Blade Tidwell - Dazzles in spring start Tidwell struck out five batters over two perfect innings and recorded an immaculate inning in Saturday's Grapefruit League game against the Rays. Impact The 23-year-old right-hander needed nine pitches to strike out Josh Lowe, Eloy Jimenez and Jose Caballero in his second frame, after fanning Brandon Lowe and Christopher Morel to close out the first inning. Tidwell's prospect status tumbled last season when he was beset by control issues at Triple-A, but he posted a 2.41 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and 44:11 K:BB over 37.1 innings at Double-A prior to that to earn the promotion. If Tidwell has corrected the issues that were preventing him from finding the plate consistently, he could be a factor in the Mets' big-league rotation at some point during the 2025 campaign. Per Adam Berry of MLB.com, Tidwell has trimmed his arsenal back to five pitches -- four-seam and two-seam fastballs, a changeup, a slider and a sweeper -- in an effort to put last year's stumble behind him.
MARCH 2, 2025 • ROTOWIRE