Welcome back to the Mets Beat newsletter! Anthony DiComo has covered the Mets for MLB.com since 2007, including the past 17 seasons full-time on the beat. |
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CINCINNATI -- Bursting out of the Mets’ dugout on Tuesday afternoon, A.J. Ewing glanced to his right, saw his father and stepmother waiting in a roped-off area behind home plate and bounded over to them for hugs. His father, Joe, was wearing a black No. 9 Ewing jersey. His stepmom, Stacey, had painted her fingernails orange while donning earrings of the same color. This was a homecoming for Ewing, who grew up about 40 minutes north of Great American Ball Park in Springboro, Ohio, and played his final high school game there just three years ago. It was perhaps fitting that Ewing’s first trip to Cincinnati took place less than a week before Father’s Day, considering how much his dad has had to do with his success. “He’s been blessed with so many great coaches, but [Joe] has always been his No. 1 coach,” Stacey said. “He leaned on his dad a lot for baseball.” |
Though Joe Ewing was never A.J.’s head baseball coach at any point, he was an assistant at various youth levels. He was also high school teammates with A.J.’s coach at Springboro High, and as the younger Ewing developed into a legitimate Draft prospect, Joe educated himself on all the ways he could help his son. A pitcher during his own youth baseball career, Joe dove deep on hitting mechanics as A.J. developed at the plate. Stacey would film her stepson’s at-bats, then Joe would break down the video with A.J. after games. Early on, the two worked to mold his left-handed swing after that of Cincinnati legend Joey Votto. “He studied a lot of hitters. … He was probably the best coach I ever had,” A.J. said. “We definitely had our moments during it but came out the other side better.” When A.J. made his Major League debut at Citi Field in May, Joe had a viral moment when he popped out of his seat and cheered with gusto, before being embraced by those around him. A chiropractor in Springboro, Joe has been to New York twice now to watch his son play, while also attending all three games this week in Cincinnati. He plans to join the Mets in Atlanta and Pittsburgh later this summer. |
But Cincinnati was a special stop on the circuit for Joe, who guessed that there were about 100-200 people from Springboro at every game of the series. There were so many at Monday’s opener, in fact, that Joe missed one of his son’s at-bats due to the constant demands for his attention. Of course, these are good problems for the father of one of the game’s most exciting young outfielders. Stacey said that Joe “feels like he needs to pinch himself every morning when he’s watching MLB highlights and sees his son, because he watches them all the time anyway. And then he sees his son on there and he’s like, ‘Oh my gosh!’” “Crazy exciting and exhausting,” was how Joe described the experience. “That’s what I tell people -- it’s just exciting and fun, you know? It’s like a dream come true. … Like, he’s just playing baseball. That’s what he’s done for his whole life. Now I turn on MLB Network and it’s like, ‘Hey, they’re talking about A.J.’ It’s kind of surreal in that aspect.” |
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MLB MORNING LINEUP PODCAST |
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Which Phillies pitcher has the most career wins against the Mets, as well as a winning record against them overall?
A) Jim Bunning
B) Steve Carlton
C) Cole Hamels
D) Aaron Nola |
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Read our story on the balloting format, which includes two phases of fan voting to determine the All-Star starters. While it may seem like a foregone conclusion that Juan Soto will be the Mets’ only All-Star, Soto ranked just ninth in Major League Baseball’s first ballot update released this week, with 421,513 votes. That was well off the pace of leading vote-getter Andy Pages, who had accumulated 800,496 votes. Soto was the only Mets player to finish even in the Top 10 at his position, and with a strong run over the next couple weeks, he still has a chance to advance to the second phase of voting. Even if he doesn’t, Soto can make the team as a reserve. He almost has to, because the Mets have few other worthy All-Stars. Outside of Soto, none of their position players rank in the Top 50 in the National League in bWAR. Other than Clay Holmes, who is injured, and relievers Huascar Brazobán and Luke Weaver, none of their pitchers do. And non-closing relievers tend to have a hard time making All-Star teams. So Soto remains easily the Mets’ most likely All-Star, regardless of how fan voting goes. |
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• Kodai Senga is back in the Majors. The Mets activated Senga from his rehab assignment earlier than expected due to a hip injury for Christian Scott, and the early results were not great. But Senga did recover a bit after an early stumble in his return game against the Reds, and the Mets expect him to remain in their rotation… for better or for worse. • Also on the starting pitching front, Nolan McLean -- for one game at least -- found his fastball command. That was the key to his domination of the Reds. • The Mets’ issues navigating the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system are coming to a head. Earlier this week, the Mets lost both of their challenges before the end of the second inning. One of the culprits, Marcus Semien, proceeded to lose another challenge in the first inning the very next day. It’s been a season-long issue for the Mets and was an acute problem in a close game on Tuesday, ultimately resulting in manager Carlos Mendoza’s ejection. |
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