Adam Ottavino off to a strong start in his third year with the Mets

The Mets’ bullpen has been a very pleasant surprise so far here in 2024, with several members displaying excellent numbers. Because good results abound, it’s somewhat easy for an individual player to get lost. And in the Mets’ case that certainly applies to Adam Ottavino. There’s no immediate story for Ottavino like there is for others. There’s not the hook of the return from injury, like Edwin Diaz, or coming out of nowhere, like Reed Garrett. Instead, it’s a veteran reliever who was almost an afterthought performing better than he ever has.

At the conclusion of 2023, most expected that Ottavino would be on this year’s team because he had a player option for $6.75 million. Ottavino tried to leverage that into a multi-year deal but the Mets weren’t interested. So, Ottavino declined the option and hit free agency, where apparently his market was not as robust as he might have hoped.

Ottavino re-signed with the Mets in late January for $4.5 million. It seemed like a bad outcome given the player option he declined. But that contained deferred money and allegedly this new deal was better in terms of present value, as $4 million in the option he declined was to be received in future deals. There was also talk that Ottavino was concerned about the direction the Mets were headed in 2024 but when he saw the additions the club made in the offseason, he felt comfortable enough to return.

This marks the third season Ottavino is with the Mets. He was very good in 2022 and still solid in 2023, even if his peripherals painted a different picture. But the start he’s off to here in 2024 is even better than what he put up two years ago.

With his big slider, Ottavino has always been a reliever with a strong K/9. But with more pitchers imitating his pitch – so much so that it now has its own category as a sweeper – Ottavino tinkered with his pitch mix, throwing more cutters and changeups than ever before. His slider usage fell to 28% last season, easily the lowest mark since his MLB debut back in 2010.

This year, his slider usage is back to 42.7%, which ties what he did in 2022. He’s still throwing his change and his cutter, although not nearly as much as a season ago. His sinker usage is down a tick, while his 4-seam fastball has all but been eliminated, as he’s thrown it just 1.7% of the time.

And the results have been terrific. Ottavino has rebounded from a 9.05 K/9 in ’23 to a 15.12 mark this season, as he’s struck out 14 of the 30 batters he’s faced. And as impressive as the strikeouts have been, his improvement with walks might be even more significant. After nearly doubling his walk rate a season ago to a 4.2 BB/9, Ottavino has yet to issue a free pass this season. With his difficulties holding runners on, this has been huge.

Runners attempted to steal against Ottavino 23 times a season ago and were successful 22 times. So far this year, they’ve attempted just one steal. Everyone has been trying to run on the Mets this year, a trait likely to continue. But Ottavino has kept runners off base and has displayed a better pickoff move, as well.

Add everything together and Ottavino has a 2.16 ERA and a 1.41 FIP. Additionally, he has a 0.480 WHIP and he’s limited batters to a .379 OPS. Obviously, it’s a small sample of eight games and his final numbers will likely be quite different. But we like to celebrate good numbers when they happen and what Ottavino has done so far certainly fits the bill.