Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets have been bargain hunting for an Adam Ottavino replacement.

Ottavino signed a one-year deal with the Mets for 2022 and will now parlay it into a multi-year contract the Mets simply don’t have the finances for if they want to build the most complete roster they can. Known for a devastating slider, the Mets have dove deep into the bins for two pitchers they hope can replicate the pitch and some of the success.

New York has added relievers Jeff Brigham and Jimmy Yacabonis. Brigham ranked in the 98th percentile in horizontal slider movement. Yacabonis was in the 97th percentile. Jacob Resnick pointed out what that means to the Mets here:

So the question becomes, is there another (more MLB caliber) reliever on the market this offseason that matches this profile?

Yes. One.

Free agent right-hander Kyle Crick ranks higher than Brigham, Yacabonis, and Ottavino in horizontal movement on his slider.

Crick’s slider moves horizontally on average 20.2 inches. That’s the second most in baseball behind former Met Rich Hill.

Before we continue, let’s just say Crick doesn’t have the same pedigree as Ottavino. Ottavino is a pitcher who thrives in the moment and has throughout his career. He also had a larger track record of success before the Mets brought him in last season.

Still, the Mets opened last season with Chasen Shreve and Joely Rodriguez as their only lefties in the pen so they’re open to taking some risks.

Last season, Crick bounced around. He earned a roster spot with the White Sox and was sent up and down from Triple-A as part of roster shuffling moves. Unfortunately his season would be derailed with a severe elbow injury that kept him out from June to the end of the year. The White Sox outrighted Crick to Triple-A and doesn’t have a spot on the 40-man roster through the offseason.

Crick did appear in 14 games, throwing 15 2/3 innings. He had a 4.02 ERA with a 19:11 K:BB ratio.

His slider was thrown 160 times. Against it, batters hit .216 with a .270 slugging and .317 wOBA. They whiffed 28.0%, struck out 31.9%, and was used as a put away pitch 24.2% of the time. His expected stats show an xBA of .192, xSLG of .288, and xwOBA .311.

Crick’s slider has been excellent in the past. In 2018 with the Pirates players hit .100/.167 against it, and in 2019 they hit .128/.295.

The shape of the pitch is mostly the same. His current iteration sweeps more than it ever did and conversely drops a little less vertically. His velocity fell down a few ticks in the 2020 season but has climbed up in the two seasons since.

Crick is by no means a diamond in the rough. But, Eric Jagers as the new pitching development coordinator in conjunction with the front office and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner see something workable from this sweeping slider.

Jagers was the pitching coach of the Cincinnati Reds in 2020. That season, they had five pitchers in the top 50 of horizontal slider movement vs. the average. That includes Sonny Gray, Trevor Bauer, Lucas Sims, Raisel Iglesias, and Michael Lorenzen. Crick ranked third that season, and Ottavino was 10th.

Crick should come to the Mets at the equivalent of a dollar-store purchase and they should take whatever they can to get him back to his 2018 form when he dominated for Pittsburgh.