David Stearns pleased with Mets' energy during recent hot stretch, praises 'steady' Carlos Mendoza
With the Mets riding a hot streak – going 8-3 in their last 11 games following a rough 0-5 start – president of baseball operations David Stearns met with reporters prior to Tuesday night’s matchup with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Stearns touched on a number of topics, from the energy he's seen from the team during their recent stretch, to the play of Brett Baty at third, the job done by Carlos Mendoza and much more.
“I love late-inning comebacks and exciting baseball. And certainly, the activity on the bases late in the game certainly shows that we can be a multi-dimensional team, create runs in a variety of different ways,” Stearns said. “But more than anything, the last couple of nights the last week, just the energy coming from the team I think has been great for all of us to see.
“That’s really tough for us to manufacture from a front office perspective, like it just has to sort of happen. And it’s a product of coaches and a coaching staff working really hard to create an atmosphere. It’s a product of players believing in each other, and I think genuinely enjoying spending time with each other. And so, to see that early in the season, on a couple of different nights, has been great for me to see.”
Here are some other key takeaways from Stearns…
On the offense to this point
“I think the group has fit together nicely. We’ve gotten contributions at various points over the first couple of weeks from up and down the lineup, and that’s encouraging, where we’re not just relying on a segment of the group. We’ve been able to score runs at the top of the lineup and we’ve been able to get some big hits out of the bottom of the lineup as well. And I also recognize that we have some players who are going to get better here as we go along, which makes me think we may not have gotten quite to the upside of the offensive unite quite yet, and that’s great.”
On the importance of chemistry when building a coaching staff and roster
“You would love to try to do that. We try, it’s really tough to predict [chemistry]. And it’s because not only the individuals, it’s how the individuals actually mesh with each other. Sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don’t. But I do think that coaching staff and managers have a lot to do with that. And I think Mendy and the group we have in there has done a really nice job of promoting that type of atmosphere.”
On Carlos Mendoza’s performance
“I think he’s been very steady from Day 1 of spring training through today and that’s so important over the course of a major league season.
“And you’re going to go through ups and downs. You’re going to go through losing streaks and winning streaks and understanding that it is a long season and there are going to be times that are tough. And believe in yourself and believe in the process and I think he’s done a great job of doing that.”
On Brett Baty
“I think Brett has done a really nice job of solidifying third base and playing a very quality third base over there.”
On Christian Scott impressing for Triple-A Syracuse
“We’re watching the minor leagues every single day and we’re talking about the minor leagues every single day at all levels. What Christian Scott has done has been great. It’s, frankly, what a lot of us expected he was going to be able to do. He’s a really talented pitcher, he’s feeling good, he’s healthy, so we expected him to go down and have success.”
