Jeurys Familia, RHP
Player Data: Age: 30, B/T: R/R
Primary Stats: 66 G, 60 IP, 4-2, 5.70 ERA, 7 HR, 42 BB, 63 SO, 1.733 WHIP
Advanced Stats: 71 ERA+, 4.88 FIP, -0.4 WAR
Free Agent: 2022
2019 Salary: $6.7 M
Grade: F
2019 Review
Last offseason, the New York Mets tried to revamp their bullpen in a big way when they made the trade to acquire Edwin Diaz. Following that trade, Jeurys Familia became the next high profile arm added to the back-end of the bullpen, as the Mets brought their former closer back into the fold.
Familia did not come cheap, signing a three-year deal worth $30 million. Still, the Mets felt they were getting an elite reliever to bridge the gap to Diaz as their top set-up man. Unfortunately Familia was anything but elite in 2019, turning in the worst season of his career by a long shot.
The one thing that has often plagued Familia throughout his career is that he can lose the strike zone at times, walking far too many batters. In 2019, that happened all to frequently, as Familia walked 46 batters (four intentionally) across 60 innings pitched. At that rate, Familia was walking 6.3 batters per nine innings pitched. Among pitchers who threw at least 50 innings, Familia’s BB/9 was the third worst mark in the MLB.
Due to all that extra traffic on the bases, Familia yielded more runs than ever, pitching to dismal 5.70 ERA. Even more concerning was his 1.733 WHIP, which was the eighth-worst mark across baseball.
Familia was especially bad in the first half of last season, pitching to 7.50 ERA across 30 innings pitched. In the second half, the Mets tried to hid Familia much more and he found better success with a 3.90 ERA in 30 innings pitched.
This season was the first year that Familia did not record a save since 2012, when he was just getting his first taste of MLB action as a September call-up. Familia blew all four of his save opportunities and surely failed in his fair share of hold opportunities as well.
While it is hard to pin a team’s success (or failure) on one particular player, Familia and Diaz were the biggest culprits in the Mets missing the playoffs in 2019.
2020 Outlook
The Mets would surely like to just cut ties with Jeurys Familia but his salary dictates a place on the roster moving forward. What is worse about Familia’s contract is that it was significantly back-loaded, as he is set to make over $23 million in the last two years of the deal. Getting a bounce back season from Familia will be a critical piece to the Mets success in 2020.
Familia’s slider was still a quality pitch in 2019, with batters whiffing on the pitch 44% of the time and hitting just .181. On the other hand, opposing batters had a .311 average on Familia’s sinker, which he threw nearly 50% of the time. They also crushed his fastball at an even higher clip, with .407 average.
If Familia can either rediscover his sinker, or just pitch off of his slider more, maybe he can return to being an effective reliever in 2020.
In the end though, Familia’s success is going to be predicated on his ability to throw strikes. If he continues to walk batters at the same alarming clip as he did in 2019, there is not much hope for Familia to once again become a reliable pitcher for the Mets.
