Jeurys Familia earned his 35th save of the season in yesterday’s 5-4 win over the Red Sox. Despite allowing the first two runners to reach base, Familia looked extremely impressive as he escaped the jam in dominant fashion.
He overpowered Alejandro De Aza and Travis Shaw for the first two outs of the inning, and he then struck out Mookie Betts with a 100 MPH fastball to end the game.
“He’s one of the best in the game,” Mets manager Terry Collins added. “He’s learning on the job and he listens. He’s really, really good.”
Familia’s newly developed splitter has turned into another devastating weapon for the Mets’ closer. He heavily featured the pitch in yesterday’s outing and it was practically unhittable.
Mark Simon of ESPN New York calculated that the average velocity of the pitch is 93.9 MPH, which makes it by far the fastest splitter in the major leagues. The next closest to Familia’s is Arquimedes Caminero‘s at 89.7 MPH.
“Right now I have a lot of confidence in my splitter. I’ve been working on that for a long time,” Familia said. “Now I think it’s the time to trust a third pitch. I see the result and I get more confident to throw it in the game.”
Ever since a rough patch following the All-Star break, Familia has been absolutely dominant. He has not allowed a run in his last 16 innings and he continues to be one of the top closers in the game.
In 64.2 innings this season, he has an excellent 1.67 ERA to go along with 68 strikeouts. His 35 saves are the most by any Mets’ closer since Francisco Rodriguez in 2009.
