The New York Mets have waited. The Mets fans have waited. It has been a long process for closer Edwin Díaz to make his return to the mound in game action ever since that night in Miami during the World Baseball Classic last year. Diaz, pitching for Puerto Rico, helped close out a win over the Dominican Republic. During the celebration, he suffered a freak injury that resulted in a full-thickness tear in his patellar tendon. He’s been on the road to recovery since and tried to pitch by the end of last season, but the Mets smartly decided it best to wait, given they were well outside the playoff race. Now, approaching a year to the day of the injury, Díaz is back.
According to Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, Díaz will pitch on Monday against the Miami Marlins. Mendoza said he will be kept up to 20 pitches. It will mark the first time Díaz has pitched in a major-league game since Game 3 of the 2022 National League Wild Card series against the San Diego Padres. The last time we saw Diaz in a Mets uniform in 2022, he was the best relief pitcher in baseball posting a dominant season. He totaled 32 saves, posted a 1.31 ERA, and struck out 118 batters. Since 2020, Díaz has saved 70 games for the Mets with an ERA of 2.27 as well as 257 strikeouts.
Edwin Díaz. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
With Díaz ready to return to major league games, the Mets’ bullpen gets its best reliever back. Last year, David Robertson did a solid job as New York’s closer. He saved 14 games before he was traded to the Marlins. After that, Brooks Raley and Adam Ottavino shared the closer role. However, as expected, Díaz’s absence played an extremely large role in the Mets bullpen’s overall struggles in 2023. Simply because Raley, Ottavino, and Robertson were supposed to be the bridges to Díaz.
With the elite closer back now back, Raley, Ottavino, and free agent acquisitions, Jake Diekman and Shintaro Fujinami, can focus on getting the ball to their electric closer. The trumpets have returned.
