The Mets have been playing things safe with A.J. Minter thus far in camp.
The hard-throwing left-hander underwent surgery late last season to repair a torn labrum in his left hip — and on Sunday he was able to take a big step in his progression as he continues his preparation for the regular season.
Minter was finally cleared to face hitters for the first time since reporting to spring training — throwing about 20-25 pitches to a group of Mets hitters which included Pete Alonso, Starling Marte, Joey Meneses, and top prospect Drew Gilbert.
The 31-year-old allowed more hard contact than he would’ve liked, but he said afterwards that was because he threw too many strikes, and he was just happy to be able to get through it feeling healthy.
“Physically I felt good,” he told reporters including Tim Healey of Newsday. “I guess that’s all you can ask for — but the competitor in me wishes I would’ve gone out there and struck everyone out.”
Minter was brought in late in the offseason on a two-year, $22 million deal to serve as the top left-handed option out of the bullpen and help bridge the gap to Edwin Diaz in the later innings.
The orange and blue faithful certainly are plenty familiar with his work — as the southpaw spent the first eight years of his big-league career pitching to a 3.28 ERA and 1.19 WHIP out of the Braves’ bullpen.
While Minter has been progressing well, he didn’t exactly close the door on missing time at the beginning of the year with the team continuing to take a cautious approach to ensure he’s as healthy as possible before getting into game action.
“We’re going to be smart about this,” he told Healey. “If I have to miss a few days or a couple of weeks, my goal is to help this team at the end of the season. We’re definitely going to be smart about this.”
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