PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The Mets aren't wasting any time starting the competition for the back of their rotation.

Right-handers Rick Porcello and Marcus Stroman will start Saturday's Grapefruit League-opening split-squad games vs. the Marlins and at the Cardinals, respectively, while lefty Steven Matz will get the nod on Sunday.

While reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Stroman are locks for the starting staff, Porcello, Matz and Michael Wacha will vie for the final two spots.

Veterans Porcello and Wacha are newcomers to the organization, while Matz has been around since 2009, when he was drafted in the second round by the Mets.

All three look to rebound from a rough 2019 season. Porcello, the 2016 American League Cy Young Award winner, recorded a career-high 5.52 ERA in 32 starts. Wacha finished 6-7 with a 4.76 ERA in 29 games (24 starts). And Matz posted a 4.21 ERA in 32 games (30 starts) but amassed a career-high 160 1/3 innings.

"Matzy is a guy that can sometimes get into struggles with his command, but he's able to find his rhythm throughout outings, and we saw that last year," said Mets manager Luis Rojas, who has known the pitcher since his time in the lower levels of the Minors. "Sometimes pitch counts ramp up because of it. We're looking at him just to have that consistency from the start, and that's something that he's working really hard on: command. That's the name of his task, and he's working really hard on it. Let's see Sunday if he brings it to the game."

Thor faces hitters
Syndergaard threw his first live batting practice of the spring on Wednesday, facing Robinson Canó, Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez (New York's No. 3 prospect per MLB Pipeline). The flamethrower broke Rosario's bat in their first matchup.

Rojas had a perfect view of it, watching behind home plate with the protection of a screen.

"I saw a slider moving a lot better," Rojas said of the vantage point. "That's something good that we're never going to see from a side angle, and I can actually tell that's a slider right there. Some of these guys have such electric stuff that you've got to look at the radar gun to make sure that's what that was. Learning their pitches and the action, you can tell now after seeing them that close. I'm looking at that and about what they're doing, just the little things. It's been a really good week with the live BPs."

Managing rep time
Jeff McNeil, who projects as the club's third baseman, did not take part in Wednesday's outfield drills. In 2019, McNeil appeared in 93 games in the outfield and 35 at the hot corner.

"Jeff was at third base taking his grounders. He will work with the outfielders at times, but we're trying to keep everyone -- and I said this before here -- active in their different positions," Rojas said. "'Mac' I think played less infield than outfield last year, and we're doing the same with [Dominic Smith]. Dom hasn't been with the outfielders yet, but he did the fundamentals with the outfielders today. We're managing splitting their time in their positions so they can work at them. He'll be with the outfielders at some point and get the reps that he needs so he keeps that there."

Union meeting kicks off
MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark, who meets with each club during Spring Training, made the Clover Park complex his first stop in Florida.

"Obviously, it was pretty centered around the current events, the stuff going on over in Houston and Boston," said Michael Conforto, the Mets' union rep last season. "A lot of conversations about what we want the changes to look like, what our opinions are as far as technology in baseball. We talked at length about it, and I think we went through a lot of things.

"The attitude became unified by the end. That was a lot of it, and obviously we went through some collective bargaining talks as well, getting everybody up to speed. Big group of guys. There are some of us who are in contact with the union a little more regularly, but for the new guys in here and guys who haven't been part of this meeting before, just to get them up to speed."

Quotable
"The feel of his changeup got progressively better in the live BP. He left a couple up and he actually slowed down on a few, but then he was finishing them really well. Good arm speed, similar to fastball arm speed, and that got guys out front." -- Rojas on Brad Brach's live BP