Credit: Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports
The first major move that Sandy Alderson made in his return to the Mets front office was to sign Trevor May to a two-year, $15.5 million contract. In doing, Alderson added a premium late-inning reliever that he could pair with Edwin Diaz at the back-end of the bullpen.
Signing May filled a big void in the Mets bullpen, but since he was yet another right-handed pitcher, the focus has since shifted towards adding a left-handed reliever to round out the staff.
Jerry Blevins returned to the Mets on a minor league deal, and after striking out on signing Brad Hand, New York came to terms with Aaron Loup on a one-year, $3 million deal last week. As of now those two arms stand out when it comes to the role of left-handed specialist, but there is one name on the roster that may be getting overlooked in that department.
This is of course, the right-handed Jacob Barnes.
We can start this conversation by addressing the elephant in the room. How can a right-handed pitcher be considered a LOOGY?
Obviously Barnes does not fit the billing of your typical LOOGY because he’s not left-handed. Still, he can function the same way, as Barnes has stark reverse splits, particularly over the last two seasons.
In 2019, Barnes faced left-handed batters 66 times and limited them to just 12 hits. Only two of those 12 hits were for extra-bases and both were doubles. Lefties hit .214/.333/.250, with a paltry .583 OPS against Barnes that season. Righties on the other hand produced an OPS of 1.020.
This past season, Barnes continued that same trend of pitching better against left-handed batters, holding them to a minuscule .442 OPS. For his career, Barnes has held lefties to a .689 OPS, as compared to righties who have produced a .723 OPS.
The biggest explanation for the stark contrast in Barnes’ numbers is his ability to keep the ball in the yard against lefties. Across 381 plate appearances, left-handed batters have only homered off Barnes twice. On the other hand, righties have hit 19 homers against him in 484 PA.
Whenever we talk about roster construction, there is always this sentiment that you need lefties coming out of the bullpen to get those vaunted superstar left-handed batters out. To face Bryce Harper, Freddie Freeman and Juan Soto, the Mets bullpen requires left-handed specialists. But that does not mean the specialist has to be left-handed.
Why should I care which arm Barnes throw with, as long as he is getting lefties out?
A similar debate could be had when it comes to the Mets batters, as a lineup isn’t “too left-handed” if those lefties rake no matter which arm the pitcher throws with.
What makes Barnes so interesting is the fact that he was added to the roster just before the sale of the team went through and Steve Cohen took over as the new owner. Barnes was one of the last moves made by former GM Brodie Van Wagenen before he was fired.
Due to that distinction alone, Barnes’ place on the 40-man roster is tenuous. In 2020, Barnes pitched to a 5.50 ERA, which was still an improvement over the 7.44 ERA he amassed across 32 2/3 innings in 2019. The inability to get right-handed batters out led to his getting DFA’d by the Los Angeles Angels and will prevent him from being effective for the Mets.
Still, when analyzing the Mets 40-man roster right now, Barnes does stand out as being a great option to throw at left-handed batters next season.
