CHICAGO — The Mets made one decision about September call-ups, leaving another one to go.
The team plans to call up left-hander Alex Young from Triple-A Syracuse when rosters expand Sunday, bringing him to Chicago a day ahead of time. This will give the bullpen two lefties and ease some of the workload off of Danny Young.
The Mets also like his splits against right-handed hitters as well.
“He was really good for us here,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Saturday at Guaranteed Rate Park. “He threw two innings last time out in Triple-A, and then the changeup is always a good pitch for him. So yeah, a multiple-innings lefty and a guy that can get righties out too.”
Young, who went to high school in the Chicago area suburbs, made seven appearances for the Mets during his last call-up, allowing only one earned run over seven innings, stranding all three inherited runners he faced. A journeyman out of TCU, he’s logged 271 1/3 big league innings and posted a 4.32 ERA with Arizona, Cleveland, San Francisco, Cincinnati and the Mets since 2019. He’s gone 3-0 with a 2.81 ERA in 32 Triple-A innings this season.
The team is still discussing which position player they will bring up Sunday. The turnaround will be tight with the Mets concluding a series against the Chicago White Sox on Sunday afternoon, but they’re willing to risk it. President of baseball operations David Stearns is in Chicago, along with VP of baseball ops Eduardo Brizuela and senior VP Jonathan Strangio.
“We’re going to wait until we get through the game here, and we’re going to wait until they get through their Triple-A game to have that conversation. We’ll put them on a plane first thing in the morning, and hopefully they get here by game time.”
The Syracuse Mets are at Lehigh Valley through Sunday.
VENEZUELAN PRIDE
Mendoza reconnected with former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen this weekend on the South Side. The two go back years having played on the same winter ball team together, and Guillen later managed Mendoza in winter ball. Guillen, who managed the White Sox to the 2005 World Series, is currently a Spanish broadcaster for the White Sox.
“I was telling someone the story from when I first came up in winter ball. I won a Rookie of the Year that year and he was towards the end of his career,” Mendoza said. “He was a big-timer from that team. Every year after that, he would come down during winter ball to spend time with the team. When he won the World Series he brought the trophy and spent time with the team. A big personality.”
JUST DINGERS
J.D. Martinez might have two home runs in his last four games, but that doesn’t mean he’s heating up.
“I mean, I’m just trying to go up there and hit a ball hard, but I feel like I haven’t gotten hot,” Martinez said.
His numbers might tell a different story, considering Martinez has hit .296 with an .877 OPS since the Mets started this 10-game road trip. Still, to the slugger, these numbers are nothing. Getting hot means multi-hit games in consecutive order and he hasn’t done that all month.
However timely his hitting may be, Martinez still wants more.
“I’m trying to just put good at bats together every night and try to go up there and hit the ball hard,” he said. “That’s literally all I try to do. Swing at good pitches and try to hit the ball hard.”
