PORT ST. LUCIE — Since the moment he agreed to be not only a Met, but more vitally the Mets third baseman, this was the day that Bo Bichette had been, what?
Not approaching with dread, he insists. Anticipation? Curiosity? Eagerness?
“Those bunts,” Bichette said, “are the first thing I thought about when I signed up to go [to] third.”
And so there he was on the main diamond at Clover Park, a drill beginning at 10:42 a.m. Tuesday that had been on his mind for a while. Learning on the job. Foreign territory. New Mets bench coach Kai Correa bellowing a scenario — “Runner on second, no outs” — and Bichette creeping into a strange no-man’s-land. From dirt to grass. How hard is this bunted? Do you retreat to third to take a throw for an out? If so, how do you find the bag and see the throw?
