Young pen depth gives Mets hope
THE Mets’ organization sees it, the reliever stockpiling giving glimpses of the depth the team desires, which can keep a staff dealing with injuries afloat.
The Mets fans at Citi Field need to crane their necks to share the vision.
A year after the team’s sell-off that prioritized hardthrowing, righty relief pitchers, the bullpens throughout the organization are better replenished with higher ceilings, but the ones who were expected to immediately help have struggled, either with injury or performance.
The Mets traded for seven minor league relievers last July and August, the best returns they could get for Lucas Duda, Addison Reed, Jay Bruce, Neil Walker and Curtis Granderson. A year later, the Mets’ bullpen was ranked 27th in the majors entering Sunday with a 4.77 ERA.
Fortifying the bullpen, like the entire season, has not gone according to plan.
The top-ranked prospect the Mets received — Jamie Callahan, from Boston in the Reed trade — made seven appearances for Triple-A Las Vegas before being shut down, eventually needing season-ending shoulder surgery. Another prospect acquired in that deal — fireballer Gerson Bautista — has been too raw to serve as reliable help.
The 23-year-old found his way to the big-league team a few times this year, but managed a 12.46 ERA in five games. He has a 100-mph fastball that is lively but erratic, a pitch that so far has been easier for hitters to hit than Bautista to locate.
He needs to improve his “command of his secondary pitches — and [command of his] fastball,” Mets director of minor league operations Ian Levin said of Bautista, who also features a slider and changeup. “Real good fastball, but all three pitches lack consistency, like just about all prospects.”
Luis Rojas saw the righthander through much of April.
“He had the top arm in the league — the best fastball of all the pitchers in the league,” the manager of Double-A Binghamton said.
The Mets are getting a glimpse at Drew Smith, the right-hander who was flipped for Duda. The 24year-old has been solid in Binghamton and Vegas this year and is debuting nicely, allowing one run in three big-league innings.
Rojas praised his deception and said he “could see flashes of a great changeup.”
Jacob Rhame, who came from the Dodgers for Granderson, has yo-yoed from Queens to Vegas this year, showing an excellent fastball but not much else. In 13 appearances, he holds a 6.75 ERA with the Mets.
Thus, four prospects who the Mets were hopeful could serve as major league depth mostly have not, which helps explain why another sell-off likely is coming. The young pitchers they traded for who have stood out aren’t as visible.
Eric Hanhold, who was the player to be named later in the Walker trade, was dominant with Double-A before a promotion and injury to his side, which Levin downplayed, saying he “should be back in the relatively near future.”
In Single-A St. Lucie, manager Chad Kreuter has seen the stockpiling that Mets fans haven’t.
“We were extremely excited to have the relief staff we had early on,” Kreuter said. “We’ve had a great corps of pitching from the get-go. ... There’s a whole bunch of kids that really can throw the ball. It’s shown in our level, we’ve been able to keep the games close, especially as of late, because our hitting has been slow.”
A pair of prospects — Stephen Nogosek, the third prospect in the Reed trade, and Ryder Ryan, who was Cleveland’s price for Bruce — have earned promotions to Double-A. Kreuter said he wouldn’t be surprised if Nogosek rose all the way to Queens this year, and Ryan has “a wipeout slider,” to go with an upper-90s fastball.
The reinforcements weren’t there when the Mets needed them. But the team has hope for the next wave.
“Anytime you add that many quality arms, [it] gives you better options,” Levin said of the 2017 deals. “Feel like we had some good arms leading into those trades, but those guys helped solidify the system.”