PHILADELPHIA — Edwin Diaz will face his outdated group for the primary time this Friday evening.
He ought to look acquainted to the Mariners — their former nearer is having a season akin to his sensible final yr in Seattle.
Throwing extra strikes than he ever has earlier than as a Met and burying hitters with an unhittable slider, Diaz has been the rock within the again finish of a shaky bullpen. Merely put, early on this season he has been all the pieces the Mets envisioned once they landed him, together with Robinson Cano, within the much-dissected Jarred Kelenic trade 4 years in the past.
“This yr I acquired numerous confidence,” Diaz advised The Put up on Saturday, earlier than the Mets and Phillies had a game postponed due to rain for the second straight day.
By way of 12 appearances totaling 12 innings, Diaz has allowed simply two earned runs — each on solo residence runs. He has walked 5 and struck out a whopping 21. A lot of these strikeouts have come on his devastating slider, a late-breaking off-speed pitch that’s troublesome to regulate to when it follows a fastball that may attain 100 mph. Diaz is throwing his slider a career-high 52 % of the time and is getting swings and misses on it an astounding 58.3 % of the time.
“You bought to [pick] one thing out with him. You possibly can’t sit there and say I’m going to see the ball,” Mets supervisor Buck Showalter stated. “Good hitters attempt to [pick] one pitch out. When you present them that you’ve command of each these [pitches], it presents a very robust entrance for the opposite group.”
His WHIP is 0.83 — his lowest since a miniscule 0.79 in 2018 with the Mariners. That was by far one of the best season of his seven-year huge league profession, a marketing campaign by which he notched a 1.96 ERA and picked up 57 saves.
The largest variety of that season was 17: what number of walks he allowed over 73 ¹/₃ innings. His management, a difficulty for a lot of his Mets tenure, has proven marked enchancment this season.
“I wish to work on my mechanics on daily basis and I believe that’s serving to me quite a bit this yr,” the 28-year-old Diaz stated. “If I’ve my mechanics proper, maintain my hand on high of the ball, I can command my pitches higher.”
The 2018 model of Diaz has proven up for the Mets this yr, albeit via a small pattern dimension. He has been at his greatest within the greatest stress spots of this younger season. He completed off the mixed no-hitter towards the Phillies on April 29 by placing out the facet. He capped a dramatic come-from-behind win Thursday, by which the Mets rallied from six runs down within the ninth inning, with a 1-2-3 body. And he labored a stress-free inning on April 25, when the Mets got here from two runs down within the ninth inning to beat the Cardinals.
“He’s simply been very constant,” catcher James McCann stated, utilizing an adjective that had principally eluded Diaz in his first three Mets seasons, by which he blew 17 of 81 save alternatives. “That’s the most important factor.”
Diaz has blown simply one in every of his seven save alternatives this season, on April 22 towards the Diamondbacks, although he responded by getting out of the inning and the Mets made him a winner. Diaz impressed Showalter by not letting Daulton Varsho’s game-tying homer get to him. He rapidly turned the web page.
“I believe you’re seeing a man evolve into understanding the ups and downs of that job considerably,” Showalter stated after that sport.
Rather a lot will likely be manufactured from the reunion on Friday in Queens, when Kelenic — the one-time high prospect of the Mets — faces his outdated group for the primary time. The 22-year-old Kelenic, nonetheless looking for his approach within the majors, has but to dwell as much as his immense potential. He’s batting .139 this yr and is a lifetime .174 hitter in 409 at-bats.
Diaz, in the meantime, appears to have discovered a consolation zone with the first-place Mets, pitching the way in which he as soon as did for his outdated group.
