The moment hit Mets prospect Jack Wenninger after he threw his final warm-up pitch and looked around the field ahead of Tuesday’s Grapefruit League game against the Houston Astros: This is big-league camp.
“I finished my warm-ups, catching the ball from Bo [Bichette], and then looked around the defense,” Wenninger said. “Got Juan [Soto] out in left field, [Marcus] Semien at second, Ronny [Mauricio] at short. It was just great. It was cool.”
On his first pitch of the afternoon, Houston's Jeremy Peña, a World Series MVP from a few years back, coolly took the 96 mph fastball at the knees on the outside corner into center for a basehit.
After getting a loud out, Wenninger put himself into a bit of trouble with a walk, but got Joey Loperfido to chase a 1-2 letter-high 97 mph fastball for a big strikeout. Unfortunately, a second non-competitive walk loaded the bases. Wenninger escaped getting Shay Whitcomb to swing through a splitter below the zone.
“Execution wasn’t great in the first,” the right-hander said. “I thought I was trying to be a little too fine.”
Was it a case of having a bit of butterflies? “I don’t know about butterflies, but kind of like trying to be where my feet attack the hitters, but just trying to be a little too fine and getting in trouble a little bit,” said Wenninger, the Mets’ No. 11 prospect in Joe DeMayo’s offseason rankings.
The second frame was much less precarious as he pitched around a one-out double with another strikeout swinging on the splitter.
Manager Carlos Mendoza praised Wenninger for battling through the early jam and finishing strong.
“Continues to execute, make pitches,” the skipper said, adding that the righty was “live on the fastball, but the splitter is as advertised.”
“It’s a pitch that when you see it in real competition, and the way he executed it to put hitters away was pretty impressive,” Mendoza continued about the splitter. “He was good overall.”
In his two innings of work, he got seven whiffs on 17 swings, with the splitter responsible for three on six offerings. The fastball, which averaged 95.3 mph on eight balls, was swung through twice on five swings.
For the youngster, it was “just good to get my feet wet, get out there and pitch.”
But the first taste of big-league camp was a great opportunity to get to know guys and “pick their brains.”
“The more I talked to people, and finding out what makes other people better, I can help myself become a better player,” he said, adding Sean Manaea has been the one he’s spoken to the most. “He’s a real friendly guy and just easy to talk to.”
The 23-year-old has also relied on Jonah Tong and Nolan McLean for advice on their experience after making their MLB debuts last season.
Wenninger pitched to a 2.92 ERA and 1.150 WHIP in 135.2 innings over 26 starts last season at Double-A Binghampton. The tall righty had 147 strikeouts 9.8 strikeouts per nine innings) with 42 walks.