Sean Manaea’s Fastball Velocity Down in First Spring Outing

In his first outing of 2026 spring training, 34-year-old Sean Manaea‘s fastball velocity was down.

Manaea averaged just 88.1 mph on his four-seamer, according to Baseball Savant data. He threw 13 of them.

Manaea, in his shaky 2025 campaign, averaged 91.7 mph on the pitch.

He said postgame that he was trying out a cutter, which could partly account for the decrease. It was still something of note from Manaea’s outing.

The veteran left-hander, who’s entering his third season with the Mets, made his spring debut in Friday’s 2-0 loss to the Marlins. His performance was mostly successful results-wise — he allowed just one hit in three innings, granted the hit was a homer. He struck out only one and walked one.

“I like what I saw,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Especially that cutter in to righties. It’s a pitch that he’s been working on. And he got movement just enough to get off the barrel there.”

Manaea surrendered the homer to Connor Norby, the third batter he faced in the bottom of the first. It was a 3-2 sweeper low in the zone.

After a leadoff walk in the second inning, Manaea retired the final five batters he faced — aided by a caught-stealing from Francisco Alvarez.

Just one of Manaea’s outs was on the ground. He induced a first-pitch comebacker from Xavier Edwards in his final batter of the evening.

His lone strikeout also came in the third inning. He threw a fastball that registered at just 89 mph, but it was placed perfectly in the upper corner of the zone.

A slight dip in velocity is to be somewhat expected, given it was his first outing of spring training, and he’s entering his mid-30s. But it’s still something to monitor. With Manaea posting a career-worst ERA last year, he very much is looking for a bounce-back. And he kind of needs to prove that he can still do what the Mets paid him for.

Mendoza said he wasn’t too worried about the velocity being down.

“Don’t want to make too much out of the first one,” Mendoza said. “I liked the movement of his pitches. And he says he feels really good, physically. So not concerned.”

Manaea only threw two sinkers on Friday, but they averaged 88.3. The sinker was a pitch he hardly used at all in 2025, throwing just five of them. He threw it 25% of the time in 2024, though, and averaged 92.4 mph with it.

“I liked how he used all of his pitches,” Mendoza said.

Manaea generated only one swing-and-miss on Friday. None of the eight sweepers he threw induced a whiff.

He threw 33 pitches, 19 for strikes.

“Some pitches need a little work,” Manaea said. “But I felt healthy, and for the most part threw strikes.”

Manaea’s results, data and progression will be something to watch as the season nears. Given the issues the Mets had with their starting rotation in 2025, they could really use the old, reliable Manaea — the one who posted a 3.47 ERA in 32 starts in 2024.

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