Plus stuff has never been an issue for the hard-throwing Bobby Wahl and it wasn’t on Thursday night when he made his New York Mets debut.
The right-handed reliever picked up in the trade from the Oakland Athletics for Jeurys Familia retired both batters he faced including a strikeout of Johan Camargo on a nasty breaking ball.
Wahl popped 98 mph on the first two pitches he threw with the Mets, which has been a common velocity reading for him even post-surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome.
The Mets purchased the contract of Wahl from Triple-A Las Vegas on Thursday with the need for a fresh reliever. The 26-year-old was flat out dominating the Pacific Coast League with a 2.20 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, .133 AVG against and 73 strikeouts in 45 innings combined between Vegas and Nashville.
Wahl was a fifth round pick of the A’s back in 2013 and made seven major league appearances with Oakland last season before the injury occurred.
The Mets bullpen is in the need of effective relievers in the short-term and long-term with arms like Tyler Bashlor, Drew Smith and Wahl potentially being good in-house options.
