Blade Tidwell shines in Double-A the same day as Christian Scott’s MLB debut

All of the early season buzz around pitching in the minor leagues for the Mets this season revolved around Christian Scott. And with the other-worldly strikeout numbers he was posting, it’s not hard to understand. And then Scott made his MLB debut last night and was electric. Perhaps the most impressive thing was that he did not allow a home run. Nearly as impressive was that he allowed just one walk. If Scott can come close to repeating those things, his time in the minors will likely be over.

If that’s the case, perhaps some other pitcher or pitchers in the farm system will get noticed. And the one who should be the leader for that consideration is Blade Tidwell. When Scott was promoted to the majors, the Mets could have picked Tidwell to take his spot in Syracuse. Instead, Justin Jarvis got the call. Jarvis has not had much success in Triple-A but he pitched four shutout innings in his 2024 debut for Syracuse. Bully for him.

Meanwhile, on the night that Scott was impressing in the majors, Tidwell did something that Scott had never done in pro ball. He threw eight shutout innings, lifting Binghamton to a 2-0 win. The outing lowered Tidwell’s ERA on the year to 1.23, which puts him in first place in the Eastern League and second overall in Double-A, just .03 points behind Drew Thorpe’s Southern League output.

While Scott’s main issue this year has been the gopher ball, what’s plagued Tidwell in the past has been his walks. But what gets lost a bit is how he’s been gradually improving in that area at each stop in his professional career. Tidwell had a 9.0 BB/9 in the FCL and a 6.48 mark in Lo-A in 2022. Last year he had a 5.07 BB/9 in Hi-A and a 4.46 in Double-A. And this season he has a 3.07 BB/9 in 29.1 IP, five fewer than he had at Binghamton a year ago.

That’s the type of improvement you love to see a young pitcher make. Yet, it might not be a complete picture of the gains he’s made. Tidwell has appeared in five games this year, making three starts. He made two relief appearances, both against Reading, and he allowed 4 BB in 9 IP in those games. And it’s not like Reading is a great team; they’re in last place in the Northeast Division with an 11-15 record.

In his three starts in 2024, Tidwell has given up 6 BB in 20.1 IP, a 2.66 BB/9.

Yet it’s not like Tidwell is some junkballer, succeeding because all of the planets are aligning to overcome his pedestrian stuff. He’s fanned 36 batters in 29.1 IP, good for an 11.05 K/9, the sixth-best mark in the EL. And when batters do make contact, they’re not exactly squaring him up. Hitters have just a 15.9 LD% against Tidwell and he’s induced a bunch of infield pop-ups – one of the surest ways a batted ball turns into an out – with a 20.7 IFFB%. While it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, the best IFFB% mark for a Mets SP this year is Jose Butto’s 14.8 mark.

Here’s Baseball America’s scouting report on Tidwell prior to the 2024 season:

pitches at 94 mph and tops near 98 with good ride up in the zone. He gets whiffs on the pitch at a plus rate but has more present fastball control than command. Tidwell’s low-80s slider has bat-missing sweeper action with plus horizontal break. He throws it both ahead and behind in the count. Tidwell took giant strides with his low-80s changeup in 2023 and ended up throwing it more than 10% of the time to help him combat lefthanded hitters.

There were concerns about Tidwell being able to maintain his velocity the longer he pitched in games, which made some view him as a potential reliever. While a high-end reliever in the majors wouldn’t be the worst outcome, the fact that he’s thrown 81, 88 and 94 pitches in his three starts – where he’s allowed just 1 ER in 20.1 IP – is an encouraging sign that he can still be effective more than once thru the lineup.

In yesterday’s game, Tidwell had runners on second and third – thanks to a walk, a single and a passed ball – in the eighth inning. But he struck out the final two batters to end the threat.

MiLB.com’s Kenny Van Doren noted that Tidwell has added a cutter to his repertoire this season and that he’s able to “tunnel” it off both his fastball and sweeper. Tidwell said the following to Van Doren about the cutter:

“I think my usage on it is twice as much as my slider this year, which really helps out because my sweeper would technically by my highest-graded pitch analytically,” said Tidwell, who generated 20 swings and misses Saturday. “But having that bridge pitch I can strike a lot really puts them off the sweeper when I do throw it.”

If he keeps pitching like this, Tidwell will get a promotion to Triple-A sooner rather than later. Currently 22 years old, this is Tidwell’s age-23 season, as his birthday is in June. Assuming the promotion, Tidwell will be right on track age-wise to my preferred age/level goal. But more important is how he’s pitched this year, limiting his walks and pitching deep into games. He’s been terrific here in 2024 and could be a future fixture in the Mets’ rotation.