EVEN IN A STICKY SITUATION, SEVERINO & THE METS GET THE WIN

-  Troy Turnwald, Contributor

It wasn’t a scene we were expecting to see. Coming back from commercial break before the bottom of the 9th, ESPN coldly greeted us with the image of Edwin Díaz speaking with the entire officiating crew. This is the equivalent of your favorite TV show coming back from commercials to show the hero in some random peril that was never established before. It was jarring. No establishing shot, no overhead drone that they spent too much money on, they cut right to the chase and showed us the problem at hand. Or rather, the problem with Edwin’s hand. It was deemed “too sticky” by the crew chief, who had a wide smile on his face. But let’s be real: this was a matter of opinion, a complete Ump Show and Edwin was clearly not using foreign substances. He knows that he’s checked before every outing, he’s never raised suspicion before and none of his equipment was even confiscated. Obviously, Mr Sugar had sticky hands because he’s made of sugar. Or, you know, he just used legal substances and the umps wanted to make an example of him (so to recap: Joe Musgrove constantly grabbing at his overly shiny ear on a cold October night is okay. Edwin Díaz having rosin and dirt on his hand is an automatic 10-game suspension. Cool). 

It’s one thing to have your closer pulled from a game right before defending a 3-run lead. It’s another thing to have it done in front of a national audience. It’s another thing to suspend him for 10 games when he was just getting back into the swing of things. That mandated bench time is going to stunt any progress that he has made to his mechanics and ego. Above all else, they had to send Drew Smith to the mound with hardly any time for preparation which put Luis Severino’s stellar outing at risk. That would be the biggest crime of all, as Severino has been carrying the team on his back. Last night’s game was the first time he got to do it on a National stage, to show the world that he’s back. In fact, his resurgence is one of the best stories to come from the 2024 Mets.

He was called every name in the book, booed by the Bronx faithful every time he showed his face. 2023 was not good to Luis Severino. In just over 89 innings of work, he carried a hefty 6.65 ERA and 1.64 WHIP. This kind of thing happens all the time and it’s always sad to see. A promising pitcher has a couple of All-Star seasons, falls under the knife of Tommy John surgery and just never fully recovers from that. Plagued by injuries, he hadn’t pitched a full season since 2018 and when he did pitch, Yankee fans wished he hadn’t. Batters had officially figured him out and he essentially had only a few options: accept that you’re washed, hoping that some team will pay you to be a bullpen guy or hang up the glove for good or reinvent yourself. Getting a chance on a 1-year contract to the crosstown Mets, Luis chose the latter. 

The most important thing that he fixed was his arm movement. It was clear that he was tipping his pitches and Mets manager Carlos Mendoza had this in mind last year when he was the Yankees bench coach. It’s a totally fixable problem that has shown vast improvement. Now that he has matched his innings pitched from last year, the stats speak for themselves. Take this food for thought: His primary pitch, the 4-Seam Fastball, has a contact percentage of 87.6% this year compared to 87.0% last year. Basically, the bat met the ball the same amount of times as last year. The opponents slashed .355/.416/.692 off the 4-Seam last year. This year, they’re slashing .216/.319/.319. That is a startling difference. His 4-Seam has garnered only 5 extra base hits and has resulted in 12.1% more ground balls. This is also indicative of his new pitching strategy. He is no longer looking to strike people out, he’s looking to just get off the field by any means necessary. And with the elite defense of Francisco Lindor backing him up, he’s been generally a lot more comfortable on the mound.

Another way that Severino reinvented himself was the addition of the Sinker. It’s a pitch he toyed around with after returning from Tommy John Surgery to minor success. This year, he has perfected it as his secondary pitch. It initiates a ground ball rate of 53.7%, which is right up there with other Sinker specialists around the league. Adding an effective pitch to his arsenal makes him a lot less reliant on the 4-Seam and Slider, which is leaving the batters guessing. That has made a huge difference this year.

He’s also pitching deeper into games. In his 15 outings this year, he has always finished the 5th inning. Last year, he did that in less than half of his outings. At heart, Luis Severino is a baller. When he gave up 6 runs in Texas last week, he didn’t let it get to him at all. He went back out there and pitched 2 perfect innings to save the bullpen. The offense did a lot, but the Mets dramatic comeback victory would not have happened without Severino’s perseverance and grit. Having a guy like that in a rotation sparks a lot of confidence and that confidence is contagious. Having him around makes the other pitchers better. Luis Severino has done a lot of work to reinvent himself and it was on full display Sunday night as he pitched 6 solid innings of 3-hit ball. 

All of that could’ve been erased by Edwin’s sticky hand. 

But it wasn’t. 

Because confidence breeds confidence. Drew Smith faced the minimum 3 batters, getting 2 out easily. Jake Diekman came in and got the last out on 3 easy pitches. All in all, a stress-free win that could’ve devolved into total disaster. Severino’s record improves to 5-2 on the year, the best it’s been since 2018. The vibes feel immaculate in Metsland, but the bullpen will have to go the next 10 games without relying on their closer. This seems awful, but when you really think about it, that’s what they’ve been doing all year. The Mets went 6-4 in the 10 games leading up to his return earlier this month and if they replicate that, they’ll be sitting pretty. 

The Mets are 37-39 going into their homestand. They’ll have 2 games against the Yankees followed by a weekend series against the Astros. Admittedly, that seems daunting. But in reality, the Yankees are currently on a 3-7 skid with some embarrassingly lopsided losses. The bulletproof facade is showing a lot of cracks. The Astros, on the other hand, are on a 7-3 surge after being proclaimed “broken” by the rejoicing baseball masses. If the Mets can sneak a few wins out of this homestand, they’ll be let loose to feast on the likes of the Nationals, Pirates and Rockies to end the first half of the season. Anything can, and will, happen in baseball. They just have to channel their Inner Severino and stay confident.