Photo By Logan Barer/MMO

Looking over this Mets bullpen, it is obvious to everyone the organization needs to look for long terms solutions. Part and parcel of that is seeing what exactly the Mets have within their organization.

In an earlier MMO Spotlight, it was noted with Jerry Blevins‘ impending free agency, the Mets should try to see how P.J. Conlon would handle being a LOOGY in the bullpen. Another name who merits consideration is Binghamton Rumble Ponies left-handed reliever Daniel Zamora.

Zamora came to the Mets this past offseason from the Pirates in exchange for Josh Smoker.

With Zamora, the Mets were obtaining a side-armed left-handed reliever who had promise to be a LOOGY at the Major League level.  They were also obtaining a reliever who was a year away from being Rule 5 eligible thereby giving the organization really just one year to analyze him and make a decision on whether he had a future with the organization.

In his first season with the Mets, the Eastern League All-Star has certainly made a case for the Mets not only adding him to the 40-man roster, but for them also to give him a shot this season in the majors.

Zamora has more than had his case with his second half performance. Since the Eastern League All-Star Game, Zamora has converted his only save opportunity while limiting batters to a .105/.170/.265 batting line and striking out 11.2 batters per nine innings.

Keep in mind, these stats include his allowing four earned in one-third of an inning in his first appearance after the All-Star break. If you were to eliminate that appearance, he has not allowed an earned run in 10 of his last 11 appearances, and he has had an incredible 6.00 K/BB ratio.

While the underlying 0.60 ERA is impressive, the newfound control is what’s most important. Throughout his minor league career, Zamora has had command issues, which has obviously limited his ceiling. As Zamora told Mathew Brownstein of MMO, his goal was “To command all my pitches. I created a good base last year with what I was doing and I’m going to try and continue to take off on that, and just try to get better and develop as a baseball player.”

With him controlling his pitches better, we see him being able to maximize his fastball-slider combination. Of the two pitches, it’s the slider that is an out pitch which generates many swings-and-misses.  It is also a pitch which generates ground balls (1.29 GB/FB) and produces weaker contact (7.1 percent HR/FB).

For the season, Zamora has 3.48 ERA, 2.41 FIP, 1.03 WHIP, holding opponents to .196 average and has 69 strikeouts compared to only 16 walks in 51.2 innings.

Overall, Zamora has made significant strides in the second half, which should lead a Mets organization actively looking for at least one left-handed reliever for 2019 to give him an opportunity.