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Rick Porcello is the newest addition to the Mets’ starting rotation.
The 2016 AL Cy Young award winner comes to New York after five eventful years in Boston. Porcello was a member of the 2018 Red Sox team that won the World Series, and he’s hoping to find similar success with his new ballclub.
Porcello joined Maggie Gray and Marc Malusis on WFAN on Tuesday to talk about his move to the Mets. He says he chose the Mets partially because they are “built to win now.”
“They’ve got a pretty strong culture of starting pitching here,” said Porcello. “From top to bottom, you’ve got guys that can really throw the ball. That’s something I want to be a part of. You could see the resiliency in this team last year, with some of the things that they had to deal with that were unfortunate, and how they were able to stay on track … This is a team that’s built to win and built to win now … I want to be a part of that. I want to get back to the playoffs and win another World Series.”
Porcello grew up as a Mets fan in Morristown, New Jersey, and he also pointed to the proximity to his family as a reason why he decided to come play for Carlos Beltran.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports The 30-year-old right-hander told Gray and Malusis about being impressed that last year’s Mets team kept fighting for the playoffs until the very end of the season.
“When you’re on another team and you’re kind of watching things from afar, you don’t know the exact details of what’s going on in-house, but you see what’s reported, you see some unfortunate media things. And those guys didn’t stop playing. It wasn’t something that broke the clubhouse up. That speaks to a pretty strong foundation that has been created here.”
2019 wasn’t the best year of Porcello’s career. The Red Sox missed the playoffs after struggling all season, and Porcello went 14-12 with a 5.52 ERA.
The newest Met says he’s excited for the opportunity to bounce back in Queens in 2020.
“I’m looking forward to this year. I’m definitely looking forward to bouncing back off of a tough year last year. I’ve got a long offseason to prepare and to get my body and mind and delivery, and all that sort of stuff, on track.”