Seven days ago, Jon Niese shredded the Louisville Bats in Triple-A, shutting them down on one run over six innings.
Afterward, Louisville manager Rick Sweet submitted a report that said the 22-year-old left-hander is ready to pitch in the major leagues right now.
Niese will be back in the majors tonight, having been promoted from Triple-A Buffalo to the Mets to face the Pirates at Citi Field. For the Mets’ top pitching prospect, it will be his first big-league start this season after his three-start September cameo last year.
Niese hasn’t had good Triple-A stats this season. He has an 0-2 record with a 6.55 ERA. But in Niese’s last outing against Louisville, he held the Bats to three hits and a walk, striking out eight.
Sweet said Niese had good command.
“He pretty much controlled us right from the beginning. He was very aggressive with all his pitches,” said Sweet, who played three games for the Mets in 1982 and managed their Double-A team in 1997. “The one thing that impressed me was his ability to pitch on the inside part of the plate.”
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Francisco Rodriguez can forget about working a fifth consecutive game. After Rodriguez earned his fourth save in as many days, helping the Mets beat the Phillies 7-5 last night, manager Jerry Manuel said he will use J.J. Putz or Bobby Parnell if a closer is needed against Pittsburgh tonight.
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Manuel and general manager Omar Minaya were happy with the reports they received on Tim Redding, who allowed one run over six innings in a rehab start for Buffalo on Wednesday.
It’s expected Redding will need at least one more minor-league appearance, but Manuel wouldn’t rule out having the right-hander back with the Mets as an option to start sometime next week if Niese struggles.
“We’re in a situation where we now can evaluate that spot on a turn-by-turn basis,” Manuel said. “It will depend on how we look the next time around in the starting rotation.”
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Some rules are worth breaking. Though the Mets recently banned having copies of the New York newspapers in the clubhouse, an individual was spotted yesterday sliding a copy of The Post out from behind the clothes in his locker. After taking a glimpse at the paper, the individual hid it again.
So what about this blatant rules violation?
“I ain’t going there,” Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said.