Throughout the 2015 season, the Mets have been searching for a stabilizing force against left-handed hitters in their bullpen. But have yet to really identify any one arm among their relief corps who is capable of coming in, and getting one or two big outs against lefties late in a game.
The Mets thought they had that when they acquired Jerry Blevins for Matt den Dekker late in spring training. He had retired all 14 left-handed hitters he faced (and all 15 batters he faced overall) before taking a come-backer off his left forearm and suffering a distal radius fracture as a result.
The Mets have tried out Alex Torres as the primary left-handed reliever, although his splits were never truly suggestive of an ability to fulfill that role and he was unable to do the job adequately. They recently acquired Eric O’Flaherty in an attempt to stabilize the left side of their bullpen as well.
Then there’s Sean Gilmartin, the left-handed reliever the Mets chose in the 2014 Rule 5 draft last December. He had never seen the light of day of a major league game, pitching no higher than Triple-A in his four minor league seasons in the Braves and Twins organizations.
But the Mets saw something in his 2014 splits while with Triple-A Rochester, and that he held left-handed hitters to a .201 average and a .454 OPS.
It hasn’t quite worked out that way in the big leagues for either the Mets or Gilmartin so far in 2015, as Gilmartin has posted reverse splits in 36 relief appearances this season. He has been very effective against right-handed hitters this season, holding them to a .194/.295/.239 line.
It’s that effectiveness along with his Rule 5 status which presumably explains why the Mets have stuck with Gilmartin in 2015, and transitioned him into more of a universal reliever out of the Mets bullpen as the year has gone on.
He’s pitched in a variety of roles for the Mets this season, but appears to thrive the most in long relief. He has posted a 0.93 ERA in ten relief appearances in which he’s pitched more than one inning, allowing runs in only one of those outings.
The Mets haven’t needed a long reliever too often this season thanks to the incredible success of their starting pitchers and their overall inability to score a lot of runs. But when the need has arisen, Gilmartin has answered the call and has been tremendous in that role.
As the Mets endeavor to limit the innings of their starting pitchers down the stretch, Terry Collins can now feel comfortable turning to the likes of Gilmartin to fill the gap between the middle and late innings if such an opportunity presents itself to shutdown a starter earlier in a game.
While he hasn’t exactly fulfilled the expectation the Mets had hoped when they selected him in the Rule 5 draft last winter, Gilmartin has unquestionably served as a stabilizing bridge for the Mets bullpen in the middle innings and has been a huge reason for their success this season.
And for himself, Gilmartin has proven he can now pitch at this level, an opportunity which didn’t seem at all likely up until 2015.
Just Mets 