Jeff Brigham. Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Could a 31-year-old with fewer than 85 career innings be a stalwart in the Mets bullpen this season?
Jeff Brigham has certainly impressed in his brief time on the Mets. The right-handed reliever has thrown 4.0 innings while striking out seven of the 12 batters he’s faced. No batter has reached base and he came up huge during Sunday’s game against the Giants, throwing two scoreless innings after an early departure from Mets starter Tylor Megill.
It seemed his career wasn’t going to continue when the Miami Marlins designated him for assignment this past offseason. But the Mets saw something in the vet that had him thrown in as part of a trade of Elieser Hernandez to New York for Franklin Sanchez and eventually Jake Mangum.
Brigham, a fourth-round pick in the 2014 draft by the Dodgers, has spent most of his career on the bus between Triple-A and the majors. In 2019 he made 32 relief appearances for the Marlins where he accumulated a 4.46 ERA in 38 1/3 innings. He’d then pitch just one inning for them in 2020 and wouldn’t pitch at all in 2022. Brigham came back in 2022 with a 3.38 ERA in 16 games and 24 innings. He showed plus strikeout potential with a 10.5 strikeouts/9.
Brigham had a strong spring for New York but not strong enough to make the team out of camp. In six games he tossed eight innings and allowed three runs while striking out 12. Opponents batted just .161 off him.
He was recalled to the majors on the Mets latest road trip. He made four appearances, two against the Dodgers, and two against the Giants. He was untouchable.
Brigham retired the first two batters he faced by strikeout on April 18. Then retired the one batter he needed to the next day. Brigham was brought in for a third consecutive day on April 20 where he struck out one and needed just 12 pitches to retire the side.
His big moment came on Sunday. The Mets needed length and clean innings after Megill allowed four runs in four innings. Brigham fired off for two innings, striking out four and not allowing a baserunner.
The big thing for Brigham may be the refinement of his newly reclassified sweeper. He’s throwing it half the time to batters and they simply have not been able to touch it with players whiffing on the pitch at a 53.3% rate.
Metsmerized’s Matt Mancuso breaks down what exactly is a sweeper and why the Mets are so fond of it here.
Brigham fits the build and so far it’s working.
The Mets didn’t use David Robertson or Adam Ottavino during their four game series with the Giants. Buck Showalter attributed it to wanting to give proper rest to veterans over the course of the season and without their best two bullpen arms the Mets were able to win two games. Although one could argue they win on Sunday with one of them pitching the last inning over Drew Smith.
The Mets bullpen was sensational in their series. They pitched 13 innings, allowed one run, five hits, three walks, and struck out 15. Without the necessary returns from their starters, the bullpen has been far from a worry so far even with the loss of Edwin Diaz.
Brigham has two options remaining on his contract so the Mets might bounce him up and down a bit this season but right now with the injury to Stephen Nogosek opening a roster spot he looks intent on keeping it.
