Photo by Ed Delany, MMO
As the New York Mets continue playing more of their Grapefruit League schedule in advance of Opening Day, we’re getting a better idea of who exactly will be on the big-league roster come April 1st in Washington, D.C. After the team made its first round of cuts on Tuesday, there are now only 53 players left in major league camp.
An area of the roster that’ll be interesting to continue watching is New York’s bullpen. Many of the spots appear to be accounted for, including Edwin Diaz, Trevor May, Miguel Castro, Dellin Betances, Jeurys Familia, Aaron Loup, and Robert Gsellman. That leaves not very many spots for plenty of dudes who would like to have it.
Being relievers, the following hurlers will only get a very small window of game action in order to make an impression on the coaching staff, so each outing is critical with regard to their immediate future. Entering Thursday’s game, the highest number of innings pitched among relievers this spring is just three innings, with Arodys Vizcaino still not getting into a game yet.
The one thing Drew Smith, Sam McWilliams, Tommy Hunter, and Daniel Zamora all have in common is they haven’t allowed an earned run yet this spring. And while Smith and Zamora have some history with the Mets, it’s been to varying degrees.
Zamora has logged just 17.2 big-league innings throughout his career but hasn’t done so since 2019. Meanwhile, Smith did play with New York during the shortened 2020 campaign, but it was forgettable, as he pitched to a 6.43 ERA (5.08 xFIP) in just seven innings of work.
Among this small group of pitchers, Smith has had the cleanest spring according to his stat sheet, tossing two hitless innings with one strikeout. Zamora isn’t far behind, as he’s struck out two while allowing two hits and no runs over the same number of innings.
Hunter has one of those rare spring training relief wins under his belt despite only tossing two frames, but has made his outings a little harder on himself by having to strand the three baserunners he’s allowed (one hit, two walks) while striking out two in the process.
McWilliams has been busy, allowing one hit and walking four, along with striking out three in his two innings. The only hurler out of the above four without any minor-league options left would be Hunter, who has spent parts of the last 13 years in the big leagues.
Before Thursday night’s game against the Houston Astros, reliever Stephen Tarpley‘s three innings of work are only bested by Jordan Yamamoto and Marcus Stroman this spring (five innings each). Another much-needed lefty for depth purposes who just so happens to have two minor-league options remaining, Tarpley has allowed one earned run on three hits, one walk, and one strikeout.
New York claimed Jacob Barnes off waivers from the Los Angeles Angels last October, and while he posted a 5.50 ERA in 2020 through 18 innings, his 30.8% strikeout rate and 5.1% walk rate likely looked enticing. His two innings of work this spring have been less than fun for him, as he’s allowed three runs on five hits, one hit batter, two walks, and no strikeouts.
Two other veterans in camp on minor-league deals hoping to stick once the regular season starts include Mike Montgomery and Jerry Blevins. While Montgomery has tossed just 0.2 innings so far, Blevins has racked up a couple of frames since Grapefruit League action began. The southpaw has allowed just one run over that time, but it’s come on two hits, one hit batter, two walks, and three strikeouts.
With limited flexibility on the big-league roster, there will be lots of tough decisions on the way for New York, but since a number of these hurlers still have minor-league options remaining, it’ll provide plenty of security when it comes to safeguarding against injuries.
