After a disastrous 2019 season, Mets reliever Jeurys Familia made it a point in the offseason to lose weight. The coronavirus lockdown didn’t change those plans.
“I was able to do everything that I was doing in the offseason,” Familia said through a translator via Zoom on Wednesday. “I was able to do a lot of cardio, riding the bike a lot. I always had a feeling that we’d be playing again, so I didn’t want to take any time off, and I continued doing the things I was doing during the offseason.”
Familia gave up one run in one inning pitched in the team’s intrasquad scrimmage Wednesday, though the runner who scored was placed on second base to simulate an extra-inning scenario.
During the lockdown, he was able to work out with new arrival Dellin Betances in New Jersey. Specifically, Familia has been working on his splitter, a pitch that brought him a ton of success during his first stint with the team, but got away from him last year.
Familia has been working to take some speed off the pitch, allowing him to use it as more of an off-speed option.
“I feel super comfortable with the splitter,” Familia said. “During the entire quarantine process, I was still working on that pitch, and now I have the confidence to throw that pitch in any count. That’s with any pitch, but especially with the splitter.”
Along with Familia and Betances, the bullpen will be anchored by Seth Lugo, Justin Wilson and Edwin Diaz. To survive the entirety of the shortened season, however, members of that group will likely have to be fluid in their roles.
For them, that’s not a problem.
“I think running a bullpen is one of the hardest things for a manager to do,” Wilson said Wednesday via Zoom. “I think that’s kind of agreed upon in a lot of places. So, no, you’re never really gonna know [your role]. It is nice to kind of get set in roles, but things are ever-changing. Guys can wake up with a stiff neck and be down that day, and somebody could be feeling fresh and going good. So, things are always changing.”