JUPITER, Fla. — Jason Bay still isn’t comfortable at the plate, but he is making solid contact.
“It’s not about hitting the ball right now, but putting some things we worked on into motion,” the Mets left fielder said yesterday after going 1-for-3 with a single in a 4-3 exhibition victory over the Marlins.
Bay, who is 4-for-10 (.400) to start the Grapefruit League season, is working on keeping the bat flat in a more closed stance. His goal is to eliminate extraneous motion. It hasn’t been easy.
“The only problem is I’m used to having a lot more movement,” Bay said. “Sometimes I feel like I need to be doing more, when in essence I need to be doing less.
“I’ve hit a couple of line-drives over the second baseman’s head, which I don’t do a lot. That tells me my bat path is good, but I’m still off on spring-training timing. Some of those fastballs are beating me a little bit.”
Bay, who missed the final two months of last season while recovering from a concussion, said he won’t worry about driving the ball until late in spring training.
“Right now it’s more about getting timing,” he said. “I’m catching up to game speed — 88 [mph] looks like 98 the first week. I’ve kind of done this long enough where you don’t get frustrated. I’ve gotten hits here and there, but it’s a process.”
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Nick Evans
started at third base and made a throwing error, but went 2-for-3 at the plate to raise his Grapefruit League average to .429.
Evans, who does not have minor league options remaining, is a strong candidate to make the team as a backup infielder at the corner positions. He has an advocate in manager Terry Collins
, who likes the idea of having Evans’ righty bat off the bench.
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Mike Piazza
will make an appearance at the team’s spring training complex today as the hitting coach for Team Italy, which is scheduled to face a collection of Mets prospects. Matt Harvey
, the team’s No. 1 draft pick last season, is scheduled to pitch for the Mets.
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After playing yesterday’s game in Jupiter, the Mets today will be near Pluto — at the Disney Complex to face the Braves. Mike Pelfrey
, Dillon Gee
, Bobby Parnell
, Tim Byrdak
, Blaine Boyer
, Pedro Beato
and Mike O’Connor
are scheduled to pitch for the Mets.