Left-hander reliever A.J. Minter figures to be a huge piece of the Mets’ bullpen this season, and the veteran took a big step in his recovery from hip surgery on Wednesday when he made his Grapefruit League debut against the St Louis Cardinals.
Minter, the former Atlanta Braves southpaw who signed a two-year deal with the Mets this offseason, pitched a perfect fifth inning on Wednesday in Jupiter, Fla., retiring the side on 10 pitches while striking out Alec Burleson on a cutter in the dirt.
Minter’s fastball sat around 93 mph, and while he said he expects that number to tick up as he ramps up, he told reporters that he was pleased overall with his first outing.
“First time facing hitters in a game since [August 11], and, first one is always the hardest, but yeah, I was just excited to get out there and I think we definitely checked the box today and it was definitely successful,” Minter said.
“You want to see the swings and misses,” he added later. “As a reliever, you want to come in and get strikeouts and you know, I was fortunate. I was happy with that I did get a strikeout today and some weak contact, so that just tells me that, you know, the ball’s coming out the way I want.”
Minter said on Wednesday that the plan now is for him to have two days off before pitching in game action again on Saturday.
The veteran southpaw said that he’s already thrown two or three live BP sessions this spring, and ideally he’d like to have around 10 combined appearances (games and live BP sessions) to feel comfortable heading into the season.
“The hardest thing is just being patient and not pushing things, and we I think we’ve done a really good job of having a plan together and, saying no, telling me no when I need to be told no,” Minter said, “and the training staff’s been great, the coaching staff’s been great.
“But yes, I was excited to get back out there and it was definitely a long time coming. It was a lot of hard work this offseason, and yeah, it’s all starting to pay off.”
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