"He's like, 'Listen, this wins and loses you ballgames" - New York Mets All-Star pitcher opens up about his manager's game-winning strategy
What wins baseball games? The New York Mets are 16-7 to start their 2022 campaign. Last season, the San Francisco Giants won 107 regular-season games. The Mets have an excellent roster and so did the 2021 Giants. But nobody predicted success on these levels. Most preseason predictions placed the New York Mets in second place in the National League East. That could still happen, but it certainly doesn't seem so likely anymore. The Mets are number one, plain and simple.
So what's the factor that escapes the watchful eyes of oddsmakers and analysts as they predict season totals? Here's a hint: statistics don't track it. Gabe Kapler's influence on his San Francisco Giants goes unrecorded by Baseball Savant, and Buck Showalter's managerial decisions don't receive fancy percentages from in-depth statisticians.
But according to an article in "The Athletic" by Ken Rosenthal and Andy McCullough, Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt wants us to focus on Showalter's influence on the club.
New York Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt highlights Buck Showalter's game-winning strategy
You couldn't pin down Buck Showalter's game-winning strategy if you tried. It's not a two- or three-step success plan. It's a compilation of the managerial decisions he makes on the fly during games. He pinch-runs players to get faster legs on the bases. He's meticulous about his bullpen. He gives his pitchers as many favorable hitter matchups as he possibly can. He takes advantage of the little mistakes his opponents make.
between alonso's "grannies are sick," buck showalter telling the press "all god's children have imagination" and chris bassitt cracking up the reporters, this is a fun mets team. coud listen to showalter talk baseball all day.
"between alonso's "grannies are sick," buck showalter telling the press "all god's children have imagination" and chris bassitt cracking up the reporters, this is a fun mets team. coud listen to showalter talk baseball all day." - @Miranda Matthew
The little details are hard to pin down, but Chris Bassitt did his best to highlight them in an interview. When Showalter was hired, he took time to show his players a video compilation he made outlining the playing style he wanted his team to adopt. After watching the video, Chris Bassitt commented, "there’s not a detail [Buck Showalter] doesn’t think about.”
“He loves to point out other teams messing up, I’ll tell you that,” Bassitt said. “It’s everything — rundowns, cutoffs, relays, everything. He’s like, ‘Listen, this wins and loses you ballgames. This is how we’re going to do it. We’re going to do it the right way.’ Not always the easiest way. But he wants you busting your butt, and doing everything the right way.”
Bassitt is a competitive guy. We know that from some of his other fired-up interviews. He's passionate about the game of baseball and Showalter shares his ambition to record wins day in and day out.
On Mets Pregame, @SteveGelbs sat down with Buck Showalter to discuss last night's big comeback vs. the Cardinals and what Chris Bassitt's competitiveness has brought to the Mets
on.sny.tv/jg0VCVR https://t.co/CmCjA2ShAv
"On Mets Pregame, @SteveGelbs sat down with Buck Showalter to discuss last night's big comeback vs. the Cardinals and what Chris Bassitt's competitiveness has brought to the Mets" - @SNY
Forget statistics. Showalter is a huge reason for his team's success.