The 2017 season started out great for New York Mets reliever Fernando Salas with seven scoreless outings to begin the year. He pitched in seven of the teams first ten games to start the year despite missing most of spring training because of visa issues.
Salas then hit his first rough patch as a Met, allowing ten earned runs on 12 hits and five walks in only 4.1 innings. His ERA ballooned all the way to 7.50 and his command, which had been a key ingredient to his success, was gone.
Since May 3, Salas has a 3.14 ERA in 14.1 innings without allowing a home run in that stretch. Oppeonents are hitting only .180/.288/.200 during that 14.1 inning span.
The best outing of the year for Salas came on June 1 when he struck out a career high five in two scoreless innings. Walks have still been an issue for Salas (8 in last 14.1 innings), but he is throwing more strikes recently (64% compared to 60% during rough patch). He needs to get back to 70% plus to return to his Mets 2016 form.
The Mets bullpen desperately needs Salas to be the guy he was last year, the beginning of this year and what he has been recently to help take the pressure off (and usage) Jerry Blevins and Addison Reed.
