Niese 1-0

The Mets 7th round draft pick Jon Niese pitched very well in his first career spring training start going 2 innings with 3 strikeouts, 1 walk, and no hits. The 20 year old left handed pitcher finished up the regular season with an 11-7 record with a 4.29 era and 110 strikeouts. Niese went 5-3 with a 5.32 era before the all star break and had since gone 6-4 with a 3.52 era. Niese was 8th in the league in strikeouts. The thing to watch is opponent’s batting average against Niese; it is .285, not very good. In his only start for St. Lucie in the playoffs Niese pitched superb going 6 innings with 1 hit ball and 9 strikeouts. He Went 11-9 with a 3.93 ERA in 25 starts with Class A Hagerstown in 2006.

In other words, since starting off mediocre after being drafted, Niese has pitched very well and showed that today.