The Mets introduced Wednesday that they’ve designated right-hander Matt Festa for task. His spot on the energetic roster will go to right-hander Christian Scott, who has been recalled from Triple-A Syracuse to start out right this moment’s recreation.
Festa, 31, signed a minor league cope with the Mets on Could 20 and posted excellent Triple-A numbers previous to being chosen to the MLB roster lately: 15 1/3 innings, 1.76 ERA, 32.2% strikeout charge, 5.1% stroll charge. He solely obtained into one recreation on the massive league degree with the Mets, nonetheless, and the outcomes have been nightmarish. In a single inning, he was roughed up for 5 runs (4 earned) on 4 hits and a stroll. That lone body was sufficient to inflate his profession ERA from 4.32 (in 93 2/3 innings) to 4.66.
A former seventh-round choose, Festa has now pitched in elements of 5 massive league seasons, the opposite 4 coming as a member of the Mariners. The 6’1″, 195-pound right-hander has seen his profession slowed by accidents, most notably together with 2020 Tommy John surgical procedure. That worn out his whole 2020 marketing campaign and the majority of his 2021 season as effectively.
Festa noticed massive league time within the two years previous to that surgical procedure (2018-19) and the 2 years following the completion of his rehab (2022-23). Along with the aforementioned 4.66 ERA within the majors, he’s turned in a pointy 25.1% strikeout charge to go together with plus swinging-strike charges. His 10.9% stroll charge can be a pair proportion factors worse than the league common, nonetheless, and his 92.6 mph common fastball velocity is reasonably pedestrian.
Past his robust exhibiting with the Mets’ Triple-A membership, Festa pitched decently with the Padres’ prime affiliate in El Paso after signing a minor league deal within the offseason. He logged 16 innings and yielded eight runs, although a .360 common on balls in play didn’t do him any favors in that small pattern. He fanned 21.6% of his opponents throughout that transient keep within the Padres group and turned in a 9.5% stroll charge.
In elements of 5 Triple-A seasons, Festa has a 2.10 ERA, a 27.7% strikeout charge and a 9% stroll charge. He’ll be traded or positioned on outright waivers inside the subsequent 5 days now that he’s been designated for task (and waivers themselves would take one other 48 hours). Any group that acquires or claims Festa would wish to place him proper on the foremost league roster, as he’s out of minor league choices. He’s been outrighted as soon as previously (2020), so Festa would have the proper to reject a Triple-A task if he goes unclaimed on waivers.
