2018 Mets Report Card: Daniel Zamora, LHP

Daniel Zamora got his first taste of Major League action in 2018 and made the most of it. The southpaw, whom the New York Mets acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Josh Smoker on Jan. 31, 2018, spent most of 2018 in Double-A Binghamton before getting the call to The Show.

While with the Rumble Ponies, Zamora put up a solid 3.48 ERA and 1.03 WHIP, while striking out 69 batters in 40 games and 51 2/3 innings.

The injury bug hit the Mets hard yet again in 2018. After Bobby Wahl headed to the disabled list with a right hamstring strain, Zamora got the call and became the franchise-record-tying 54th player that the Mets used in 2018.

Zamora was notified of his promotion on Aug. 17 and quickly made his MLB debut later that night against the Philadelphia Phillies. He started things off strong as he fired 1 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out two.

He continued keeping opponents off the board in his next four appearances as well. In them he pitched two scoreless innings accompanied by two hits, no walks and two strikeouts.

The 25-year-old’s toughest stretch of his brief stint came in three games from Aug. 27 to Aug. 31. In those games he gave up two runs in 1 1/3 innings. That also included an appearance on Aug. 28 against the Chicago Cubs in which he replaced Paul Sewald in the bottom of 11th and gave up a walk-off RBI single to Ben Zobrist.

The one positive taken out from that three-game stretch was that Zamora was still able to remain the strikeout pitcher that he is as he fanned all four batters he retired in those appearances.

In September, Zamora rebounded quite nicely. He appeared in eight games and four innings for the Mets, and limited opponents to one hit, one walk and no runs while striking out eight of the 12 batters he retired.

The Mets often used Zamora as a lefty specialist which was valuable as Jerry Blevins took a massive step back in 2018. Blevins became unreliable in that role as he actually had more success against right-handed batters in 88 at-bats (.193/.330/.352/.682) than against left-handed batters in 72 at-bats (.264/.341/.444/.786).

2019 Outlook

Zamora emerged in 2018 as a solid reliever who has a good chance of playing a part in the Mets’ 2019 plans.

While nine innings is not enough to simply hand him a job in the bullpen on Opening Day, the fact that he is a lefty strongly helps his case.

The Mets had no real lefty options for 2019 before signing Hector Santiago and Luis Avilan to minor league deals recently. Brodie Van Wagenen has indicated that Avilan has a good chance of getting a spot on the Opening Day roster. However, even if Avilan does indeed make the team, it should be alongside Zamora rather than in place of him.

Zamora would likely only see his role shrunk if the Mets add another southpaw or two on major league contracts. However, even if that does happen, Zamora being an up-and-coming young player still helps his chances over Avilan. Barring a very weak spring training, it can be expected that he makes the Opening Day roster regardless of any moves the Mets make from now until March 28.