With spring training, fans closely monitor the prospects they know. In the case of Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio, fans were excited to see them, and so far, they have mot been disappointed.
In terms of prospects, spring training is also an opportunity for an unnamed or overlooked prospect to get fans, or more importantly, the scouts to notice them. Enter Grant Hartwig.
In the Mets 8-4 spring training win against the Miami Marlins, Hartwig pitched a perfect ninth striking out a batter. As noted, Hartwig hit 97 MPH on the gun, and he had real movement on his fastball.
Not bad for an undrafted free agent out of the Miami University of Ohio.
Certainly, having a great game is always timely. For Hartwig, it was all the moreso as Fangraphs published an interview Hartwig did with David Laurila.
Hartwig described how he wasn’t scouted in college. As a result, he had moved on from his dreams of being a big leaguer, and now, focused on being a physician.
That was until a very unexpected call from the Mets. Being from the MAAC, the scouts didn’t have much data to analyze, but the Mets took a chance. Now, they’re using the analytical tools and data to transform Hartwig into a better pitcher.
Hartwig described learning how his sinker works better up in the zone. His work on a cutter was also noted. Mostly, he gave insight as to his developing repertoire and the pitch movement:
I think the biggest thing that defines me is the horizontal difference between the fastball — my sinker — and the slider. In Portland [in mid-September], the fastball was up to 23 [inches of arm-side run] and the max on the slider was 24 in the other direction. I have a massive split of separation between those two pitches and can throw them out of the same tunnel. I kind of split them off of each other and try to ride that tunnel as far as I can get to the plate.
Hartwig says he throws his sinker between 94 – 96 MPH. Of course, he was just able to ramp it up to 97.
The idea is to have the batter guessing between his sinker and his slider, which has a lot of horizontal movement.
With this improvement, largely led to access to better data and training equipment, Hartwig had a strong 2022 season. He made 39 appearances appearing at all four full season affiliates going 6-2 with 13 saves, a 1.75 ERA, 1.094 WHIP, 3.8 BB/9, and a 13.2 K/9.
As he develops, he gets closer and closer to the majors and further and further away from medicine. For now, Hartwig will stick with pitching, and he will have to settle on performing surgery on the mound.
