Ahead of Saturday’s 10-2 win over the Cubs, New York Mets skipper Mickey Callaway announced that Walker Lockett would start in place of the injured Noah Syndergaard (hamstring strain) on Tuesday in Philadelphia, lending credence to the notion that Wilmer Font could have cemented himself into a new role.
A few minutes later, Callaway confirmed those suspicions, noting to reporters the 29-year-old’s recent stretch of success as a reliever as the reason for keeping the right-hander in the ‘pen.
Font, acquired by the Mets via trade with Tampa Bay earlier in the season, got three chances as a starter after coming to Flushing but simply couldn’t find a groove (7.84 ERA, six strikeouts, six walks over 10.1 innings in total).
Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen gave up a raw-but-intriguing young right-hander in 18-year-old right-hander Neraldo Catalina, who stands at 6’6″, weighs 205 pounds, and reportedly already possesses mid-90s heat, to secure Font’s services.
After the righty’s first few outings, it appeared the Mets may have overreacted once again, sending off a prospect they knew little about to acquire a warts-and-all quick fix, just to see the deal not pan out in their favor. Now it appears we may have hastily jumped to conclusions.
Since moving into his new role, the Venezuelan native has blossomed into a versatile force for this troubled Mets relief corps. He’s gone over two innings in four of his seven relief appearances and owns a solid 0.69 ERA with 11 strikeouts, six walks, and 1.00 WHIP over 13 innings.
Talk about a turnaround, huh? Wilmer Font came to the Mets with a reputation for allowing his mid-90s four-seamer to open up opportunities for his secondary pitches, particularly his slider and curveball. He still sticks to that mantra, for the most part, mixing in an extremely-occasional split-fingered changeup.
While Font’s fastball has gotten knocked around to an alarming extent (.290 batting average, .581 slugging percentage, .290 isolated power against over 181 offerings since his first outing with New York on May 8), those secondary pitches are absolutely flourishing.
Per his player page at Brooks Baseball, since the trade, Font’s curve (.211 BA, .316 SLG, .105 ISO; 74 pitches), slider (.143 BA, .143 SLG, .000 ISO; 58 pitches), and splitter (.100 BA, .200 SLG, .100 ISO; 45 pitches) have been getting the kind of results Van Wagenen & Co. presumably foresaw when they acquired him.
With the ongoing disarray in the Mets’ bullpen, a constant not named Seth Lugo would be a huge plus for all parties involved. A structured relief corps is imperative to the team’s success. Considering the rash of injuries and underperformance to plague this group, in particular, consistency has been tough to come by.
The 5.24 ERA this group owns heading into Sunday will simply not cut it if the Mets seriously intend to make a second-half run. As guys settle into new roles — as Wilmer Font has done so well, so far — hopefully, we’ll begin to see that structure take form and the results will follow accordingly.
