Reed Garrett plays for the New York Mets; Licensed by CC 2.0
Not much has worked for the Mets this season. they’re 8 games under .500, 16.5 games back in the NL East, 10th in the wild card race, and one of their superstars, Pete Alonso, could be traded in July. . To make matters worse, their star reliever Edwin Diaz has had a tough time coming back from a torn hamstring, so much so that he’s been relegated to the closer role. One of the lone bright spots is the player slated to fill the closer role: Reed Garrett. Garrett has bounced around the league since being drafted in 2014, even spending two seasons in Japan. The 31-year-old was picked up by the Mets last July and started the season in Triple-A, but has been one of the team’s best pitchers since being called up. Let’s dive into how it happened.
Stats (since 6/4): 31.0 IP, 2.63 pCRA, 36.8% K%, 11.3% BB%, 4.4% Barrel%, 42.6% GB%, 34.5% CSW%, 18.2% SwStr%, 39.5% Whiff%
Usually, pitchers who have high velocity can afford to give up harder contact because contact doesn’t happen very often. However, Reed Garrett has been able to both generate whiffs and limit hard contact at an elite rate, posting a 99th percentile strikeout rate, 99th percentile strikeout rate, 80th percentile average exit rate, and 86th percentile barrel rate. Using Baseball Savant’s new bat-tracking data, Garrett only squares off on 17.6% of swings (25.7% average). Square, simply put, is when a batter reaches 80% or more of maximum possible exit velocity when pitch speed and bat speed are factored in. These stats support the idea that Garrett is elite at suppressing hard contact.
Reed Garrett is a speed primary pitcher who throws his speed pitches 72.7% of the time. His fastball was his primary pitch last season, as he threw it 31.7% of the time with poor results; He has dropped his usage to 19.0% this season. Instead, he increased his sweeper usage from 10.7% last season to 24.4% this season. It is primarily a weapon against right-handed hitters. The pitch isn’t elite in terms of movement, but he consistently places it down and in, which is an unusual spot for the pitch, and the results are elite: 2.16 pCRA, 0.0% barrel, 40.3% CSW%. , 35.6% Whiff%.
Garrett also throws a hard slider (Savant calls it a cutter) 23.9% of the time. Typically, sliders are thrown low and far so that the pitch looks like a strike before escaping late. However, Garrett’s slider is mostly in the upper part of the zone, and I think that’s a conscious effort, as opposed to him giving up his spot on the pitch, as he puts the pitch in the zone 51.1% of the time: higher than the average of 44%. Garrett’s slider averaged 90.7 mph, higher than the average of 85.3 mph, and produced 7.0 inches of vertical break, compared to the average of 1.7 inches (from average less). Because he generates much more vertical break than average, the pitch has a +1.11 vertical approach angle above average (VAA AA), which means the pitch appears to rise as it reaches home plate. Usually, the vertical approach angle is talked about on fastballs, but in general, pitches with a positive VAA AA want to throw into the zone to jump over bats. That’s exactly what Garrett does, and the stats speak for themselves.
Garrett’s bread and butter pitch is his divider. He throws it 23.4% of the time, but uses 53.9% in 2-shot counts. It has slightly more mileage than the average splitter, but is generally not considered elite in terms of movement. Even then, this is his best game as evidenced by the stats: -0.34 pCRA, 0.0% Barrel%, 34.4% CSW%, 58.0% Whiff%
As mentioned earlier, Garrett is throwing his four-seamer significantly less than last year, but if he can improve his pitch position, it could be at least average. Pitch is average from a form standpoint (96.1 MPH, 16.8 IVB, +0.35 VAA AA). The problem is that the pitching is often uncompetitive, as evidenced by his 42.4% strikeout rate (55.9% average) and that has led to a 27.6% walk rate. When he does throw strikes, the pitch is hit hard, as evidenced by a 94.4 MPH average and a 12.5% ​​barrel rate. If he can locate the pitch consistently, it will set up the rest of his repertoire better.
Reed Garrett has been one of the only bright spots in an otherwise disappointing campaign for the Mets. He’s already elite at missing bats, which is scary given his poor fastball command. While I don’t expect the Mets to trade him, he would be one of the hottest names if that’s the route they decide to go.
Stats via Baseball Savant, Alex Chamberlain Pitch Leaderboard
