PORT ST. LUCIE — For all the concern about a potential hangover for the Mets’ young pitchers, due to career-high workloads for all of them last season, Frank Viola is proof there could be more benefit than detriment.
Viola, the Mets’ Triple-A pitching coach, pitched the Twins to a world championship in 1987, piling up 31 innings in the postseason at age 27 that pushed his total that year to a career-high 283 innings.
Then in 1988 he had the best season of his career, winning the American League Cy Young Award, going 24-7 with a 2.