On Sunday, after Terry Collins relied on left-hander Jerry Blevins to get A.J. Pierzynski to ground out for the first out in the ninth against the Braves, he motioned to the bullpen for the right-hander and in came Jeurys Familia for his first save opportunity of the season.
Familia passed his first test by striking out Jonny Gomes and Phil Gosselin to convert his first save in the Mets’ 4-3 victory over the Braves. After the game, Familia said he would do whatever he could to help the team.
“I feel great like I do always. I just go out trying to do my job,” Familia said. “I use my fastball, my breaking balls to try and make the hitter make contact.”
“If I pitch the seventh, the eighth inning or the ninth inning, I always go out there and do my job.”
Collins told reporters that moving forward he may have Blevins or any of his other options to close instead of Familia.
“Winning games is more important to me than saves,” Collins said. “If that helps us that’s what I’m going to do.”
April 11
Opportunity means everything for late inning relievers. Jenrry Mejia became the closer mainly because Bobby Parnell was out for the 2014 season. The year before that, Parnell became the closer because Frank Francisco could not stay healthy. And now this year, Jeurys Familia gets that same opportunity after Mejia lands on the DL with a stiff elbow. (Anthony DiComo)
Of course Mejia can still get his job back once he returns and so can Parnell for that matter. But for now, Familia will take hold of the role and do his best to hang onto it.
“If you’re a bullpen guy and you want to be a closer and you get the opportunity, you should run with it,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “We don’t know when Mejia and Parnell are coming back. It would be nice if we knew an exact date, and that they were going to come back 100 percent healthy. But Jeurys, that’s why I wanted to get him in there (Thursday), was to get him some confidence that, ‘Hey, look, the ninth inning’s yours.'”
Numbers wise, Familia was actually the Mets best reliever in 2014. He had the lowest ERA among Mets relievers and also the highest strikeout rate and ground ball rate. He struggled some with velocity during spring training, but once the regular season started, Familia found his best stuff again, averaging 95.5 on his pitches so far.
Even though Familia did give up a run in the 9th on Thursday vs the Nats, overall he has a 1.98 ERA in save situations in the last four years, which is an encouraging sign. If he continues that trend, being the closer could be permanent for him. Especially since Parnell is not expected back until early May and there is no timetable for Mejia’s return.
“When I told him we were going to close with him, he said he was ready to take it on,” Collins said, “So we’ll see how he approaches it.”
This is a great time for Familia to show that he truly is the Mets closer of the future, as many have tabbed him. And who knows, if he does ace it, the job will remain his even when Mejia and Parnell do return.
