Robert Gsellman returns to the majors tonight in a fitting way for the 2017 Mets, replacing an injured starter. Gsellman himself is returning from a hamstring strain but at least this was a little different than the other injuries to Mets pitchers this year as Gsellman hurt himself running, rather than pitching. It just goes to show that if there’s a way to get injured, the Mets will find it.
It’s been a wild ride for Gsellman, who came to camp in a battle with Seth Lugo and Zack Wheeler for the fifth starter’s job. When Lugo and Steven Matz were both not available to start the season, Gsellman won the job by default. But as the fifth starter, he made his first appearance out of the bullpen.
His next seven games were all starts and in those appearances he had a 7.27 ERA, thanks to a .361 BABIP and an .892 OPS allowed. Not surprisingly, Gsellman moved to the bullpen for a couple of appearances. No one really replaced him in the rotation, as the Mets had two off days that they could have used in April.
When the schedule got back to normal, Gsellman was back in the rotation. And for four starts, it looked like everything was somehow fixed. In 25 IP, he had a 2.16 ERA and was 3-0. But in his next two starts, Gsellman gave up 15 runs and he allowed three runs in three innings before suffering the hamstring injury.
After being sidelined for a month, Gsellman began his rehab assignment. Curiously, he began it in Double-A Binghamton. Neither his first nor third outing were particularly good and after the latter appearance, mlb.com’s Anthony DiComo reported that Sandy Alderson said he “needs to pitch better” to earn a return to the majors.
Gsellman did just that, throwing six scoreless innings with one walk and five strikeouts in his fourth rehab start. And then Lugo’s shoulder impingement opened the door for his return. Gsellman will square off against the Yankees tonight, as the Subway Series moves to Queens.
So, which Gsellman will we see tonight? Your guess is as good as mine. When he arrived in the majors last year, Gsellman impressed with a four-pitch arsenal, his ability to get grounders and an unexpected high strikeout rate. This year only his changeup, which is his least-thrown pitch, has been a good offering.
And while he’s still getting an abundance of grounders, whenever the batters put the ball in the air, they’re doing damage. On fly balls, opposing batters have a .281 AVG and a 1.148 OPS and on line drives, those numbers are .730 and 1.921, respectively. League average OPS marks this year for fly balls is .900 and line drives is 1.600, so he was significantly worse in both regards.
One thing to watch is how he does against LHB. In his last three games before winding up on the DL, Gsellman had 31 PA against lefties and they posted a .607/.645/1.393 line against him, with five homers. By contrast, in the previous four games when he was rolling, lefties posted a .116/.191/.209 line against him in 47 PA.
Being back in the NL with no designated hitter will likely eliminate one lefty from the Yankees lineup. Still, they should have either four or five guys batting from that side of the plate, so if Gsellman is still having trouble getting them out, it will be a short night.
Looking for what to watch for Gsellman could also be applied for the whole starting rotation for the rest of the season except for deGrom. Will Syndergaard’s injury cause a weak muscle that could be prone to future occurrences? Is Harvey going to be able to regain his command after losing feeling in his fingers? Will Wheeler be able to improve his command after a two year lay off? Will Matz be effective enough because he seems to be shying away from throwing all his pitches? Can Lugo come back and continue to pitch with his partial tear? These questions need to be answered going into the off season and if they can’t be positively answered then the Mets should be preparing a plan B (or C) with their starting pitching this winter. This is why they should go out and get a #3 or better starting pitcher. In 2017 they have found out that they can never have enough pitching.
Yup.
Pure speculation, but sometimes I wonder if Gsellman just doesn’t focus or take it seriously enough until the heat is on. The pattern is right and he doesn’t have the body language the others do. Again, just thinking out loud.
Mike,
Chris F and I both said that after one of his worse performances earlier this year. He didn’t look like it bothered him too much. Too, yesterday after the reporters told him that Alderson said he needs to do better, his response was that he thinks his performances are good enough and ‘I don’t care what he says’. I would let him spend next year in Las Vegas to teach him how to act professionally, take his craft more seriously, and be more humble.
I’m glad to see someone else bring that up as well because those are not winning players and they need to go.