Over the last two seasons, Mets fans have felt hungry almost every time. Edwin Diaz I’ve stepped on the mound, so I might add it for good reason. It’s undeniable that Diaz didn’t respond to the hype when he first came to New York, but there’s a reason fans now start believing in him.
Diaz’s first season in New York
Back in 2019, when Diaz first appeared in Mets, he started a fairly solid season with 13 saves from April to May, with two saves and only one of them defeated. did. Looking back at the whole season, he had seven saves, which isn’t too much, but don’t get me wrong. But let’s take a closer look at why he reached that point.
The 2019 season was tough for many pitchers, especially those who relied on off-speed pitches. Some pitchers talked about how the ball feels different. Noah Syndergaard He explained that the ball felt like “ice” that season.
MLB has changed the seams of the ball, making it difficult for pitchers like Diaz, who rely heavily on sliders, to get grip on the same pitch. Having to make adjustments on the fly is very difficult for baseball players to do in the middle of the season, not during breaks.
His slider began to break as it hung longer, and the batter knew exactly what was coming.
An important part of an athlete’s career is having a coach who guides the player and helps them regain Mojo when they are struggling. This may not seem like a big deal, but do you remember Mets making Phil Regan a pitching coach two months after the season? I will definitely do so.
It may take some time for players to trust their coach and make quick changes as they are.Still Diaz Mel Stottlemaia As a pitching coach for the first three seasons of his Mariners career, he welcomed two different coaches at Mets in the coming months.
Add a manager like Mickey Callaway, He wasn’t clever with the media and Diaz was left on the island in 2019.
The young all-stars actually have only two pitches in their repertoire, and when the slider fails, he knows little about the coach and, essentially with the staff hanging to dry him, what happens Did you expect it?
In that scenario, everyone can go wrong. It wasn’t easy enough for him to lose his talent.
High expectations fall sharply in 2020
Even after the off-season was prolonged due to the pandemic, Diaz was still skeptical of his second campaign with Mets. The right-handed player was admitted to have made a rocky start by blowing off his saves on his second outing. Still, the loss occurred after pitching in a row at the beginning of the already unusual season.
After all, Diaz made six saves and four blow saves in 2020. Still, Mets rarely gave the pitcher a chance to save in the first place.
Delin Betans And Julis family After struggling in the 7th and 8th innings, it was Diaz who chose to minimize the damage for some reason. In theory, it makes sense to rely on a great strikeout pitcher like Diaz to clear the turmoil of other struggling rescuers, but in reality this is not a wise decision. did.
Diaz has been shown to be more comfortable when joining the game with clean innings rather than putting him in a high pressure situation with runners already in the scoring position.this Not using him in the most effective way also undermined his statistics and perceptions among the fan base.
The amount of pressure that the closer has is astronomically higher than that of the starting pitcher, and bad outings have a far greater impact on the thinking needed to succeed on the mound.
Starters usually want to last up to at least 5 innings, and even if one inning is bad, they still have time to recover and regain their confidence.
When approaching, they have one shot to do their job, and if they blow it away, their confidence often goes with it, especially with young players like Diaz.
Looking at the saves that Diaz blew off, two of them were due to Betans and Wilson already loading the bass and the Mets fielding was terrible in 2020.
Mets management mishandled the situation with Diaz painfully, resulting in a save chance despite a 48% chance that the batter pitched to 1.75 ERA when the league average was 24.9%. It became a closer that converted only 60% of.
Pitchers have no control over how they are used, and for teams like Mets who don’t have enough reliable bullpen skills, players like Diaz will hit.
do not sleep Edwin Diaz In 2021
Hopefully, Mets will create a new atmosphere in 2021 and help Diaz have the best season ever at Mets.While paired with some new weapons such as Trevor MayWith better coaching staff and more information about the analysis, Diaz should be able to work without always worrying about the bullpen exploding the game before stepping on the mound.
After all, it’s the job of professional athletes to do their best, but they’re still human. In order for everyone to succeed, it is important that they are in the best position to succeed, and given the situation, it is not fair to him to work very hard on a player like Diaz. ..
Diaz could be one of the players who drowned in New York and was forced to fight again in 2021, but I think it’s very unlikely. His good outings last season showed that he could still be an all-star. It is now to give him the support and resources to be able to rule as a blockade again.
