This past weekend in Port St. Lucie, MLB.com’s Michael Baron spoke with Mets catching prospect Kevin Plawecki about his break-out 2014 season in the minor leagues, how coaching has helped him throughout his career and the workouts he’s undergone this offseason.
Michael Baron: Kevin, last year you had a lot of success, you kind of broke out from a power perspective. What was the biggest contributing factor for that break out season last year?
Kevin Plawecki: I just stayed consistent offensively and continued to get good pitches to hit, I’d say just staying within my
zone and trying not to chase pitches and if I can do that and stay within my zone and get good pitches to drive good things are gonna happen so that’s what I really try to focus on every day and I thought I did a good job of that last year.
Michael Baron: From start to finish last year you really improved defensively as well. What are you most proud of from that perspective?
Kevin Plawecki: We’ve put a lot of work into my defense ever since I got into the Mets organization. But I think last year we took some big strides in the right direction. Obviously, it’s a work in progress just like anybody’s game but I’m really happy with the progress we’ve made so far and we’re continuing to work on it this Spring Training. I’m just happy to see some progress which is very promising.
Michael Baron: You’ve been working out with Bob Geren this Spring, what has he been focusing on with you from the defensive perspective?
Kevin Plawecki: We’ve been really working on throwing. I came down here to instructs for a few days after last season to work on staying back and throwing against my front side a little bit more which has helped me tremendously. We’re just trying to continue to focus on that right now and continue to improve on it and just be more consistent with it.
Michael Baron: You played on two very good teams last year with Binghamton and Las Vegas with two very good managers in Pedro Lopez and Wally Backman. Talk about the influence they’ve had on you as you’ve grown and gotten closer to the major leagues.
Kevin Plawecki: All of my coaches so far, not only in the Mets organization but just in general have been a tremendous help every step of the way. I guess as you get closer and closer they prep you and help you a little bit more with what to expect or kind of give you different situations. They’ve been a tremendous help and last season was great with Double-A and Triple-A.
Michael Baron: You’ve spent a lot of time with Mike Barwis here in Port St. Lucie. I talked with him and he was raving about your physical condition. How has that helped you, whether offensively or defensively?
Kevin Plawecki: It’s not only a physical grind, it’s a mental grind and I think that’s what’s really important. It’s very hard to teach that mental side of things but that program gets you strong, it teaches you how to push through things and grind it out. I think that’s what’s so great about Mike – he has our best interests and as players that’s what we really need and really want. It gives us extra motivation to continue to work hard.
Michael Baron: We all talk about strength and conditioning but a lot of times we forget that the stronger you are the more balanced you are. The program you are all in is clearly conditioned for baseball. What specific exercises have helped you?
Kevin Plawecki: We do a lot of legs over there, we do a lot of core exercises, a lot of twisting and stuff like that to kind of strengthen the areas we use most in baseball. I definitely see a difference and feel a difference on the field. Talking with other guys that have been over there, in particular Travis [d’Arnaud] who was down here the whole time I was, we both feel really good and I think we’re really happy with it and happy with the results.
Just Mets 