Lights, camera, action! Mets amping up scoreboard intros

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- A little before 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Edwin Díaz stepped into a large white tent at the Clover Park complex and entered a different world.

Inside, smoke machines were blowing and the area was mostly dark, save for a bright light illuminating what could best be described as a stage. A director was barking out orders to Darin Ruf, who had preceded Díaz into the tent. Swing the bat. Walk toward the camera. Walk away from the camera.

Then it was Díaz’s turn. The director, Jake Smith, called over Mr. and Mrs. Met and positioned them in front of Díaz, trumpets in hand. Then he instructed each mascot to move aside, so that Díaz could emerge between them and strut toward the camera.

This is the scene that fans at Citi Field will see when Díaz enters games this season. If it feels like a movie set, that’s because it essentially is. Over the past two years, the Mets have transformed their scoreboard introductions into veritable cinema, using 4K cameras to record players in front of elaborate backdrops. This year, a new, larger video board at Citi will allow the Mets to present those scenes even more vibrantly, which is partly why the team is dedicating greater resources to them.

“They put a lot of work into that because they want to give something good to the fans,” Díaz said.

The Mets haven’t always done this sort of thing with such pomp and circumstance; before 2020, they recorded all their scoreboard graphics in the cramped visitors' clubhouse at Clover Park. But when the pandemic hit, the production team needed additional space to keep everyone socially distanced, so they rented a large tent and moved operations in there. With additional real estate came greater freedom to create elaborate sets, as the Mets did last spring in constructing a faux bodega that players posed in front of.

It was popular. Instagrammable. And it spawned new ideas. This year, the production team went even bigger, constructing a mock Shea Bridge to bracket the stage. At the back, workers installed a video screen that can display whatever LED images the Mets desire -- in Díaz’s case, there were trumpet graphics, artwork featuring his name and number, and skyline photos of New York City. Rather than a chore, the video shoots (which can last the better part of two hours for prominent players) have become something that many of them enjoy.

When Jeff McNeil entered the tent early this spring, for example, the Mets celebrated his batting title by taking a baseball bat, dousing it with hair spray and lighting it on fire.

“I got some pretty cool pictures out of it,” McNeil said, grinning.

The Mets encourage players to share the content on social media, though it can be difficult for the production team to keep up with demand. Over the first portion of Spring Training, the club must create scoreboard visuals for all 61 players in Major League camp, as well as any Minor Leaguers who could conceivably play at Citi Field from April through October. Because the tent is rented (it takes up too much space for the club to invest in a permanent structure), the Mets must do it all in a matter of weeks, including 10 days to construct the set and another two to break it all down again.

“These guys are texting me every day, like, 'Can I get my photos?'" said Bobby Clemens, the team’s executive director of creative content. He laughed at a recent memory of prospect José Butto driving by, rolling down his car window and asking for pictures. “I’m like, ‘We’ll get it to you, we’ll get it to you.’”

All told, close to two dozen people work on the operation, including Clemens, Smith and Josh Cohen, who leads the production side. The team also hires freelancers to help with a process that begins before Christmas, when the group meets to begin discussing set designs and other ideas.

Fans don’t see the results until the home opener in April, and even then, the vast majority don’t realize how much labor it all entails.

“It makes Citi Field more enjoyable,” McNeil said. “It looks pretty cool. There’s a lot that goes into it, and then we’ve got the bigger scoreboard this year, so it will be even better.”

There was, however, one drawback: “They wouldn’t let me light any more bats on fire for picture day,” McNeil said. “I asked.”