As per, well, himself (video via Matt Ehalt of Yahoo Sports), right-hander Wilmer Font will be making his New York Mets debut on Wednesday afternoon, taking the ball in the series-and-road-trip finale in San Diego.

Font, 28, will be starting in place of the injured Steven Matz (left forearm nerve irritation) and is set to make his first start 2019 and sixth of his five-year MLB career (1.71 ERA, 3.21 FIP, 22% strikeout rate, 3.43 walks per nine, 0.95 WHIP over 21 innings as a starting pitcher).

Before being traded to Tampa Bay in May 2018, the Venezuelan native made ten relief appearances in 2018 — six with the Dodgers and four with Oakland — pitching to a 12.69 ERA with 16 strikeouts and five walks over 17 innings pitched. Not great…

With the Rays, Font shone, owning a 1.67 ERA over nine appearances (five starts; 27 total innings) with a 3.98 FIP, 0.96 WHIP, 20 strikeouts, 11 walks, and a 90.9% left-on-base rate. That’s some turnaround.

Unfortunately, his success in Tampa was short-lived (5.79 ERA over ten relief appearances in 2019), but Font’s current 3.50 FIP and 11.57 strikeouts per nine innings certainly provide a few reasons for hope.

Font’s mixed his pitches up liberally this year, using his four-seamer (95.3 mph average velocity) 36.6% of the time, going to his slider (85.8 mph) at a 25.1% clip, flashes his curve (21.6%; 77 mph) and sinker (14.3%; 94.5 mph) sporadically, and intermittently sprinkles in his splitter 2.4%.

“Keep ’em guessing” is likely his mantra, but hitters haven’t had much trouble deciphering that puzzle this season.

The right-hander has been getting hit hard in 2019, yielding an average exit velocity of 92.1 mph, leaving him near the bottom of the league among qualified hurlers.

His hard-hit rate has ballooned back near his 2017 levels (53.3% in 2017, 42.4% in 2018, 51.4% in 2019), and his 10.8% soft-hit rate is awfully concerning, but there are areas of intrigue to Wilmer Font’s game.

His 5.4% barrel rate is a significant decrease from his 2018 mark (7.2%) and nearly two-and-a-half-times less than his 13.3% barrel rate in 2017.

Font’s chase percentage is up almost two percentage points this season — 28.4% in 2019, up from 26.5% last season — and his zone contact rate is down from 83.8% in 2018 to 75% in 2019.

FanGraphs has Font’s skill-interactive ERA (SIERA) at a stellar 3.19 this year, giving an idea of the type of ceiling the Venezuelan could potentially still reach. Clearly, something’s working for him.

It appears as if new surroundings and an expanded role brought the best out of Wilmer Font last season. Clearly, Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen and his brain trust are hoping for similar results.

He’ll get his chance to prove his mettle on Wednesday versus the upstart Padres.