The New York Mets still have a lot of work to do with their pitching staff, and yesterday the Mets made yet another depth move, signing reliever Mike Baumann. The signing was announced by Jon Heyman of the New York Post via Darragh McDonald of MLBTradeRumors.com, although Heyman didn’t provide details won whether this was a major or minor league deal.
Based on Baumann’s recent history, it was probably the latter. The 30-year old Baumann has pitched in at least parts of eight seasons, four with the Baltimore Orioles, but he spent last year in Japan with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Baumann’s ERA was 4.20 at the NPB level, and he also threw another 11 innings in the minors, where he had a 4.09 ERA.
That’s a clear indicator that this is a minor league deal, but Baumann has displayed occasional strikeout ability. His strikeout rate in Japan was 25.3 percent to go with and 20.9 percent in the minors, although his walk rate of 16 percent in Japan is a concern.
So what’s intriguing about Baumann? His pitch arsenal, mostly, according to McDonald. He throws a four-seam fastball and a sinker that both get into the upper 90s, along with a slider that plays in the low 90s to go with a knuckle curve and a changeup.
Harnessing that arsenal is another matter entirely. After his initial stint with the Orioles, Baumann began bouncing around, and he probably has a lot of jerseys hanging around in his closet, including ones from the Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Angels and Miami Marlins.
Baumann did stints with all of those teams from 2021-2024, and he threw 167-1/3 innings during that time with a 4.95 ERA, a 20 percent strikeout rate, a 10.3 percent walk rate and a 42.7 ground-ball rate, according to McDonald.
Given all this, it would be surprising to see Baumann make the major league roster, but he could provide bullpen depth at Triple A Syracuse. GM David Stearns is still remaking the rotation and the bullpen, so hopefully Baumann doesn’t become part of another September conga line of call-ups that Mets fans had to endure down the stretch.
For Baumann, this signing is probably a last call of sorts. He’s out of options after all the bouncing around he did from 2021-24, and his reclamation season in Japan didn’t go all that well. He’s got an uphill battle to distinguish himself and win a spot, even at Syracuse , so it will be interesting to see how he does this spring.