Former Bruin Reveals New Pitch Priorities Since Joining Mets

Former UCLA Bruin pitcher and starting pitcher for the New York Mets, Griffin Canning, revealed that he's begun to pitch backward, leaning heavily on his off-speed stuff.

Apr 5, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Griffin Canning (46) walks off the field after getting taken out of the game in the fifth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Former UCLA Bruin pitcher turned New York Mets starting pitcher in Griffin Canning has begun the 2025 campaign for his new team on the right note. Already appearing in two games, Canning has been a strong piece of the Mets rotation thus far, much to the pleasure of the former Bruin.

Canning struggled thus far in his career, as he hit free agency for the first time after his long tenure with the Los Angeles Angels. But since joining the Mets, the pitching staff and coaches have made an important observation, looking to benefit Canning in the long run.

Since donning a Mets uniform, the Mets pitching coach suggested that rather than Canning building off of his fastball, he should pitch backward. Backwards in this sense means throwing the soft stuff early and the hard stuff late in at-bats.

“The conversation this spring was just kind of like, ‘Hey, these are your best pitches. Why not lean on these?” Canning said.

Canning's best pitch throughout his career was his slider, a pitch that darts away from a right-handed batter, and one that comes in on lefties (from Canning's right-handed throwing arm). While the change is new for Canning with the Mets organization, at the end of the day his job is to be as efficient as possible when he's on the mound.

"This year, the Mets have asked Canning to go to that slider even more. In his first two starts, he has used his slider 44.3% of the time," Eric Samulski of NBC Sports wrote. "While that 20% usage jump from 2024 to this year may seem jarring, it feels almost natural to him.

“It’s kind of something I’ve done my whole life, pitch backwards,” Canning said. “I feel like it’s more of just getting back to being myself and what my strengths are. So yeah, it’s been a pretty easy transition.”

Thus far into the 2025 season (small sample size), the former Bruin has a 2.79 ERA, a 1.34 WHIP, has struck out 10 batters, and has allowed three earned runs in 9.2 innings of work.

His last outing on the mound was against the Toronto Blue Jays, where he went four innings, allowed one run, walked three, and struck out six.

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