Mack’s Morning Report – Las Vegas 51’s – 2017 Relief Pitching

I have 7 relief pitchers in my 2017 Las Vegas pen - The list is based that LHP/LOOGY Josh Edgin and LHP Josh Smoker will make the Mets 25-man and open up in Queens - 

RP - RHP Paul Sewald -  I guess many of you could make a good case for Sewald to make the Mets on opening day. He led Las Vegas in games pitched (56) and had 19 games saved and 40 finished. Sewald has done very little wrong as a Met in the last 4 years... 2013: Savannah, 35-G, 1.77... 2014: St. Lucie, 40-G, 1.73... 2015: 44-G, 1.75... and, considering the lack of air in the PCL, a very respectable 2016: Las Vegas, 56-G, 3.29. More importantly last season, 80-Ks in 65-2-IP. I'm going to hold him back for at least the first portion of the season and keep him as my AAA closer. Trust me, he's the first guy out of here when the phone rings.

RP - LHP David Roseboom - No one pitched better for Binghamton last season than Roseboom... 52-games, 1.86-ERA, and only a 0.90-WHIP. The 6-3 lefty has less than 3 professional years under his belt and is lining himself up right behind Edgin as the next lefty up in Queens. Will pitch 2017 as a 25-year old. 

RP - RHP Luis Mateo - We all thought Mateo was going to be a killer future starter after he played his first two seasons in the organization... 2011: DSL Mets, 13-starts, 6-1, 2.00, 0.78... and 2012: Brooklyn, 12-starts, 4-5, 2.45, 0.90.  Then two years of injuries and we weren't sure we would ever see him again, but after pitching in only 29 games for 8 teams in the next 3 seasons, Mateo churned out 48 injury free appearances last season for the B-Mets, going 3-4, 2.87. Mateo will pitch 2017 as a 27-year old and there is still time for him to impress.

RP - RHP Logan Taylor - Taylor has pitched well for the Mets throughout his 5 seasons (18-14, 3.26), though 45 of the 99 games he pitched in he started. The last rotation he pitched in was the 2015 St. Lucie Mets (24-G, 22-starts, 8-8, 3.69. Last season, was a mostly relief season for the B-Mets (44-G, 5-starts, 4-2, 3.99) where he had his highest career K/9 ratio, 10.40. I always liked the 6-5 Taylor and he's going to Vegas on my team come the spring.

RP - RHP Tim Peterson - Peterson had a nice season for the B-Mets last year. Not a great one, but a nice one... 36-G, 3-1, 4.09, 44-IP, 53-K. Peterson has a hefty 10.84-K/9 which always helps the pen. He's another of those guys that I see having a sliver of a path to Queens, but let's see what he can do as a middle reliever in Vegas.

RP - RHP Eric Goeddel - I don't consider Goeddel a major league prospect, but he has been a productive relief pitcher in the Pacific Coast League:  2016: Las Vegas, 24-G, 1-start, 1-1, 4.08. He is turning 28 this December and will enter into a AAAA role which could keep him around for quite a few seasons if he can continue to produce at this level.

RP - RHP Chase Bradford - There were three relievers last year that pitched in 56 51's games... Sewald, Jeffrey Walters, and Bradford. Bradford is a great guy that followed me on Twitter since the days we met in Savannah (2012: 37-G, 2.47). Bradford's numbers weren't sexy last year (4.80), but you need a lot of relief pitchers who can pitch 4-5 times a week in this league. Bradford has a rubber arm and fits perfect as a one inning relief machine.