PORT ST. LUCIE — John Curtiss wanted one thing to do.
The right-hander was recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure and along with his proper arm out of fee, he was unable to play his guitar.
With little to fill his time, his bodily therapist in Arizona turned him on to a sport that’s quickly gaining reputation within the United States: Formula 1. Curtiss watched the ultimate 9 races of the 2021 season and was hooked.
“The last nine races of 2021 were kind of a crazy championship season,” Curtiss instructed the Daily News this week at Clover Field. “That kind of drew me in. And then over the offseason and during the lockout, I spent a lot of time researching the history and the cars and how it worked. I got really into it.”
The Mets signed Curtiss final April figuring out they might be unable to make use of him in 2022 and so they moved his rehab to Port St. Lucie. With nothing do to besides rehab, the F1 fandom continued to develop.
“Last season, I had all the time in the world to watch all the qualifying races,” Curtiss mentioned. “It’s really cool and easy to follow along with.”
Somewhere alongside the road, it grew to become about greater than leisure. Curtiss noticed the profitable mentalities of the drivers and executives, particularly Toto Wolff, a former driver from Austria who’s now a component proprietor of Mercedes’ F1 workforce, and the workforce’s star driver, Lewis Hamilton. He felt he may apply these classes to baseball.
Spending time round different athletes whereas rehabbing in his native Oklahoma helped him perceive this as effectively. Now, he has to take that mentality and use it to try to crack the Mets’ Opening Day roster.
The Mets have at the very least one spot, probably two, up for grabs within the bullpen. Curtiss, a 29-year-old Dallas native drafted within the sixth spherical by the Minnesota Twins out of the University of Texas, is competing with a gaggle of younger pitchers who all have choices. Curtiss has one possibility yr left as effectively, which inserts with the Mets’ general aim of getting a versatile group that may be shuttled backwards and forwards from Triple-A Syracuse as wanted.
Right-handers Jeff Brigham, Sam Coonrod, Elieser Hernandez, Stephen Ridings and Zach Greene are in the identical group. However, since Greene was a Rule 5 Draft decide, the Mets are unable to make use of his choices. He’ll should be positioned on outright waivers and will he clear, supplied again to the Yankees.
Left-hander Joey Lucchesi could possibly be used as a protracted reliever, although with Tylor Megill and David Peterson needing innings, it appears extra possible he may start the season as a starter in Triple-A. Right-hander Stephen Nogosek put up good numbers for the Mets final season, however his spot isn’t assured and he’s out of choices.
Curtis has extra Major League expertise than lots of these arms, having pitched in 76 massive league video games and made 5 begins for 5 organizations since 2017, and he additionally has a brand new pitch. Much like along with his F1 fandom, it was all of that downtime that led to him including a changeup to his arsenal.
After practically two years away from baseball, he was fairly bored.
“You’re not allowed to throw a breaking ball, but you can throw a changeup before you can throw a breaking ball on your rehab,” Curtiss mentioned. “It’s boring just throwing baseballs from 120 feet. So I got to a point where they said, ‘OK, you’re allowed to throw a changeup.’ I said, ‘OK, well, I don’t have one.’ And then the rehab pitching coach, Dakota Herman, and I worked on it really hard. At a certain point, it went from just messing around to being a viable pitch.”
Curtiss had his surgical procedure on a Friday in September of 2021. To make the rehab course of rather less daunting, he began utilizing Fridays as a measuring stick day of types. Each Friday introduced one other benchmark in his rehab. Plus, Friday means he’s solely a day away from a weekend of F1.
Curtiss is now wholesome, forward of schedule and able to present the Mets what he can do.
“This my seventh team, I’ve been around to know you don’t play GM, you don’t play coach, you just play player,” Curtiss mentioned. “So it’s my job to go out there and pitch well, and let everything fall where it wants.”
INTRASQUAD INFO
The Mets will maintain an intrasquad sport Friday at Clover Field, starting at 1:10 p.m. It’s open to the general public, with tickets costing $10. The proceeds will probably be donated to the Boys and Girls Club of St. Lucie County. Concessions will probably be open to followers however they need to be suggested that the sport won’t be a whole nine-inning contest.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com