GRANT HARTWIG
Player Data: Age: 25 (12/18/1997), B/T: R/R
Primary Stats: 28 G, 5-2, 35.1 IP, 4.84 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 30 SO, 15 BB
Advanced Stats: 88 ERA+, 4.44 FIP, 7.64 SO/9, 19.0% SO%, 9.5% BB%, 48.1% GB%
2023 Salary: $720,000
GRADE D
2023 REVIEW
Grant Hartwig‘s journey to the majors seemed improbable. His college career at Miami (OH) came to a screeching halt after Tommy John surgery that cost him all of 2019, followed by COVID. After going undrafted, the right hander assumed his baseball career was over and was preparing to attend medical school to become a doctor. Shortly after the draft, the Mets called and offered him a contract as an undrafted free agent.
The 6-foot-5, 235-pound Hartwig flew under the radar as an unheralded 2021 undrafted free agent signing who entered the season with just 70-plus innings pitched in the Mets minor league system. Hartwig recorded a pristine ERA of 1.75 and fanned 83 batters while racking up 13 saves in 56 2/3 innings across four levels in 2022.
The 25-year-old garnered attention during a strong showing in spring training, tossing four scoreless innings with four strikeouts. The Grapefruit League standout looked like a sleeper candidate who could make the club out of spring.
Unfortunately, Hartwig didn’t make the team out of camp and was assigned to Triple-A Syracuse to begin the year, where he posted sufficient numbers before his call-up. In 25 2/3 innings at Triple-A, he posted a 4.21 ERA and struck out a whopping 12.5 batters per nine innings while walking an exceedingly high 5.4.
On June 19, he stepped on the mound at Minute Maid Park for his major league debut against the reigning World Series champion Houston Astros. The rookie right-hander hurled a scoreless ninth inning in the Mets’ 11-1 lopsided victory.
Overall, the big righty had an uneven rookie campaign. He got off to a solid start in his major league career, allowing one earned run over 11 1/3 innings across eight appearances. Hartwig captured the first win of his career over the San Francisco Giants on July 2, pitching two scoreless innings with three strikeouts.
Then he hit a rough stretch to start the second half, surrendering 15 runs in seven of his next 11 outings, and was optioned back to Syracuse on August 18. Hartwig was recalled on September 2 and bounced back, permitting a lone run with seven punchouts and a walk in his final five relief appearances to end the season on a high note.
In a revolving door of middle relievers this past season, Hartwig was seventh on the team with 28 appearances out of the Mets pen. He finished with a 5-2 record, a 4.84 ERA, a 1.39 WHIP, and an extremely low 7.6 K/9 over 35 1/3 innings of work. He labored with runners on base as opponents batted .281 (18 for 64) and stranded 12 of 17 inherited runners.
Hartwig frequently throws a sinker and sweeper while mixing a cutter, changeup, and four-seamer into his repertoire. The most effective pitch in his arsenal was his sweeper, which he threw 31.5% of the time with a spin rate of 2415 rpm. Opponents batted a mere .147 against Hartwig’s sweeper, drawing a 37.5% whiff rate.
His sinker and cutter told a different story. He primarily threw the sinker 46.8% of the time with a velocity of 94.7 mph (62 Percentile) and was touched up to a .288 average, a .411 slug, and a .394 wOBA. The second concern was he allowed a hard-hit rate of 45% on his cutter. Hartwig must make notable adjustments to those pitches if he wants to be a staple in the bullpen.
2024 OVERVIEW
Hartwig quickly ascended to the bigs and made the most of his opportunity in a small sample size to prove he belonged. The 25-year-old’s sweeper served as a putaway pitch, had robust strikeout numbers in the minors (12.2 K/9), and induced a 48.1% ground ball rate this season. These are all encouraging signs that he can become a valuable piece of the bullpen moving forward. Plus, he offers the Mets plenty of roster flexibility with multiple options.
The Mets will likely add to the relief mix this offseason as Adam Ottavino declined his 2024 option and declared free agency. The good news is they will get Edwin Díaz back next year and have picked up lefty Brooks Raley‘s club option.
As we all know, reliever careers are very up and down and hard to predict. Hartwig still has to work on securing a spot in the pen for 2024. It all boils down to whether Hartwig can execute and fine-tune his pitch arsenal. We’ll see if he can build on 2023 and be a solid, reliable arm that the Mets can trust to get some big outs when needed.
