One day after he loaded the bases and was pulled from a save opportunity with one out, Jenrry Mejia rebounded on Wednesday night with a perfect ninth inning to preserve the Mets’ 2-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
Mejia fielded a comebacker and flipped it to Lucas Duda at first base for the final out and in doing so he became the youngest pitcher in franchise history to record 25 saves in a season.
Mejia was not thrilled about being removed from the ninth on Tuesday, and urged Terry Collins to put him back in.
“It was huge for him. He came to me this afternoon and was real frustrated he didn’t pitch very good,” the Mets manager said.
“I told him ‘You’ve got to understand there are gonna be nights like that. The only thing that matters is not how you did, but how the team did. He came to me today and said that he wanted to get back in there. I loved that.”
Collins told reporters he will be very conscious of Mejia’s workload down the stretch, getting him rest between appearances, but reassured the 24-year-old that he is still the closer.
When Mejia is on, he is absolutely filthy on the mound. However, I wonder if he’d be better served and become more effective by using his three best pitches instead of using all five?
I took a quick run to Brooks Baseball to see which of his five pitches were the most effective this season:
Opponents are batting .370 against Mejia’s curve and it’s his third most frequently thrown pitch. His slider has been very effective, but I was surprised to see that he hardly uses his sinker which can be a very effective weapon for most relievers especially with runners on base.
Anyway, it’s something to consider now that it appears he’ll be a reliever going forward. Congratulations on the 25 saves, Jenrry…
