Redemption is one of the more compelling storylines when it comes to sports. It a consistent theme in sports movies, the focus of sports awards, and often turns a player from the scapegoat of a team to a fan favorite. The New York Mets are no strangers to redemption stories, as Matt Harvey came into town and received a warm welcome from the fans. His rise and fall, and now rise again as he navigates back of the rotation life with the Baltimore Orioles warms a lot of hearts. Looking back at this year’s Mets, there are actually two redemption stories, and both of them live in the bullpen.
For Aaron Loup, his redemption story opens with one of his appearances in the World Series last season as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays. With the Rays up 5-4 in the seventh, Loup came into pitch, and allowed two runs, allowing the Dodgers to go up 6-5 under his watch. While the Rays won the game in wildly dramatic fashion, the game left a sour taste of Loup, who had performed solidly throughout the regular season. In the three seasons prior, Loup had been consistently putting up seasons with an ERA at or above 4.50, which led him to bounce from the Toronto Blue Jays to the Philadelphia Phillies, and lastly the Rays. The Rays would eventually lose the World Series to the Dodgers, and Loup would begin his bounce routine once again.
Loup found his new home with the Mets on a quiet one-year, $3 million contract. Outside of the first game of the season when he hit Bryce Harper with a pitch when the bases were loaded, Loup has been worth every penny of that contract. He was brought to Queens to shut down left-handed batters, which he has dominated in doing so thus far this season. Last season, left-handed batters put up a .212 average against Loup, a number which he has lowered to a minute .167 this season. Loup has been overall dominant in his performances this season, sporting a 0.96 ERA, with 10 strikeouts in 9.2 innings. He has been part of a great bullpen renaissance for the Mets season which has vaulted the team to the second-best team ERA in all of Major League Baseball at a collective 2.89.
The bullpen is also home to another redemption story of the Mets this season, albeit one with a more familiar face to Mets fans than Loup’s. From 2014-2016, Jeurys Familia had Mets fans captivated with his dominance on the mound. During that span, Familia put up a sterling 2.20 ERA, saved 99 games, and earned himself an All-Star appearance to go with a 17th place finish in 2016 MVP voting. The following years did not treat Familia as well, as from 2017-2020 he produced a 4.23 ERA and looked like he had lost the touch that had made him elite. He was the player that elicited groans from Mets fans when he took the field, but he has begun to silence that narrative in 2021.
This season, Familia seems to have recaptured the form that he held when he was an elite reliever, and in doing so has recaptured the hearts of Mets fans as well. He has struck out 11 batters in his 10.2 innings pitched, and has locked into a ridiculous 0.84 ERA. The biggest difference for Familia this season is the contact he has been receiving on his pitches. Last season, batters made soft contact against Familia only 14.7% of the time, a number he has increased to 36.4% this season. Last season batters made hard contact against Familia 26.7% of the time, a number he has lowered to 18.2% this season. His mark of 36.4% percent soft contact is a career high for Familia, while his mark of 18.2% hard contact is a career low. These career-pacing numbers Familia are without a doubt contributing factors to his resurgence as an elite reliever on the team.
The Mets have had a rollercoaster season between cancellations, slumps, and bad weather. Early in the season, the bullpen was providing the team fits, but has since become an unexpected strength of the team. Outside of Loup and Familia, Trevor May and Edwin Diaz have been great out of the pen, and the unit is only about to become stronger with the returns of Drew Smith and Seth Lugo from injury. The real interesting headlines of the bullpen however are the great redemption stories of Loup and Familia, who have more than proved their worth to the team early in the season.
Lefties are batting an ice-cold .167 against Loup this season
Familia is allowing batters a career-best soft contact of 18.2%
The Mets bullpen has a 2.99 ERA so far this season
And then right on cue!