Baseball America listed new Mets prospect Luke Gabrysh with the best slider in the minor leagues, according to their stuff+ model in a recent breakdown of all minor league breaking balls. They gave him a 132 stuff+ on the pitch, just over Peyton Olejnik at 130. Mets prospect Cristofer Gomez came in at No. 16 with a 119 stuff+ slider.
On Gabrysh’s slider, they wrote that it is “a high-spin sweeper sitting in the low 80s with 17.6 inches of horizontal movement on average and a spin rate in the 2,700-2,800 rpm range. The pitch generated a 16.3% swinging-strike rate this season and a .250 xwOBA.”
Luke Gabrysh. Photo Credit: Brooklyn Cyclones
The most interesting thing of note here is the horizontal movement. In 2025, Gabrysh threw a slider that averaged 11 inches of horizontal movement. In spring training before the 2026 season, he averaged 12 inches. Over 17 inches is a massive jump in movement, which should make this new slider more effective at generating chase and more difficult for right-handed hitters to barrel up. This pitch also now has even further horizontal movement separation from his cutter, which moves 3 inches glove side.
Doing this without a drop in velocity or spin rate is also impressive. From the data Baseball America provided, if the iVB is similar to 2025, comparable sliders can be found from Zach Wheeler and Will Warren. Double-A pitch data is not publicly available, so it is not clear if these changes to his slider came from before or after the trade, but the Mets have shown success at developing and enhancing that pitch under Eric Jagers’ pitch development. Christian Scott, Kodai Senga, and Cam Tilly are examples of pitchers who developed or enhanced their sliders/sweepers with the Mets in recent years.
The Mets acquired Gabrysh from the Phillies in a trade that sent Brooks Raley to Philadelphia. Raley did not make the Phillies playoff roster.
