Before the 2015 season Robert Gsellman was rarely talked about and wasn’t in the conversation for one of the Mets best starting pitching prospects. The Mets 13th round pick in 2011 out of Westchester High School in Los Angeles, California put himself on everyone’s radar with a strong 2015 campaign.
The 6’4 right-hander opened enough eyes that the Mets had to add him to the 40-man roster this offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. Prospect gurus are now paying attention as well, Baseball Prospectus ranked him as the Mets #9 prospect
Gsellman started the year off by dominating the Florida State League for the St. Lucie Mets, he was 6-0 with a 1.76 ERA and 0.941 WHIP. He held opponents to a .204 average and was named to the FSL All-Star roster before being promoted to the Binghamton Mets on May 28th.
Robert struggled in his Double-A debut allowing six runs in four innings, he would settle down though after that pitching to a 2.93 ERA in his final 15 starts for Binghamton. Overall for the B’Mets he had a 3.51 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and allowed only four homeruns in 92.1 innings. Pretty impressive for a little known prospect that made seven of those AA starts as a 21-year old.
Andrew Beaton from the Wall Street Journal talked to Gsellman and Binghamton pitching coach Glenn Abbott about the value Robert has without lighting up the radar gun. What Abbott had to say regarding Gsellman, “You see all the qualities you see in someone who pitches in the big leagues.”
Gsellman generally sits in the 91-92 MPH range with his sinking fastball while topping out at 95 when I saw him and 97 according to someone I talked to who watched him in Binghamton. He doesn’t need to throw 95-96 consistently to be successful or strike out a ton of hitters, he induces weak contact and keeps the hitters from getting the barrel on the ball.
Abbott, who pitched 11 big league seasons without a big fastball, said “He understands the type of pitcher he is, You want to learn to get people out as quick as you can, save your bullets.” Gsellman pitched into the seventh inning four times last season and did not need 100 pitches to do so in any of those starts. His pitched high for the season was 103 (twice) and threw a career high 143 innings.
Robert said this during the interview, “Whatever they need me to do, I can do. I don’t mind getting a lot of ground balls. It’s fun.” Getting ground balls is exactly what he did last year especially with St. Lucie when he got them a 58% rate which would have been good enough for fifth best in the majors in 2015.
The biggest step forward that he took during the 2015 season what the development of his curveball which has become an above average pitch. The 12-6 bender has good movement and good velocity (78-80) but he needs to trust the pitch and use it more often. He also throws a changeup that still needs some work, it has a good velo difference from the fastball (10-11 MPH) but gets little movement on the pitch.
Gsellman fits in with the Mets current starters who are all very good athletes, he was a two-sport star in high school and was the team captain for the basketball team that won back-to-back State Championships. He can also swing the bat too, during his junior year he hit .649 with eight homeruns in just 81 at bats. You can see his athleticism on the mound as well where he is a good fielder and has a quick pick-off move to first base.
I know that some will continue to write off Gsellman because he only struck out 5.4 batters per 9 innings last year but he also walked only 2.3 batters per 9 innings. He keeps the ball in the park too, allowing 0.39 HR/9 last year for the B’Mets which was sixth best in the Eastern League (90 innings min). His delivery is smooth and effortless which allows him great command of his all is pitches.
In a six start span for Binghamton from July 11th until August 12th he only struck out 14 batters in 36.1 innings but held the opponents to a .160/.203/.183 slash line. Hitters just cannot lift the ball against Gsellman because he keeps the ball down in the zone all the time and gets good late movement on his sinker.
Right now, he has the potential to be a back of the rotation Major League starting pitcher and he is only 22 years old. If he learns to use his curveball more effectively while developing his changeup he could have the upside of a number 2/3 starter.
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