One of the near-daily exercises that comes with bad starting pitching is the need to make constant roster moves, and the New York Mets made two after their seventh straight loss last night against the Texas Rangers, calling up right-hander Dom Hamel from Syracuse while sending fellow righty Huascar Brazoban down to Triple A.
The possibility of this move was telegraphed well in advance. The 35-year old Brazoban was stretched out to provide innings due to the struggles of the starting rotation, and he jumped into the breach and gave the Mets 3-1/3 innings of shutout ball after starter Jonah Tong imploded and gave up six runs in the first inning.
The next man up was righty reliever Ryne Stanek, and he chipped in with a scoreless stint before Texas broke the game open in the seventh with a two-run home run from second baseman Dylan Moore, who was brought on as a pinch hitter. It’s always a tough deal when your reward for doing your job is a trip back to Triple A, but Brazoban should know the drill at this point in his career.
Hamel will probably play a similar role in today’s game against the Rangers, but his baseball card looks a lot different than Brazoban’s.
He’s 26, and if he does see action he’ll be making his major league debut, which is a solid sign of how desperate things are for the Mets right now. Hamel was drafted by the Mets in the third-round of the 2021 draft, and his minor league ERA this year is 5.32, so the Mets are probably hoping he’ll end up being a warm body in the bullpen.
Whether he pitches or not in game 2 will depend on yet another rookie, right-hander Brandon Sproat. He’ll be making just his second outing, but he did post a quality start against the Cincinnati Reds in the third game of that series, giving up three runs in six innings while striking out seven in a losing effort.
The Rangers will counter with Patrick Corbin, who also comes in with an ERA over four, but the big issue for the Mets is that they desperately need another quality start from Sproat today. They come in with just a half-game lead in the suddenly-tight race for the third wild-card slot, and they’re tied in the loss column with the San Francisco Giants. Hopefully Hamel won’t be needed as the Mets’ inadvertent youth movement continues against the Rangers.