Biography:
Blade Tidwell spent most of his Age 21/22 season playing for the Brooklyn Cyclones before a late season promotion to Binghamton. The Mets were hoping that Tidwell would show well out of the gate with little other pitching talent on the horizon but his April and May were anything but succesful. In fact, in April and May I thought about demoting him off of my Top 10 but his season did manage to turn around and by the end of the season he once again gave me reason to hope.
While his control problems did not clear up entirely they went from unmanageably bad back to concerning and his results became great.
Resume:
He played 17 games in Brooklyn before getting the call to Binghamton. His numbers after May are truly pretty good and while they took a hit in conjunction with his promotion the year wound up being successful. All this said, I believe Tidwell and the Mets farm pitching is noticeably behind the hitting level at this point.
Pitching:
Control:
I had written that his control was troubling last year and that appears to be a severe understatement. Tidwell has troubles finding the strike zone at times and it will be a major factor on if he can reach the majors as a starting pitcher. If his control continues to be erratic, he may be relegated to the bullpen.
Power:
Tidwell’s K/9 was extremely healthy and exactly where you’d want an Ace pitcher’s to be. His power as a pitcher seems to be as good as advertised.
Stuff:
One of the feathers in Tidwell’s cap had been his repertoire, coming to the organization with four viable pitches. Did this arsenal of pitching options lead to him missing the strike zone? Maybe. The Mets are more than likely to limit his offerings in 2024 to see if they can nip his control problems in the bud before allowing him to toy with his other stuff.
Fielding:
As a pitcher this isn’t a primary concern but Tidwell seems capable of fielding the ball when tasked with it.
Outlook:
In 2024 we will see Tidwell going back to AA as the headliner of the rotation and the Mets are going to put as many AAAA names ahead of him in AAA so as to keep him from being rushed to the majors. Tidwell needs to show the ability to get through games with fewer walks if he’s going to be a factor in the starting rotation but his overall stuff suggests the Mets have an excellent reliever if that doesn’t pan out.
I am all for not rushing our prospects until they are ready to move up to another level. And when you think of some of the younger prospects we have that either did not go to college or did not finish college, they need more time to mature. On the other side of the coin, our draft picks that went to college should not need years of tutelage in the minor leagues, since their years playing in college could be considered minor-league experience. Tidwell had two years at Tennessee and is only 22.
What I am waiting for is for some prospect in our system to jump out and be ready to join the big club, similar to what the Braves did a few years ago, bringing up two AA players, who jumped right in and stayed in their lineup. Perhaps improvement in our scouting department will lead us to better players. We sure could use a shot in the arm like we got with Darryl and Doc joining the Mets in the 80’s.
In his first 10 games, Tidwell walked 33 of his 173 batters faced for a 19.1 BB%
In his final 15 games, he walked 30 of his 314 batters faced for a 9.6 BB%
That’s a massive improvement, with just over half of the games in the second stretch being against a more-advanced level in Double-A. For me, the walks are a concern but not a necessarily big one.
While he was in Double-A for 12 games in 2012, Zack Wheeler issued 43 walks to his 474 batters faced for a 9.1 BB%
For some MLB comparisons, Verlander had an 8.0 BB% with the Mets, while Peterson had a 10.2% and Senga had an 11.1% walk rate.
Yeah, Tidwell back to double-A seems like an almost foregone conclusion at this point. The Syracuse rotation is already pretty full (Vasil, Jarvis, Battenfield, plus two of the Lucchesi/Megill/Butto group), and there are even a couple of arms in double-A that are ahead of Tidwell right now, as well (Hamel and Scott).