ST. LOUIS -- Blade Tidwell, the Mets’ second-round Draft pick in 2022 and their No. 15 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, is about to make his Major League debut.
The Mets plan to call up Tidwell to start Sunday against the Cardinals, manager Carlos Mendoza confirmed Friday, as part of the team’s plan to give other starters an extra day of rest.
“He earned it,” Mendoza said. “We know the stuff is there. We saw flashes of it in Spring Training, and the way he’s been throwing the ball, especially lately … we needed a spot start, he put himself in position, and he’s getting the call.”
Tidwell, 23, holds a 5.00 ERA over 27 innings at Triple-A Syracuse, but he has struck out 18 batters and walked just one over his last two starts -- underlying numbers that Mendoza said played a role in his promotion. A hard thrower, Tidwell is at his best when he’s able to command his mid- to upper-90s fastball within the strike zone.
“It comes down to executing, throwing strikes,” Mendoza said, “because we all know how electric his stuff is.”
Tidwell, who has tried to scale back his seven-pitch mix, is perhaps best known for throwing an immaculate inning during Spring Training.
Last year, the right-hander produced a 2.41 ERA over seven outings at Double-A Binghamton before scuffling a bit in his first taste of Triple-A. Over the offseason, Tidwell put on what Mendoza called “some really good weight” to help spur his improvements on the mound.
“You’ve got to give him credit,” Mendoza said. “He worked extremely hard, put himself in a position where he came in and pretty much impressed everyone because of how he was looking physically and how the ball was coming out.”
Seeking a starter to insert into their rotation for the second time in a week, the Mets had limited options. One possibility, top Mets prospect Brandon Sproat, has struggled with consistency at Syracuse and wasn’t on turn to start Sunday anyway. Another, right-hander Justin Hagenman, is currently on the Triple-A injured list. A third, left-hander Brandon Waddell, was optioned back to Syracuse earlier this week and therefore ineligible for an immediate return.
The Mets have been trying to give Kodai Senga an extra day of rest before each of his starts this season, prompting them to use spot starters on multiple occasions already. Although the team could have waited until next week to insert a sixth starter, doing so now offers Tidwell -- on paper, at least -- a softer landing spot against a middling Cardinals offense versus a tougher environment in Arizona.
The Mets are currently in a stretch of 13 games in 13 days. Once it ends, they won’t have another like it until June.
“In the middle of the stretch that we are, we’re continuing to give these guys extra days in between starts,” Mendoza said. “The plan is, once we get through this stretch, with all the off-days that we’ve got coming up here in May, we won’t need to insert another one. Hopefully, that’s the case.”