Has Adam Ottavino earned his keep?
A roster crunch is coming, and Adam Ottavino has quietly turned his season around in a lower-leverage role. Plus, the Mets won their series in Colorado with a bang!
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets took the series from the Rockies with a 9-1 win in the finale against Colorado (box)
The Mets tallied four runs on five extra-base hits in the first inning - Francisco Lindor, José Iglesias, JD Martínez and Jeff McNeil all doubled and Pete Alonso hit a 471 foot home run in the first
Alonso broke out at the plate and went 3-for-5 with two home runs and and three RBIs
Mark Vientos also hit a home run and went 1-for-5 with two RBIs
David Peterson got the start and allowed one run in 5.0 innings while striking out five
Adam Ottavino allowed a walk and a hit but kept the Rockies off the board in his appearance
Ryne Stanek struck out two in his scoreless inning of work
The Mets are now 11-5-4 in road series, 4-3 in August, 6-2 in rubber games, 35-18 when scoring first, 13-12 vs the NL West, 43-15 when scoring five or more runs, and 12-8 since the All-Star Game
Injury Updates 🏥
OF Starling Marte (bone bruise in knee) played five innings and went 1-for-2 with a home run while playing right field for St. Lucie
Playoff Race 🏁
The Mets passed the Braves and now own a third Wild Card spot with 47 games remaining.
Per FanGraphs, the Mets have a 43.1% chance of making the postseason.
New York has the 17th easiest schedule in MLB the rest of the way.
Tiebreakers:
vs. ATL: 5-5
vs. ARI: 2-2
vs. SD: 3-0
vs. CIN: 2-1
vs. STL: 4-2 (finished)
vs. SF: 2-4 (finished)
vs. PIT: 5-2 (finished)
vs. CHC: 4-3 (finished)
Who’s Hot 🔥
RHP Adam Ottavino has now made seven straight appearances without allowing a run. He has allowed only one run in his last 10 appearances as well
Since the All-Star Game, the Mets bullpen has a 2.74 ERA, the third best mark in MLB during that span. They’ve held batters to a .180 opposing batting average during that span as well
In 19 games since the All-Star Game, Jeff McNeil is hitting .328/.357/.672 with seven doubles, five home runs, 13 RBI and 15 runs scored
Down on the Farm 🌾
OF DJ Stewart (Triple-A): 1-for-3, HR, R, RBI
LF Nick Morabito (No. 23 prospect, High-A): 2-for-4, 2 R, BB
RF Drew Gilbert (No. 2 prospect, Triple-A): 1-for-4, R
RHP Brandon Sproat (No. 5 Prospect, Triple-A): 4.2 IP, 6 R, 7 H, 3 BB, 4 K (debut)
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG (PPD) | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (61-54) at Mariners (59-56)
Where: T-Mobile Park - Seattle, WA
Starters: LHP José Quintana (6-7, 3.95 ERA) vs. RHP Bryce Miller (8-7, 3.62 ERA)
When: 10:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
Adam Ottavino has quietly turned it around… ✍️
It has been no secret the Mets bullpen struggled earlier in the season and Adam Ottavino was a big part of the relief corps’ struggles.
During the team’s horrific month of May, Ottavino sported an unsightly 9.28 ERA in 10.2 innings pitched. His WHIP was 2.16 and opponents were hitting .340 against him. He lost the trust of his manager and was not used in high leverage situations.
He was getting absolutely tattooed out there.
Recently, however, that has changed.
Post All-Star break, Ottavino is 1-0 with a 1.23 ERA in 7.1 innings pitched. Opponents are now hitting just .214 against him and he has cut his WHIP down to 1.09. He has now made seven straight appearances without allowing a run, and has allowed only one run in his last 10 appearances. He still has not reclaimed his set up role but with the moves David Stearns made at the deadline, Ottavino is important in the role he has now which is a mid-game, multi-inning role along with José Buttó.
The Mets still have an issue with starters not going deep into games, as was the case like in their series finale against the Rockies on Thursday. David Peterson only went five innings and Carlos Mendoza turned to Ottavino first out of the bullpen. Granted, the team had a sizeable lead at that point, but no lead is safe in Colorado and games can get out of hand quickly.
The righty kept the Rockies off the board in the sixth inning, setting the tone for the rest of the bullpen.
The question is, has Ottavino earned his keep?
The Mets have a roster crunch coming with Reed Garrett meeting the team in Seattle this weekend. Garrett has missed a month with elbow inflammation and in his absence, the Mets bullpen has righted their ship thanks to strong performances from Adam Ottavino, Danny Young, Alex Young and José Buttó but also from their new acquisitions in Ryne Stanek, Phil Maton and Huascar Brazoban.
Garrett of course has an option, but sending him all the way to Seattle only to send him back to Syracuse doesn’t seem to be logical nor fair given Garrett’s season performance.
Anything can happen, of course.
The Mets could always trim down to one left-handed reliever and option either Danny or Alex Young to Triple-A, but both have pitched really, really well themselves during this time.
It just may not make a whole lot of sense to cut Ottavino, though.
He doesn’t have any options and I can’t imagine he would accept an optional assignment anyway, given the value quality relievers have this time of year and the Mets likely footing the bill for any team that might pick him up, such as the Diamondbacks, Braves, Padres, Cardinals or any of the teams they’re immediately competing with in this tight wild card race.
Besides, he’s a veteran who knows how to deal with New York, has been successful and - like the rest of his teammates in the bullpen - has turned his season around at the right time for this club.
With all of that said, the Mets will need Ottavino to keep this season turnaround going. The bullpen cost the team dearly in May and in a tight Wild Card race they can’t afford a repeat of that.
Even if it means a tough decision has to come elsewhere.
Around the League 🚩
After another poor season, the White Sox parted ways with manager Pedro Grifol and named Grady Sizemore as the interim manager
Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe exited the game early after fouling a ball off his foot - the Yankees lost to the Angels 9-4
The Rockies shut down RHP Germán Márquez for the rest of the season with a stress reaction in his right elbow
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. extended his hit streak to 20 games after going 3-for-4 and falling a single shy of the cycle
The Brewers blew out the Braves 16-7 to finish off the sweep of Atlanta
"Garrett’s season performance"
Of late it has been dubious, but Ottavino shows how things go with relievers