Chasen Bradford, RHP 

Player Data: Age: 28, B/T: Right/Right, Free Agency: 2024

2017 Primary Stats: 2-0, 28 G, 3.74 ERA, 1.277 WHIP, 3.87 FIP, 0.8 HR/9, 3.5 BB/9, 7.2 SO/9, 0.3 bWAR, 0.2 fWAR

2018 Salary: Pre-arbitration

Grade: B-

2017 Review:

Chasen Bradford started 2017 in Triple-A Las Vegas for his seventh minor league season. He spent time in Las Vegas for parts of seasons since 2014.

However, his contract was finally purchased on June 22 and he made his major league debut on June 25 against the San Francisco Giants. In the debut he fired a scoreless inning and struck out two batters.

His next four appearances were a mixed bag. He had two scoreless appearances and two poor appearances. In the two poor outings he gave up seven hits, one walk, and five runs in 3 1/3 innings combined.

Bradford was sent down on July 16 where he stayed in Triple-A until being called back up on Aug. 1. In his first game back on Aug. 2, he had one of his best games of the season. He picked up his first major league win as pitched two perfect innings and struck out two batters.

That was the beginning of a solid stretch of appearances. From Aug. 2 to Aug. 27 he had a 0.54 ERA, a 0.540 WHIP, and 14 strikeouts in 12 games and 16 2/3 innings.

After that stretch Bradford pitched in 11 more games. He didn’t give up a run in nine of those games. The two games in which he did give up runs really impacted his final numbers though.

On Aug. 29 he didn’t record an out and gave up six hits, one walk, and seven runs (four earned runs). Then on Sept. 13 he gave up three hits, three walks, and four runs in one inning.

Bradford’s final numbers were decent. The fact that he only gave up runs in five of his 28 games means he helped the team out in the vast majority of his appearances. At the same time the team lost every time he gave up a run in a game.

2018 Outlook:

It would be difficult to call Bradford a lock for the Mets’ 2017 Opening Day bullpen. It’s not because he did poorly in 2017, but because he didn’t quite stand out immensely.

The Mets have plenty of options after all their summer trades and they still plan on signing at least one reliever this offseason.

Furthermore Bradford doesn’t have the pedigree to back up his solid 33 2/3 innings pitched in the majors. After all, he is a 28-year-old, former 35th round pick who only did decent overall in his long tour throughout the minors.

Having said that, if given the chance, Bradford could etch his way into the bullpen for the near future. However, for that to happen he may need to wait for a reliever or two to be sidelined. Of course a terrific Spring Training would make landing a spot in the Opening Day bullpen a lot easier to obtain for him.

Regardless he should see bullpen time during 2018 in some capacity.