Bradford, Sewald ready for upcoming season

New York Mets pitchers and catchers officially reported to spring training in Port St. Lucie, Florida, on Sunday.

For two Las Vegans, that day couldn’t have come soon enough.

After spending time in winter ball earlier in the offseason, Paul Sewald and Chasen Bradford, relievers who both pitched for the 51s last year, had been back home preparing for spring training.

“It’s basically hurry up and wait,” Bradford said a couple weeks before the report date of Feb. 12. “We’re excited to get there. We have all the information. Everything’s done, and it’s like what do I do now?”

Earlier in the offseason, Bradford headed to Puerto Rico to play for the Gigantes de Carolina while Sewald went to Mexico to pitch for the Naranjeros de Hermosillo.

Bradford said he wanted to work on consistency in his pitches.

He also toyed with a new grip on his sinker to see if he could get it to move a little more. The results were good.

“My pitching coach pitched in the big leagues and he was a sinkerballer so it was fantastic,” Bradford said. “He taught me a lot there.”

Bradford was there for 2½ months and was invited back for the playoffs. In his time there, he went 1-1 with a 1.83 ERA in 19.2 innings pitched.

Heading to Puerto Rico also got him out of working at a golf course throughout the winter, though he said he didn’t mind that job too much.

With minor league salaries relatively low for non-40-man roster players — of which Bradford and Sewald are — winter ball can often much better pay and get players out of other odds-and-ends offseason job, providing an added incentive to going.

“The pay was pretty nice,” Sewald said. “It was definitely a big surprise when you get paychecks like that.”

Sewald equated his team to the New York Yankees of the Mexican winter league, giving him plenty of extra exposure during his time there.

“We had 15,000 people a night. It was insane,” Sewald said. “The first day we opened up a new stadium on the road and there were 17,000 people that didn’t stop making noise the whole time. Mariachi band going for nine innings. It was a crazy experience but it was fun.”

There were also scouts in attendance — he estimated between five and 10 per game.

“All it takes is one person to love you to get your chance, so if I can multiply the number of people that have seen me pitch, that can only help me, help my chances.”

Sewald played in Mexico from the middle of October to Thanksgiving and then took a break from throwing until the beginning of January.

Back in Las Vegas, the duo spent their time working out, throwing, waiting for the upcoming season and, of course, golfing.

“We missed all the good weather to golf here, so now we golf when it’s freezing,” Sewald joked.

Now in Florida, it’s big league camp for both, where they’ll both try to make a good impression on the major league staff and front office.

“The last couple weeks of the offeseason, because you already have your report date, you’re already ready to go, then you get super antsy as far as getting down there and wanting to get going because it’s excitement for a new year whereas the middle of the offseason you’re excited to just relax because it’s been a long season,” Sewald said. “Now it’s time to get going again.”

Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.