As Mets’ second-year Manager, Mickey Callaway spoke to reporters at a presser on Wednesday, he strongly proclaimed that pitcher, Jason Vargas will be their fifth starter this season, which most likely eliminates all competition in this area.
“The way he pitched at the end of the season, once we got him on a schedule, he’s our fifth starter, He was an All-Star in 2017, had he had a regular spring training last year we would have seen a different Vargas in the first half,” echoed Callaway, who was referencing the broken hamate bone in Vargas’s non-throwing hand that had him miss all of Spring Training and kept him out the first month of the season, as well.
The manager also noted how important it is for a veteran pitcher such as Vargas to be on a regular starter schedule in order to execute all of his pitches. Callaway reiterated how once he was back in the groove of this schedule he pitched great and “better than most of the other club’s third and fourth rotation options in the second half.”
Vargas went 7-9 with a 5.77 ERA, 5.02 FIP, 1.413 WHIP and 84 strikeouts in only 92 innings pitched for the Mets last season, but ultimately improved in the second half once he returned from a calf injury, which he suffered in the end of June.
Upon his return, Vargas went 5-3 with a 3.81 ERA, with a 1.123 WHIP and 52 strikeouts in the second half. These previous stats were very promising compared to his putrid first half numbers of a 2-6 record with an 8.60 ERA, 1.832 WHIP and only 32 punch outs.
Heading into his 14th season at age 36, Vargas’s veteran presence and professionalism is one of the best Callaway can remember being around throughout his entire career.
