Edwin Diaz, the closer of the New York Mets, joined fellow reliever Jeurys Familia in his pre-spring training workouts in Port St. Lucie. The 2020 season is going to be a crucial one for him. The Puerto Rican fireballer needs to convince people that he has moved on from 2019.
He had a 5.59 ERA last season, and his career-high was a 3.27 mark in 2017 with the Seattle Mariners. He had command problems and an evident home run issue. He allowed 15 home runs in 58 innings, which is the equivalent of a putrid 2.33 HR/9.
He blew save after save. However, the Mets are confident that he will be better this season. After all, it’s not like his stuff abandoned him: Diaz struck out 15.7 batters per nine innings. Achieving more consistency with his mechanics and overcoming his command issues, especially with his fastball, will be crucial.
The Mets’ closer looked for quality, Hall-of-Fame advice
Diaz has put on the work this offseason, and Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez helped him. They have zeroed in the improvement of those mechanical issues. It never hurts to receive advice and input from a legendary pitcher like Pedro (a former member of the New York Mets himself.)
“After the season was done, I started talking to (Martinez) about how my season was, and after I started throwing and practicing my mechanics I started sending him videos because the guy who I work with in Puerto Rico worked with [Pedro] before when he was in Boston,” Diaz said to SNY.
“He helped me a lot. … Everything was mechanics. He told me if I got everything right, I got a good arm and good potential. I tried to fix everything that he told me and things are going really good,” he followed.
Now, Diaz is ready and determined. “I’m really excited, 100 percent excited. I put a lot of work into me and feeling in shape and strong. I’m ready for 2020,” were his words.