Minor League Mondays: When Will Blade Tidwell Be Back In The Bigs?

The New York Mets have a strong pipeline of young pitching prospects in the upper level of their farm system and it should start producing fruit for the big club. While fans have shown a ton of excitement about the progress of Brandon Sproat, Nolan McLean, and Jonah Tong, the first arm from that class to make the majors was actually Blade Tidwell, who made a spot start for the Mets in St. Louis earlier this month. Tidwell, who was sent back to AAA Syracuse after that game, is the focus of this week's edition of Minor League Mondays.

RHP Blade Tidwell made his major league debut with the Mets on May 4th.

That debut was a tough one for Tidwell, who didn't have command of his off-speed stuff well enough against the Cardinals. Tidwell did show off his nasty sweeper in that game when he struck out a pair of Cardinals, but the lack of command led to St. Louis putting up six on him in just 3.2 innings of work.

The start in St. Louis was just a fill-in necessitated by the team's plan to use a sixth starter in long stretches of the schedule to provide their main five extra rest, but the team has to be encouraged by Tidwell's solid performance since being sent back to Syracuse. Over his past three starts, Tidwell has pitched to a 2.40 ERA, posting a 13:5 strikeout to walk ratio in 15 innings pitched, lowering his minor league ERA to 4.07 for the season.

Over nine starts in the minors this season, Tidwell is 2-2 and has compiled a 50:15 strikeout to walk ratio over 42 innings pitched. The walks are a tad on the high side but still an improvement on his performance from a year ago, when Tidwell walked 11.7 percent of the hitters that faced him. Tidwell has shaved that walk rate down to 8.2 percent, a figure that is more palatable for his eventual return to the big leagues.

The positive sign for Tidwell's walk rate is that he is faring much better now at AAA than he did a year ago, when he walked 13.7 percent of batters he faced at Syracuse. Scouts like Tidwell's mix of five pitches, which is headlined by a fastball that can touch 98 miles per hour and the aforementioned sweeper, but the ultimate factor determining Tidwell's big league future will be whether he can sustain this improved command over the long haul. The fastball/sweeper combo is good enough (along with a solid cutter) to give Tidwell a reliever floor at the big league level. Tidwell, who is rated as the Mets' 15th-best prospect according to MLB.com, will likely stay stretched out as a starter for now even though the Mets have a full rotation with three injured starters (Paul Blackburn, Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea) on their way back to the big club.

While there is always the possibility Tidwell could be used as a spot starter at some point when the Mets have a long stretch of games without an off day, the more interesting possibility for him could come later in the year as a bullpen option. Once the Mets feel satisfied with their depth of starting pitching, they could move Tidwell to the bullpen during the summer to protect his arm (he only threw 122.1 innings combined last season) and give them a potential option out of the bullpen down the stretch.

Several prominent starting pitchers over the years made their big league debuts as relievers for contending teams, including Adam Wainwright and David Price, so there is a path to success for Tidwell if the Mets opt to go that route. The Mets could also look to use Tidwell as a potential trade chip if they feel there is an area of the roster that could use an upgrade at the deadline, making it important for the organization that he continues to pitch well for AAA Syracuse.

While it is clear that Tidwell is behind the top trio of Mets' pitching prospects, his success is very important to the future of the organization. There are a wide range of outcomes for Tidwell in the long haul, but how he handles the next few months could make a big determination in Tidwell's future with the Mets.