Vasil knocking on door for Mets rotation spot

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

When the Mets began dealing off players in earnest before the Trade Deadline, shipping Max Scherzer to Texas and Mark Canha to Milwaukee and so on and so forth, Mike Vasil was busy playing for Triple-A Syracuse at Lehigh Valley. Each time the Mets completed a trade, the team sent one of Vasil’s teammates up to the Majors as a replacement.

The trend quickly became hard to ignore.

“You’re looking at yourself and you’re seeing the rotation and you’re like, ‘Well, there’s the big league rotation, and then after that, it’s us,’” said Vasil, the Mets’ No. 9 prospect and top-ranked Minor League pitcher. “So it becomes a lot more real for you. But at the same time, you’ve got to be present and enjoy the process and the ride and just the everyday grind.”

Since his promotion to the highest rung of the Minors in mid-June, Vasil has been working toward that end. It hasn’t been seamless. Following a strong showing over 10 starts at Double-A Binghamton, including a 7.1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, Vasil initially struggled to adjust to the different baseball, the Automated Ball-Strike system, and the more advanced hitters he found at Triple-A. Over his first eight starts there, he produced a 7.04 ERA.

At that point, as Syracuse pitching coach Kyle Driscoll put it, Vasil “went right to the drawing board again.” With Driscoll’s help, the right-hander worked to “optimize” his fastball to account for the smaller seams on the Triple-A ball, making some tweaks to improve the ride -- otherwise known as induced vertical break, or the illusion of upward movement -- on that pitch.

Vasil also began focusing on the art of throwing strike one. During his bullpen sessions between starts, he instructed the catcher not to bother setting up on the corners; Vasil instead aimed for the middle of the plate to break the habit of nibbling.

“Something that he’s done extremely well is being able to make the changes and take them into game and use them,” Driscoll said.

The turning point came on Aug. 8, when Vasil took a no-hitter into the ninth inning at Scranton. Over a four-start stretch beginning that night, he produced a 1.75 ERA. Although he struggled in his most recent outing back at Lehigh Valley, Vasil now feels he’s far closer to where he needs to be with his stuff and execution.

“I wouldn’t say that I’ve gotten everything figured out,” Vasil said. “I don’t. But I would say that I’ve got a better understanding of how to stay more consistent here.”

What all this means for his short-term future isn’t certain. Well aware of the business side of the game, Vasil knows it works against him at this point in his career. Because Vasil won’t be Rule-5 eligible this winter, the Mets don’t need to place him on the 40-man roster to protect him. As such, they have little motivation to call him up now, regardless of how much the experience might benefit him.

Longer-term, Vasil has at least set himself up to compete for a job in next year’s rotation, whether out of Spring Training or early in the season.

“You can’t just hope it happens too much,” Vasil said, while acknowledging how much a callup would mean to him. “The Mets have really guided me in the right direction in terms of development, strength and conditioning, everything. So I trust them completely. Whatever they do with me, I know it’s for a bigger reason, a longer reason down the road.”