Dedniel Nuñez was an enormous weapon for the Mets final summer season, however when he returned to the large leagues this 12 months, his potential to throw strikes all of the sudden disappeared. The 28-year-old, who was an excellent story as a rookie in 2024 after spending the whole thing of his profession within the Mets system, was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday to make room for left-hander Jose Castillo on the roster.
The Mets despatched him again to the minor leagues with directions to search out the strike zone as soon as once more after giving up three earned runs over 3 2/3 innings. He confronted 18 batters and walked six of them.
“Even though the past two outings he’s been better, we just need to see consistency with the strike zone,” supervisor Carlos Mendoza mentioned Saturday at Yankee Stadium. “That’s what made this guy elite last year and became who he was last year. For us, the first couple of outings, we saw the inconsistencies with the strikes, but it was good to see him yesterday hit 98 and he was a lot better. So he’s just got to go out down there and continue to find that consistency and just continue to throw strikes.”
Nuñez walked the bases loaded in his first outing with out getting an out and Reed Garrett couldn’t maintain the inherited runners on base. In his second outing, he walked two and struck out two, once more leaving a jam for Garrett. He then settled into his subsequent two outings, throwing clear innings towards the Pittsburgh Pirates final week, and gave up a success and walked one towards the Yankees on Friday evening.
Nonetheless, it grew to become a numbers sport with the Mets needing to discover a spot for Castillo, who was acquired in a commerce with the Arizona Diamondbacks for money concerns on Thursday evening. A 6-6 hard-throwing Venezuelan, Castillo was as soon as a highly-regarded prospect for the San Diego Padres after being traded by the Tampa Bay Rays. He’s been sidelined by accidents lately, present process Tommy John surgical procedure in 2021.
The Mets see a pitcher with potential. The addition of Castillo now offers them two left-handers to switch A.J. Minter and Danny Younger, each of whom required season-ending surgical procedures.
“We feel like there’s more in the tank there,” Mendoza mentioned. “Hopefully he can be a player for us out of the bullpen.”
Castillo, 29, has a 5.21 ERA over 46 2/3 Main League innings.
Infielder Ronny Mauricio accomplished his rehab task and was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse. An influence-hitting prospect, the Mets need him to get used to enjoying each day after being out of baseball for greater than a 12 months with two knee surgical procedures.
“He needs to become a normal baseball player, getting used to playing every day without restrictions,” Mendoza mentioned. “[Instead of saying], ‘Hey, you’re only playing five innings, or you’re only playing seven,’ he needs to continue playing full games, continue to play [on] back-to-back days, 3-4 games in a row. He’s not there yet, so we’ve got to get him there. I think it’s just more getting everyday at-bats, everyday reps and then we’ll go from there.”
Proper-hander Paul Blackburn will make yet one more rehab begin, throwing round 75 pitches.
