PORT ST. LUCIE — In his arsenal and in his life, Stephen Nogosek is busy.
There are not many pitchers who throw six different pitches. There are virtually no relievers — so many of whom rely on one or two nasty offerings that can get them through three hitters and then be done for the day — who have so many grips to choose from. But Nogosek has just kept adding.
And when he isn’t developing a slider, he might be grilling one up.
The righty Mets reliever spent his offseason in Oregon, where he helped with “everything” to aid his partner get a new breakfast-and-brunch restaurant off the ground. Soon you can credit Nogosek for being an opener: Brand 44 N Tavern in Terrebonne, Ore., should be opening its doors in the next few weeks.
When he wasn’t throwing side or bullpen sessions, Nogosek was painting, constructing, delivering food, bartending or helping tweak recipes for a restaurant that advertises itself as “affordable family food with a cozy lodge feel.”
“It’s getting there,” Nogosek said this week. “It’s three years in the making.”
Three years of red tape are nearly complete. The couple turned a building into a rustic tavern with branded walls.
It sounds like a lot of work, even if it didn’t qualify as work for the mustachioed Met.
“That was my downtime,” Nogosek said. “Working out and throwing and doing all that was my peace — that was my me-time. And then it turned into my helping her fulfill her dream and get that going.”
If Nogosek is going to make his Mets dream continue, now is the time.
For the first time in his career, the 28-year-old cannot be optioned to the minor leagues. If he does not stick with the Mets out of camp, he cannot be shuffled to Triple-A Syracuse, as he was so many times last season. Nogosek said he “loves” the Mets and wants to be a part of the team, but he is trying not to worry about the contractual elements of his position.
“It’s outside of my control. I gotta focus on getting better each and every day, proving that I belong, and just focus on that,” said Nogosek, who was acquired in the 2017 deadline trade that sent Addison Reed to the Red Sox. “Focus on the day, and everything else hopefully will take care of itself.”
He is hoping his varied arsenal can take care of him.
Back when Nogosek debuted in 2019, he threw a good fastball (a lot), a slider and a changeup (rarely). He was knocked around in 6 ⅔ major league innings.
“When I first got up, that’s all I had, was a fastball that had good cut,” Nogosek said. “That was it.”
He did not throw a major league or minor league pitch in 2020, when he was left out of the Mets’ player pool during the COVID-19 season, and he spent that summer developing his changeup and learning a couple different variations of a cutter. He came back in 2021, and had a rough season — mostly in the minors — as he learned how best to use each pitch.
“I had five weapons, but I didn’t have great feel for them,” he said.
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He learned a sweeping slider last year, and honed his command of each pitch in what had become a six-pitch repertoire: fastball, cutter, depth cutter, changeup, slider, curveball.
His fastball is still his best pitch, but he does not need to throw it 66.7 percent of the time, as he did in 2019. Last year — when Nogosek pitched to a 2.45 ERA in 22 major league innings — he threw just 41.5 percent fastballs.
“I didn’t have to throw a fastball with a 2-0 count. I didn’t have to try to get back into an even or pitcher’s count with a fastball,” said Nogosek, a California native. “I could go to other pitches and throw the fastball later. … Because I’m not throwing it 80 percent of the time, its effectiveness went up.”
Against his four-seamer last season, opposing hitters went 5-for-32 (.156).
Finally without a pitch to learn, Nogosek is having a “good spring,” manager Buck Showalter said Thursday after Nogosek threw two scoreless innings against Team Venezuela in a scrimmage at Clover Park.
Showalter likes relievers who can offer him flexibility, and Nogosek qualifies. Of his 12 outings with the big league Mets last season, he recorded more than three outs nine times.
He can do a lot. For a tavern and, he hopes, for the Mets.
99, no problems
Nogosek likely will make the Mets’ Opening Day roster, as will Rule 5 pick Zach Greene. There are not many openings in the bullpen, but the way Sam Coonrod is feeling, he probably will be pitching at Citi Field at some point this year.
Coonrod, a strong-armed righty reliever with a combined 105 appearances in four major league seasons, has struck out five in three scoreless innings in the Grapefruit League.
On Wednesday against Team Nicaragua, Coonrod touched 99.1 mph with his fastball.
“In the past seasons,” Coonrod said Thursday, “I hadn’t thrown that hard this early.”
With the Phillies last season, he appeared in just 12 games because of a shoulder strain that hampered him all year. Now?
“The shoulder feels amazing,” Coonrod said.
Ain’t got that swingman
In keeping with a reliever theme, there is a glaring absence on the 2023 Mets: a capable swingman who can help out of the bullpen and, in a pinch, eat up innings as a starter.
One of the quiet MVPs of the 2022 Mets was Trevor Williams, who did whatever he was asked and did it well. Williams started nine games and came out of the bullpen 21 times.
He posted a 4.19 ERA as a starter and a 2.47 ERA as a reliever. He parlayed his success into a rotation job with the Nationals.
“I’m not sure we’re going to come out of here with that [kind of player], but we’re looking for it,” Showalter said this week. “It’s hard.”
