After Edwin Diazthe terrible week that saw him surrender seven runs in 2.1 innings, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza moved even closer to his normal role to allow him to redefine himself and regain some of his lost confidence.
On Friday night at Citi Field, Diaz made his first appearance in six days and his first in his new role: pitching in the seventh inning with the Mets ahead by three. And after working a scoreless frame with two swinging strikeouts – one on the slider and one on the fastball – it showed that Diaz’s hard work during his break may have paid off.
“Yes, I feel very good. I’ve been working a lot the last few days,” said Diaz following the Mets’ 8–7 loss to the San Francisco Giants. “I was able to command the glove-side fastball, my slider down and away, I was really good today.”
Diaz said if he can throw his fastball down and away to right-handed hitters and down and in against lefties — and his slider in the same place — he’ll be back to good form. In the seventh, he needed just 14 pitches to get three outs (allowing one hit), with six hits and four strikeouts called in the process.
Before the game, the manager highlighted the work that the reliever did in recent days, despite not having played in the series against the Guardians.
“During that series in Cleveland, he got on the mound and threw a lot of pitches before the game,” Mendoza said. “He was working on some of the things he felt he needed to work on. And, look, at the end of the day, to get where we want to be, we need Edwin Diaz to be at his best. I’m pretty confident he’ll get there.
“He is going through a difficult period here when it was not easy for him, but I am quite confident that we will bring him back to himself.”
When Diaz was throwing his pregame bullpens in Cleveland — which included Francisco Lindor stepping in to imitate a batter — Mendoza said the problem wasn’t necessarily mechanical for him, but rather one of conviction.
“Pitching with conviction and trusting his pitches. Don’t try to be too fine or too perfect when guiding the ball. You just need to have conviction,” he said on Friday. “That’s part of the thing when you’re going through it mentally, to escape it. And that’s what happens.
“Some of the things we talked to him about when he was throwing those bullpens in Cleveland, ‘just throw the baseball.’ ‘Your joking things.’ ‘Just make sure you trust him.’ I know it seems easy to me, but this is too good a pitcher to keep going.
After the ride, Mendoza called it “a good step in the right direction for him” and called the conviction it released “a good sign.”
While Diaz felt his work was “pretty good” in his return to the mound, he’s not letting any outlet change the process that got him there, even though he feels closer to the 2022 version of himself.
“I have to keep working. I think today was a much better ride than my best here this season,” he said. “I was able to do what I wanted on the mound, I was able to stay calm, make pitches. I feel very good. I just have to keep doing what I did today and I’ll be fine.”
As for bringing Diaz back into the closer role, Mendoza said before the game that it could “happen spontaneously” and depending on the need, but they will continue to talk to the closers on a day-to-day basis.
“We’re going to need Edwin Diaz to be Edwin Diaz,” he added, “pretty confident he’ll get there, but for now, it could happen today, tomorrow. We will continue to communicate with him and walk him through some of the scenarios, but as the game unfolds, you will have to manage the game and make those adjustments as you go through the game.”
Mendoza said he liked what he saw Friday night, but they will still be assembling the bullpen and mixing and matching for now.
“That’s what it’s all about, Edwin’s confidence and when he’s right he’s very nasty,” he said.
Before the game, the coach said it will continue to be a balancing act to not wait too long to bring Diaz back to his familiar role.
“You don’t want to go too far without him having the opportunity to close out the game, that’s who he is, our closer,” Mendoza said. “He’s going through that right now, especially on the mental side of things. But it’s one of those where he goes out there and throws today, but we might have to put the pieces together and give him the ball in the ninth.
“And I’m pretty confident that he’s in a really good position right now after working really hard in Cleveland — even though he didn’t get into the game — he was playing really hard and we feel good about where he is.”
For Diaz, he will be ready.
“Whatever I did today, I have to keep doing every day,” he said. “If they give me the ball tomorrow, the 9th, I’ll be ready.”
