New York Mets to use Occasional 6-man Rotation During Season

The Mets plan on using an occasional six-man rotation in this upcoming season.

The Mets replaced three spots in their starting rotation in the offseason by signing Justin Verlander, Kodai Senga and Jose Quintana. This pushed internal options such as David Peterson and Tylor Megill into depth roles.

But don't expect the Mets to roll with a five-man rotation for the entire season.

According to Tim Britton of The Athletic, the Mets have already looked at their schedule to figure out the best places to use Peterson, Megill or another depth starter in order to give the members of their regular unit extra rest. The expectation is that the Mets will use six starters in points when they're playing more than 10 days in a row.

“You’ve got to understand your personnel,” pitching coach Jeremy Hefner told The Athletic. “You’ve got to really understand what the guys need. That’s what makes Buck (Showalter) so good, is he’ll know when we need to do that, if we need to do that at some point.”

With the exception of Senga, the other four members of the Mets' rotation are 34 and older. Max Scherzer is 39, Verlander is 40, Carlos Carrasco is 35 and Quintana is 34.

The idea is that the Mets are trying to do what they can in order to keep their rotation fresh and intact across a full season and into the postseason.

The Mets have Peterson, Megill, Joey Lucchesi and Elieser Hernandez as four depth starters with major league experience. 

Hefner and the Mets have identified at least three different stretches during the season, where they could insert a sixth starter. Beginning on April 25, the Mets play 26 games in 27 days, starting August 1, the Mets play 22 games in 23 days and starting on September 8, New York plays 17 consecutive games, their longest stretch of the season.

“That’s something that we’ve got to get ahead of and make sure that we’re identifying those places where, if we wanted to do something like that, we have the options available to do that,” Hefner said of a six-man rotation. “Let’s work on the front end with planning to make sure everybody in the minor leagues is dialed in to what our thought process is.”

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