Jack Leathersich takes part in a pitcher fielding drill on Saturday at Mets camp.PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Triple-A pitching coach Frank Viola offered a 1980s-era Met as a comparison when discussing 24-year-old lefty reliever Jack Leathersich.

“You remember Sid Fernandez? He’s very much like Sid,” Viola said Saturday. “The ball comes out of his hand, it looks like it’s coming 100 mph. And you look at the radar gun, it’s 92. But it just sneaks up on you because of the angle of the arm slot.”

Leathersich, a fifth-round pick in 2011 out of UMass-Lowell, has gaudy career strikeout totals. He has K’d 334 batters in 197 1/3 professional innings. That’s a 15.2 strikeouts-per-nine-innings rate.

The area for improvement, though, is control. Las Vegas manager Wally Backman recently compared Leathersich to former reliever Mitch Williams, whose nickname happened to be “Wild Thing.” Leathersich has walked 36 in 37 1/3 career Triple-A innings.

“All he’s got to do is slow down, take a deep breath and slow the pace of the game down, he’s going to be fine,” Viola said.

Said Leathersich: “My No. 1 thing this year is just to throw more strikes -- throw more offspeed for strikes. I’m not really worried about the strikeouts. I’m worried about getting the walks down, getting ahead of batters. I’ve seen in the past when I’ve struggled a little bit in Vegas, it’s getting behind guys and walking guys. So this year my motivation is to keep my same spice on the mound with definitely throwing more strikes.”

Viola agreed that getting ahead of hitters is the key. The best way to tempt batters to chase fastballs up and out of the strike zone for Ks is to have them defensive because they are behind in the count.

“Hitters aren’t going to chase balls when they’re 1-0, 2-0 all the time,” Viola said. “If he’s able to do that, his strikeout totals might not be as drastic as they are. But they will still stay [up] there.”