PORT ST. LUCIE — Edwin Diaz’s 2021 season fell somewhere between his rocky first year with the Mets and the dominance he displayed the next.
The right-hander’s electric arsenal suggests he can be an All-Star closer every year. Will the Mets finally see that kind of pitcher over a full season?
“I have improved my last two years here,” Diaz said Thursday. “My first year wasn’t kind of good. But the last two years were really good so I am ready for the season.”
It’s a season in which Diaz recorded 32 of 38 saves with a 3.45 ERA in 63 appearances. He endured a rough stretch at midseason in which he blew three straight saves (including two straight against the Pirates) that perhaps signaled the beginning of the team’s decline.
Manager Buck Showalter is still getting to know Diaz, but has seen enough of his work to trust him with the closer’s job. Showalter acknowledged he plans to keep Diaz in that position, but could also insert him in a high-leverage spot before the ninth inning if the situation dictates.
“The ball jumps out of his hand,” Showalter said.
Diaz’s average fastball velocity of 98.8 mph ranked in MLB’s 100th percentile last season, according to Baseball Savant. But Diaz’s best pitch might be his slider, against which opponents posted a .181 slugging percentage.
“It’s all about location and command with Edwin,” pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said. “He’s never going to have [Jacob] deGrom’s command, but part of what makes him good is the deceptiveness and effective wildness. It’s part of what makes him good because it makes the batter uncomfortable.”
Hefner termed last season as a good one for Diaz, an impending free agent after the season who turns 28 next week.
“Obviously he had a couple of blips that kind of hurt us a little bit [last season], right around the All-Star break against the Pirates, that wasn’t good,” Hefner said. “He will tell you that. I felt overall he kept going on the momentum that we kind of felt build in ’20 and I expect that to continue.”
Trevor May, Seth Lugo and Miguel Castro are among the other key returning components of the bullpen. Aaron Loup and Jeurys Familia departed through free agency. One of those spots was filled by Adam Ottavino, who arrived on a one-year contract worth $4 million. The Mets haven’t yet added a proven lefty to replace Loup, who recorded a 0.95 ERA in 65 appearances.
“We will miss him, he was really good for us — I think the best reliever in the bullpen last year,” Diaz said. “We have to keep looking forward and see if we can do better this year.”
The fact the Mets traded top prospect Jarred Kelenic as part of the package to acquire Diaz (along with Robinson Cano) has left something of a target on Diaz’s chest. And there was thought that Diaz’s strong 2020 season, in which he pitched to a 1.75 ERA, might have been helped by the absence of fans in the stands during the pandemic.
But Diaz says any such thoughts should have been erased last season, when fans returned to the ballpark. In his first season he was routinely booed during a nightmarish year in which he was removed from the closer’s role in the second half. Diaz allowed 15 homers in 58 innings that season and finished with a 5.59 ERA.
“Last year with fans I pitched really well,” Diaz said. “[The fans] treated me better last year. I feel happy for that because if I do my job they will root for me and that is what they did for me last year.”