The Mets are planning to select the contract of right-handed pitching prospect Blade Tidwell, as first reported by Daniel Wexler. He’ll join the team in St. Louis this weekend. The Mets currently have Sunday’s starter listed as TBD, and Mike Puma of the New York Post reports that Tidwell will make that start.
Tidwell, 23, was the Mets’ second-round pick in the 2022 draft. The former University of Tennessee standout is currently ranked among New York’s top-15 prospects both at Baseball America and at MLB.com.
The 6’4″ Tidwell is in his second run through the Triple-A level. He’s started the 2025 season with a rough-looking 5.00 ERA but much more appealing rate stats: a 31.6% strikeout rate, an 8.5% walk rate, a 38% ground-ball rate and a 0.67 HR/9 mark. Tidwell is averaging 96 mph on his four-seam fastball, up from last year’s 94.7 mph average, and has seen his swinging-strike rate jump from 11.6% to 14.5%. Fielding-independent metrics (3.17 FIP, 3.79 xFIP) feel Tidwell has been far better than his earned run average, which is currently skewed by a .369 average on balls in play.
Tidwell cruised through the low minors before struggling in his first brief stint in Double-A in 2023. He opened the 2024 season at Double-A and breezed through opponents in his second go-around before being bumped to Triple-A midway through the year. He was hit harder and struggled with his command in 17 starts there last year. Even with a 5.00 ERA, this year’s rate stats suggest that Tidwell is making gains in his second crack at Triple-A, just as he did in Double-A.
It’s likely that Tidwell’s initial call the majors will be a one-off. Even with an injury-ravaged rotation that’s seen Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas and Paul Blackburn hit the injured list already, the Mets have five healthy starters in Clay Holmes, Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Tylor Megill and Griffin Canning. Incredibly, all five have an ERA of 3.06 or lower. No team in the game is even close to the Mets’ MLB-leading 2.24 rotation ERA.
The Mets currently have a full 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make a corresponding moves on both the 26-man and 40-man rosters. Outfielder Jose Siri (fractured leg) and left-hander Danny Young (elbow sprain) are both 60-day IL candidates, so the Mets don’t necessarily need to designate someone for assignment in order to clear a path for Tidwell’s first big league promotion.
For all the comments in the offseason about the Mets not doing enough to address their rotation, and I was one of them, they sure are proving the naysayers wrong.
“For all the comments..proving the naysayers”…Even after last year’s NLCS appearance, I heard the same doubtful comments about the Mets pitching coming into this year.
Many of the doubters were acting as though GM David Stearns was some rube, first year GM who was running a baseball team for the first time, after spending previous years running a watermelon farm.
Canning and Megill aren’t going to pitch to ERA’s this small all year. They still should have signed Quintana for <$5m and the Montas deal was dumb the day it was signed especially since they offered it to him and Severino and Severino would’ve taken much less than he got from the A’s to stay with the Mets. He missed on Severino, Montas and Quintana in my view and is being bailed out by Canning and Megill who are both pitching dramatically better than their previous careers would suggest. Maybe Stearns saw something in them so he gets some credit for that but I expect at some point both of them will regress to the mean.
Gives up alotta bb & hr but also a k machine
Lets see how the lab does with this 1
Wonder if his brother Rod is happy for him?
Wow thats a deep cut
I bet most ppl on here werent even alive when that movie came out
Sounds like a sharp kid. I’m sure once he gets up to speed in the majors, he’ll cut right through those opposing hitters.
I’m guessing his parents were fans of Wesley Snipes. All things considered, the kid should be thankful they didn’t name him ‘Too Wong Foo’.
I played basketball with this cool Korean dude who could leap out the gym, massive hops… named Jum So Hai. Sometimes names couldn’t be more perfect, Bartman!
Wi Tu Lo
Why do teams leave players on the 10 day IL who clearly will need to be moved to the 60 day as with someone like Siri? Is it just that they did not have anyone to add from the 40man or don’t want to prematurely add any young player to the 40 man?
@Sgt – I believe it is to maintain flexibility. Once a player is on the 40 man that burns one of three option years. Or that means that player has to be exposed to waivers if he has used up his 3 (in some cases 4) option years.
It allows also for a decision later to add at the position you need (hitter or pitcher)
It also allows a team to add someone from the waiver wire without having to demote/release someone (kind of what Yankees did by finally putting Stanton on IL to claim De La Cruz for the minors).
Fernando… options would explain why they would not add a young player to the 40 early. It does not explain why teams leave an injured player on the 10-day IL rather than move him to the 60. They could’ve moved him to the 60 and called up a player who has already been optioned down, since the option is good for the entire season.
@ Geoftt – That’s true to an extent but you don’t need to use the 60 day in that case.
You keep the player on the 10/15 IL as that keeps that injured player on your “40 man roster” and you can call someone up with options also already on your 40 man to replace the injured guy on the “26 man roster”.
The difference is that the 60 day IL “removes” an injured player from the “40 man roster” while the 10/15 IL just removes that player from the “active 26 man roster”.
The reason to use the 60 day IL is to create a 40 man spot without having to remove another player off the 40 man roster via waivers/dfa/trade. The issue later is that you need to clear a 40 man spot (waive/DFA/trade someone) in order to activate the injured played off the 60 day IL.).
First, the facts: teams are not required to carry 40 men, only limited to 40. Until a week or two ago the Mets were carrying 38 to 39 players. So no, thats not the reason.
The simple reality is that you never know when a player will come back earlier than expected. So just to be safe, they leave him on the 10-day until they need a roster spot.
Case in point: Siri’s projected timeline was initially said to be 8 to 10 weeks. Well, 8 weeks is less than 60 days.
Good job working out your personal insecurity on your kid’s birth certificate, Mr. Tidwell.
Wow, dude. Just wow. WTF?!
His name is actually Janzen but don’t let that get in the way of you being a jerk.
Fair enough…
A) Apologies to Mr. Tidwell.
B) Sentiment 100% remains for those dudes who do the angry/weapons/murdery baby name schtick.
C) Non given names should be in ” ” marks. “Boomer” Esiason, etc.
I thought Posey’s name was Buster almost his entire career.
Complete agree, 66TheNumber
It’s a name, bro. Not sure why you even care what someone names their child. Waste of your time, imo.
Not a fan of naming kids Dagger or Trigger. It’s the truck nuts of parenting.
Who cares about beating the Mets?
You, for one.
And your other personality, I’m guessing!