Niese needs to prepare better vs. unfamiliar opponents

In a report for the New York Post, Mike Puma says the Mets have concluded that 'Jon Niese needs to pay a little more attention to his homework before facing an unfamiliar opponent.'

'He's had a couple of poor games against teams he doesn't know very well,' Dan Warthen said, according to Puma. 'A couple of us talked to him the other day and told him he could do a little bit better with the studying of hitters. ' Teams in our division he's very familiar with and pitches well. We encourage him to be a little more proactive in watching more video and preparing himself that way.'

Niese faces the Pirates today. It's the fourth time this season he will have faced a team outside the National League East, and he's gone 0-2 with a 12.00 ERA in his three prior starts against non-divisional opponents. He is 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA against opponents inside the National League East.

Overall, Niese is 2-2 with a 4.85 ERA with 18 walks and 39 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings this season. He has thrown 747 pitches in eight starts this season, 555 of which (74 percent) have been fastballs and cutters. He has thrown his curveball only 171 times (nearly 23 percent of the time).

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Michael Baron: In his starts against Houston and Toronto in particular, he fell in love with his cutter. Those are two dead-fastball hitting teams and there isn't enough differential between those pitches to fool those hitters ' his fastball has averaged just under 91 mph and his cutter has averaged just below 88 mph so far this season. He has failed to incorporate his outstanding curveball consistently against those clubs which would have helped to off-set his fastball much better. What's worse, his location has been ridiculously poor with both the fastball and cutter, which only compounded his problems. His cutter in particular plays into the strength of the right-handed hitter no matter what, since it follows an inside path towards the hitters happy zone ' if he can't come down and in with it, as has been the case recently, he's dead meat.

Whatever the explanation of his struggles are, it's all a part of the growing and maturation process he needs to get through in order to become the pitcher he is capable of becoming. Sandy Alderson said last September growth needs to take place among the starting pitchers, and Niese is no exception, even after he has signed his long-term contract extension.