John Curtiss. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Entering spring training, the Mets’ bullpen was an area that was going to be closely monitored. The reasoning for that is because of New York’s offseason approach, which has left two or so open reliever spots on the roster.

Before spring started, one of the top candidates to fill one of those spots, contingent on a strong spring, was former Marlins’ pitcher John Curtiss. Well, thus far, he has emerged as one of the favorites.

Curtiss was signed to a two-year deal that included a club option in April of 2022. New York signed him knowing he had to spend a year rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. Rehab apparently went well, so the Mets followed their plan and exercised the team option this offseason. Thus far, it seems like it was the right choice.

Curtiss has faced 13 hitters this spring and has struck out eight of them. He has also only allowed one to reach base. The right-handed pitcher has been nearly perfect so far.

Specifically, Saturday night, Curtiss only needed seven pitches to get through another scoreless frame. Each of the seven pitches were strikes, as he struck out two and induced an one-pitch ground out.

Even before surgery, Curtiss has shown the ability to be effective at the major-league level. In 2020, he posted a 1.80 ERA across 25 innings. Meanwhile, in 2021, he threw 40 innings with Miami posting a strong 2.48 ERA and 3.22 FIP. Unfortunately, injury struck and Curtiss was sidelined until this spring. Though, as we have all seen, early returns have been terrific.

After Saturday night’s outing, Curtiss explained that in comparison to before he got surgery, his stuff feels more consistent. He believes that has to do with his arm feeling much better than it did before the surgery which is enabling him to get to his slot better. He added that his fastball feels the same, but, he is still working on getting his slider a bit “harder.”

Regardless, it has been a terrific start to spring for the 29-year-old right-handed pitcher. If he stays on his current trajectory, he should easily fill one of the remaining slots in the team’s bullpen.