Ed Delany, MMO
In December to close out the Winter Meetings, the Mets selected right-hander Kyle Dowdy in the Rule 5 draft.
Dowdy, 26, was a relative unknown to the normal baseball fan, but a pitcher that the team reportedly saw big potential in the California native.
In 2018, Dowdy split his year between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians organizations. His numbers weren’t exactly memorable. He had a cumulative 5.15 ERA in 30 games (20 started) and yielded 12 homers to go along with 50 walked batters.
However, over a couple months last year, Dowdy’s fastball spiked from 89-94 mph on average to hitting as high as 99 mph on the radar gun. One night in particular he became aware of it was pitching in a game for Double-A Altoona.
“I was like, ‘No, I don’t believe that. This gun’s gotta be hot—that’s not possible,” Dowdy said, according to Kyle Glaser of Baseball America. “I felt different, but I just couldn’t believe it.
“Of course the next day, they confirmed it. It was like, ‘Wow. OK, that’s my new stuff.’ I didn’t know what that was like, but it explains why my fastball is missing barrels now.”
Members of the Mets’ coaching staff have been pleasantly surprised by the former 12th round pick’s repertoire so far this spring, as his high velocity has continued.
“It’s a very small sample, but he has a really good feel for pitching—really good idea of what he wants to do,” pitching coach Dave Eiland said. “Obviously he’s got a plus arm, good breaking ball, changeup, so everything is there. He doesn’t have a whole lot of experience at the upper levels obviously, but I’m very impressed. Very impressed with his physical ability, the way he handles and carries himself and kind of the knowledge he has of pitching.”
Since he’s a Rule 5 pick, Dowdy will likely have an inside track to make the Mets’ roster. If his velocity and secondary pitches continue to look like they do this Spring, New York might have another quality reliever on their squad.
