for pitching success
Ryne Stanek #55 of the Mets reacts after an out at first base against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field on Tuesday, Apr. 22, 2025. Credit: Jim McIsaac
During the offseason, the Mets chose to part ways with Luis Severino, whose three-year, $67 million deal with the Athletics is the largest guaranteed contract in the franchise’s history. But upon his departure, the former homegrown Yankee revealed some secrets to the remarkable pitching success in Flushing, which in turn set him up for the big payday in West Sacramento.
And those secrets involved some things that often are overlooked — or even were ridiculed during previous Mets administrations. Severino told the Foul Territory podcast in March that while the Yankees’ trainers were “unbelievable,” the Mets’ group was “next level,” crediting the Queens staff for making a 30-start, 182-inning season possible for him for the first time in six years.
So as everyone keeps trying to decipher the pitching staff’s winning formula in Flushing — or the wizardry of president of baseball operations David Stearns — a critical part of that process goes on behind closed doors to ensure that these important yet often fragile players are able to perform at a high level on a regular basis.
“I think if you look at the total package, the strength and conditioning team is really good,” reliever Ryne Stanek said. “Everything is very personalized — it’s what you need versus what the group needs. It’s very much like, how can they help you become the best version of you. Keep you the most healthy, or keep you feeling the best, whatever the case may be.
“Also, the athletic training staff is phenomenal. They’re really on top of their game all the time, getting on people to make sure they’re getting their treatment or doing their prehab and rehab, the stuff they need to take care of their body. The strength staff, the athletic staff, the nutrition staff — everybody’s just bought in and pulling in the same direction. And you can see the total product of that on the field. The results end up usually trending better whenever you’re checking those boxes.”
That stuff may sound basic for a professional sports franchise, but it’s not the same everywhere, and longtime observers of the medical debacles that used to be the norm for the Mets certainly understand the difference.
During the darker periods, which now feel like a lifetime ago, manager Jerry Manuel once cracked about an injured player, “They’re calling it cramps — surgery on Thursday.”
Even during the Mets’ better seasons in the decade-plus since, keeping players on the field was a chronic problem despite their association with one of the best orthopedic outfits on the planet, the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. By the time a player gets in an MRI tube and is examined by a doctor, however, it’s usually too late. That’s where the daily maintenance comes in, and that part goes beyond health into achieving top-flight performance, especially for pitchers, who have a tendency to break down more often.
“The movements are very dynamic,” Stanek said. “A lot of forces are put on some less-than-optimal points in the body. So it’s an all-encompassing effort to try to maintain health — but not just health, to have success, too.”
The success certainly is there. Entering Saturday, the Mets’ 2.45 ERA was tops in the majors and their 246 strikeouts ranked third behind the Phillies (256) and Dodgers (249).
Narrowing it down to the rotation, the Mets’ 2.36 ERA also led MLB and was more than a full run better than the next-best NL club, the surprising Nationals (3.41).
All that for a Mets starting five that currently carries a total price tag of $38.85 million — which ranks right between the 2025 salaries of Zack Wheeler ($42M) and Jacob deGrom ($37M).
“I think it starts from the top, with ownership, and the Cohens [Steve and wife Alex] making sure that we’re heard and everything we need,” David Peterson said. “And then it goes through the coaching staff as well, making sure we have the resources that we need and we’re able to do the stuff to prepare best. Whether it’s the strength and conditioning, the nutrition, the pitching department — we have all the resources and we have a lot of talented guys.”
Stanek raised another crucial point: integrating all of those varying specialties together. As a nine-year veteran who’s spent time in pitching-rich organizations such as the Rays, Astros and Mariners, Stanek said the Mets have elevated themselves to that elite tier by not only upgrading all aspects of their program but fitting them together.
“There’s definitely times the analytics could very much get in the way if you don’t have the right people bringing the two worlds together,” Stanek said. “We have a group of [coaches] that understand the information that’s being given and then can break it down to a usable practical application rather than just blanket data that has no meaning to anybody except if you’ve got a degree of statistics from wherever. So many times there’s not that marriage, and analytics can get in the way. But with the right group, it takes good players and makes them better.”
That’s a key part to the equation. In the past, players in other organizations have told stories of binders being left on their locker chairs, just pages plastered with data, with the expectation that they’d follow some impossibly scripted guidelines. As difficult as it was to simply transfer those pure analytics to the playing field, the lack of communication also fostered resentment between the clubhouse and the number-crunchers upstairs.
Listening to Stanek, who knows the difference, the Mets apparently have figured out a mutually beneficial balance between the two.
“There are too many people that think that analytics are either the absolute savior or the absolute demon,” Stanek said. “To them, there’s no in-between. But data is good, data makes you better — it’s just that data without function becomes worthless and function without data is inefficient and slow to improve.
“So being able to put them together is what you’re shooting for. And I think the places that do that the best are the ones that tend to be the best at developing players and making guys better and understanding market inefficiencies. They figured out their niche to be the most successful. And they’ve done a good job building that out here for sure.”
Safety first
The subject of implementing two first bases — a white one for the fielder, an orange/ green one for the runner — became a hot topic again this past week after last Sunday’s car-wreck collision between the Padres’ Luis Arraez and the Diamondbacks’ Mauricio Dubon. Arraez was trying to beat out a bunt and plowed directly into Dubon, who was behind the bag getting a flip from Christian Walker.
Some degree of contact at first base is a fairly regular occurrence — it’s a high-traffic zone — but occasionally there is the scary high-speed crash like this one, which landed Arraez on the injured list with a concussion.
In that regard, Arraez was lucky. To see him carted off the field on a stretcher, wearing a brace to immobilize his head and neck, suggested the damage could’ve been significantly worse. And for what?
MLB already has taken numerous steps to improve player safety — virtually eliminating collisions at every other base, including the plate — and going to a double first-base system should be next on the agenda. Maybe it’s not aesthetically pleasing for purists, but we’ve moved past the point of bowing to tradition in upgrading things to make the game better: the pitch clock, the universal DH, the automatic runner for extra innings.
Why not decrease the odds of a season-ending injury to a star player, or perhaps something much worse? It’s already been used some at the NCAA level, so making it up to the majors shouldn’t be too far off.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
