The Mets signed right-hander Matt Festa to a minor league contract, per the transaction log at MiLB.com. He’s been assigned to Triple-A Syracuse and really made his workforce debut yesterday, tossing 1 1/3 innings of scoreless aid whereas choosing up a pair of strikeouts. Festa was granted his launch from a minor league cope with the Padres final week and had a fairly transient keep on the free-agent market.
The 31-year-old Festa has pitched in elements of 4 large league seasons, all coming with the Mariners. He’d spent his complete profession within the Seattle group previous to signing with San Diego within the offseason. Festa is a former seventh-round choose whose profession has been slowed by accidents, most notably together with 2020 Tommy John surgical procedure. That worn out his complete 2020 marketing campaign and the majority of his 2021 season as properly.
Festa noticed large 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). In 93 2/3 innings, he has a profession 4.32 earned run common with an above-average 25.3% strikeout fee and plus swinging-strike charges regardless of pretty pedestrian velocity. His 10.9% stroll fee can also be a pair proportion factors above the league common, nonetheless.
Festa pitched pretty properly with the Padres’ high affiliate in El Paso. 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 fee. Yesterday’s outing with Syracuse introduced Festa to a complete of 110 Triple-A frames in his profession. He’s been wonderful on the high minor league stage, notching a 2.13 ERA, 27.2% strikeout fee and 9.4% stroll fee throughout elements of 5 seasons.
Even with Edwin Diaz struggling to a 5.50 ERA in his return from final 12 months’s knee harm, the Mets nonetheless have one of many high bullpens in baseball. No workforce’s relievers have mixed to put up a better strikeout fee than their 28.5% mark, and the Mets additionally sit sixth in reliever ERA (3.27), fourth in FIP (3.45) and fifth in SIERA (3.39). Command has been the bullpen’s major flaw, as supervisor Carlos Mendoza’s aid corps has the third-highest stroll fee in baseball at 11.8%.
The Mets have already used a whopping 17 relievers this season, displaying no reluctance to shuffle up the few versatile spots in a veteran-laden bullpen. None of Diaz, Adam Ottavino, Jorge Lopez, Jake Diekman or Sean Reid-Foley may be optioned, and the identical was true of southpaw Brooks Raley, who’s now going through a prolonged absence as a result of an elbow harm. Righty Reed Garrett has a minor league possibility left however has made himself indispensable and gained’t be despatched down anytime quickly after posting a 0.72 ERA and 41% strikeout fee via a team-high 25 innings out of the ’pen.
The Mets have cycled Josh Walker, Grant Hartwig, Michael Tonkin, Yohan Ramirez, Tyler Jay, Danny Younger, Cole Sulser, Dedniel Nunez and others via the ultimate couple spots within the bullpen in an effort to maintain a steady of recent arms out there for Mendoza. It’s potential Festa may be part of that rising line of arms using the Mets’ bullpen carousel sooner or later, though he’s additionally out of minor league choices, so if he’s added to the roster he’ll have to stay within the large leagues or else be designated for project.
