Tomas Nido, Mets catchers adjusting to new pitching staff

PORT ST. LUCIE — The relationship between Mets’ catcher Tomas Nido and the club’s newest ace began in Jupiter last month. A bond was formed over not just baseball, but cars. However, the batterymates did not bond over the same type of cars, just their affinity for them.

“He collects Ferraris,” Nido said. “I don’t got that type of money yet.”

The relationship between pitchers and catchers is part coach, part therapist. Spring training is where those relationships strengthen but not necessarily where they start. The Mets had to revamp nearly their entire starting rotation and much of their bullpen this winter, so it’s more work than usual for the catching staff this spring.

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For Nido and Omar Narvaez, the club’s two Major League catchers, the job is easy because they’re working with veterans like Verlander, Jose Quintana and reliever David Robertson. They’re seasoned pros who know exactly how they want to be caught.

“With so many new guys, it’s hard to get it done right away,” Nido told the Daily News on Friday at Clover Field. “It’s going to be a process throughout spring training and then towards the end, we’ll sit down and see what they like, what they don’t, what they would like to do better and then we go into game planning after that. It’s a process, especially with so many new guys.

“But these guys are veteran guys with such a long track record of success who have done it before. It’s not going to be a headache or anything like that.”

The winter work starts with video, but that’s just so a catcher can have a baseline knowledge of what they’re working with. Too much video and you might not be prepared for changes pitchers want to make the next season.

“Guys make adjustments and do things differently than the year before, so I take it as a clean slate and build from that first bullpen,” Nido said. “That way I know from zero, rather than what I’ve seen and trying to compare from older things.”

Nido was able to catch a few of Verlander’s bullpen sessions this winter in Jupiter since the 2022 AL Cy Young Award winner works out at the same facility where Nido catches Max Scherzer. The communication was as easy as he expected.

“It never feels like a work environment,” Nido said. “It’s almost like two friends going out and competing against everybody else.”

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Narvaez is coming in new and leaving soon to join Team Venezuela for the World Baseball Classic. An All-Star with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2021, Narvaez signed a two-year contract with the Mets over the winter, enticed by Steve and Alex Cohen’s commitment to winning. The on-field part has been a breeze so far, and the next step is the personal connections that will allow Narvaez to anticipate how pitchers will react in certain in-game situations. Narvaez is hoping to have a few dinners with pitchers before the end of spring training to get to know them and their families.

Part coach, part psychologist, part friend.

“I think personality and getting to know their personality is a good thing, so when we’re in the game, I know exactly how I’m going to come up to them,” he said. “Everybody is different so you can’t go up to everybody the same. You’re going to have to know almost how they’re going to react to what they’re telling them. That’s why you’ve got to be a little bit careful with how to do certain things.”

The younger catchers in camp are trying to make the most of their limited opportunities to catch the big arms. It’s helpful to have guys like Max Scherzer around, who manager Buck Showalter said would, “throw to a trash can,” but the club has done well developing catching talent in recent years and they’re hoping to continue that success with top prospect Francisco Alvarez and Kevin Parada.

“With the big league pitchers, you’re just kind of taking in information because they’ve done it for so long that you get to learn from them and say, ‘Hey, this is what I like, this is how I like my catcher to set up,’” Parada said. “Normally on the minor league side, you’re both in it together. You’re trying to figure some stuff out, they’re trying to figure some stuff out, and how to become the best unit together.

“So it’s nice with the big leaguers because they have an idea of what they want and what they’re trying to accomplish, so it helps move you in a direction where it makes it easier to catch.”

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Bullpen sessions, dinners and fast cars seem to be the keys to a successful battery. Maybe if Nido catches a Verlander no-hitter the ace can replace the customary Rolex with a Ferrari.