1 bold prediction for each member of the Mets starting rotation

Sean Manaea will be able to throw the most innings of his career

Sean Manaea managed to become an efficient pitcher last season with the Giants, especially in the second half of the year. His success is due to several reasons, but the main one was working with Driveline Baseball the previous winter to achieve greater pitch velocity and a better spin rate.

In addition to this, Manaea managed to develop a sweeper, a pitch that allowed him to achieve an elite swing and miss percentage of 35.1, leaving the opposition hitting for a poor average of .140 with an impressive SLG of .163. Likewise, his fastball averaged about a mile more velocity, while his sinker and slider increased more than 3 miles each compared to 2022.

Manaea's improvement was substantial from 2022 to 2023, prompting the San Francisco Giants to move him into the rotation after using him mostly as a reliever in the first half of 2023. Hence, his total innings pitched last season was just 117.2 innings.

The fact that he was used as a reliever for a large part of last season could be a point in the Mets' favor since his arm would have a smaller workload and could maximize his workload. The highest number of innings pitched by Manaea was in the 2021 season, a season after the short COVID season, which meant that he could work more, managing to pitch 179.2 innings in 32 outings, with good numbers in his favor.

Using the recent past as a reference and seeing Manaea's level of work last season, we could safely predict that he could reach, and/or exceed 180 innings pitched. For the price the Mets paid for this one, it would be an ideal scenario for the team.