Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
When the Mets signed John Curtiss last season, they took a low-risk approach to gaining cheap and effective production out of the bullpen in 2023 as he was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery at the time.
Curtiss, who will turn 30 in April, is set to earn $775,000 this season as the Mets picked up his team option during the offseason. He has played for a number of teams in his career that include: the Twins, Angels, Rays, Marlins, and Brewers.
Most notably, Curtiss found success with the Rays in the shortened 2020 season, in which he posted a 1.80 ERA with 25 strikeouts in as many innings while accumulating a WHIP of 0.960. Consequently, he picked up right where he left off with Miami the following season, in which he had an ERA of 2.48 and a WHIP of 1.075 in 40 innings with 40 strikeouts.
However, things quickly went south for Curtiss when he joined the Brewers as part of a mid-season trade. He only pitched 4.1 innings for the club as he received his Tommy John surgery diagnosis shortly after.
As is the case with many athletes, the road to recovery for Curtiss was a very formative experience for his life and career. Since he had a lot of free time on his hands, he was able to pick up a new hobby and add a new pitch to his repertoire in the process. In fact, according to an article by Abbey Mastracco of New York Daily News, Curtiss became infatuated with Formula 1, which is a popular international auto-racing sport. More importantly, Curtiss learned how to throw a changeup as he was not allowed to throw any breaking balls while rehabbing. He worked meticulously with Mets rehab pitching coach Dakota Herman on developing one since he had no other options at the time. Consequently, it will be interesting to see if this new pitch will be useful for Curtiss this upcoming season.
Up to this point in spring training, Curtiss has logged a series of 1-2-3 outings in which he has struck out 3. While the sample size is small, Curtiss has looked sharp with the signs pointing in the right direction. As a result, he is certainly making a case to be a part of the bullpen on opening day. While he has only pitched 86.2 innings in MLB, his recent trends in the right direction show that he can be a formidable middle relief option that has the potential to grow into a more meaningful role as he gains more experience.
