After the initial shock of being traded to the New York Mets, along with Robinson Cano, in December, new closer Edwin Diaz chose to look at the bright side of the situation, as per Matt Ehalt of The Record.
“I was expecting to be with [Seattle] because they told me they wouldn’t trade me, but I was surprised when they told me I got traded to the Mets,” Diaz told Ehalt. “I think of the positives. [The Mets] give me the opportunity to play baseball. I’m happy to be here.”
Diaz, 24 and a right-hander, had an otherworldly campaign for the Mariners last season, pitching to a 1.96 earned-run average (fourth-best among qualified MLB relievers), a 1.61 fielding independent pitching rating (first in MLB), with 15.22 strikeouts (fourth) and 2.09 walks (15th) per nine innings, respectively, and 3.5 wins above replacement (FanGraphs), good for second in the majors.
His major-league-leading 57 saves were impressive, but the 124 strikeouts Diaz notched over 73.1 innings (73 appearances) last season are simply mind-melting.
Despite a repertoire that includes just two pitches — a high-90s fastball (62.4 percent usage, 13.8 runs above average in 2018), and an all-types-of-nasty slider (89.1 MPH average speed, 9.4 runs above average last season) that he throws 37.3 percent of the time — Edwin Diaz has proven to be downright baffling at times.
His 29.3 percent hard-hit rate ranked 15th-least in the American League among qualified relievers last year (Jace Fry of the White Sox led with 25 percent) and his 22.6 percent soft-hit percentage was good for ninth in the AL (Texas’ Jose Leclerc took those honors with a 26.4 percent mark). Diaz’ 18.9 percent swinging-strike rate led the AL and was mere percentage points behind Milwaukee’s Josh Hader (19.0) for best in the majors.
And the best part of this entire situation is that, apparently, Edwin Diaz is just as excited to be a part of this talent-laden New York Mets ball club as the fans are ecstatic to have him, as told to Ehalt.
“I saw the starters, we got a great pitching staff. Excited to be at the back of the bullpen doing the job for them,” Diaz said. “I know they’re happy I’m here.”
Mets’ skipper Mickey Callaway reinforced those sentiments even further, relaying praises from folks within and outside of the organization.
“Multiple people of all service-time levels in the big leagues said, ‘I can’t wait to watch this guy pitch’. The starters said, ‘I can’t wait to have him come in after me’. The relievers were like, ‘I can’t wait to see this guy in action’,” Callaway said. “So there’s not only excitement on his part, but [on] his teammates’ part.”
With a fully-loaded starting rotation in reigning National League Cy Young Award-winner Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, Steven Matz, and Jason Vargas, as well as a strong ‘pen-mates in Jeurys Familia, Justin Wilson, Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman, and whoever else ends up filling out MC’s relief corps, Diaz and his filthy arsenal should fit right into the overall theme of this staff very well.
