Yesterday afternoon, the New York Mets claimed an intriguing bullpen pitcher, Stephen Ridings, through waivers. He had formerly been with the New York Yankees since January 2021.
Ridings is still a young player at just 27 years old. He offers a ton of size at 6-foot-8 and 220 pounds. Ridings has thrown his fastball as hard as 101 mph. To complement his heat, Ridings is known to have some stuff in his arsenal as well, with both a slider and a sinker.
He has only pitched five games in the MLB, all of them came in 2021. Over those few appearances, Ridings finished with five innings pitched, a 1.80 ERA, allowing four hits and two walks but seven strikeouts.
Durability has been the main concern with Ridings to this point. He battled a right shoulder injury throughout 2022. If he can stay healthy, though, the talent is there for Ridings to provide strong value to the Mets.
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Why Stephen Ridings was worth adding for the Mets:
It is pretty plain and simple, the Mets’ relief pitching, aside from Edwin Diaz a year ago, was a major concern. If Ridings can stay healthy, with his ability, he can be a nice asset to the Mets bullpen with Diaz, both still being fairly young as well.
Ridings, from Commack, New York, now goes from the Yankees to the Mets, pretty neat for the Long Island native. The hope has to be that he can remain available moving forward. He does have three minor league options available as well to help aid him in his return.
The upside is there for Ridings to potentially be a great addition. His limited sample size with the Yankees was encouraging enough for the Mets to take a low-risk, high-reward flier here for a bullpen in desperate need of any help.