Carlos Torres has turned it up

The Mets bullpen didn’t appear to be a weakness heading into the season. In fact, it seemed that it may have been an actual strength. Then all of the misfortune came washing down. Josh Edgin was lost to Tommy John surgery. Vic Black and Bobby Parnell hit the disabled list. Jenrry Mejia was slapped with what turned out to be the first of his PED suspensions. Buddy Carlyle was placed on the disabled list in May and ended up being done for the season. All of a sudden General Manager Sandy Alderson needed to rebuild his bullpen on the fly.

Alderson attempted to address the injuries woes by adding Alex Torres and Jerry Blevins at the tail end of Spring Training. A. Torres (poor performance) and Blevins (also injured) ultimately haven’t quite worked out, but it was clear that the team was going to need to get solid contributions from the rest of their veterans in the bullpen. One of those key veterans, essentially the only remaining Mets veteran outside Jeurys Familia, was Carlos Torres.

Despite a strong 2014, there was worry that Terry Collins might have “ruined” yet another reliever through overuse. Indeed, C. Torres led all relievers with 92 innings pitched in 2014 (97 if we include his one spot start). The first half of 2015 did nothing to quell those fears.

Over his first 33 innings in 2015, C. Torres underwhelmed with an ERA of 4.36 and a K/9 rate (7.09) almost two full strikeouts lower than his career average (8.91). His left-on-base percentage (LOB%) of 67.2% was also significantly lower than in 2014 (82.8%). Still, his FIP during that time was 3.11, indicating that the Mets’ less-than-ideal defensive alignment played a role in his numbers. This, in addition to a slightly higher BABIP against than in 2014, suggested that he was due for some sort of improvement moving forward.

His last 10.1 innings have been quite the improvement, highlighted by his striking out the side in the 12^th inning against the Nationals last night. Actually, “improvement” is an understatement. He’s been quite dominant during this stretch, with an ERA of 0.87, a FIP of 1.92, a LOB% of 100%, and a sky-high K/9 of 12.19. Just what has gotten into him?

According to Brooks Baseball, the velocity on his different pitches has remained relatively consistent all year. What really jumps out, though, is the use of his slider. He used it 1.79% of the time in April, 0% in May and June, and 16.57% in July. As a result, the usage of his other pitches was reduced, particularly his curve, which dropped significantly in July versus May and June.

Now, there’s some debate as to what C. Torres actually throws. His SNY.tv player page doesn’t even list a slider as part of his arsenal. So is his “slider” the key to this recent success? Probably not, since opponents are hitting .273 with a .546 SLG against it. Additionally, Brooks Baseball reveals that, apparently, he used it 0% of the time all through 2014.

His fourseamer, on the other hand, has held batters to a .143 batting average in July. However, batters were hitting .222 against it from April-June. Not much of a difference. His zone profiles for April-June 2015 and July 2015 don’t appear dramatically different, either. So, location doesn’t appear to be a factor.

Just what has he done to improve so dramatically over his last 10 innings? Well, it could be as simple as walking many fewer batters (BB/9 of 0.87) and avoiding disadvantageous counts. Perhaps he’s simply “executing” his pitches with more regularity. Or maybe it’s simply a matter of small sample size.

Either way, the Mets will need continued solid performances from their bullpen if they hope to catch, surpass, and hold off the Nationals for the NL East crown.