Mets Bring Chasen Shreve Back On Minors Deal

As first reported by the twitter account KFidds, the Mets are bringing back left handed reliever Chasen Shreve on a minor league deal.

Shreve, now 31, is returning to the Mets after a stint with the team in 2020 and spending 2021 with the Pirates. In his time in Pittsburgh, he notched a 3.20 ERA over the course of 56.1 innings.

In 2020 with the Mets, Shreve had a 3.96 ERA over 25 innings. He struck out 34 batters for a K/9 of 12.2. He began his career in Atlanta and has releived for the Yankees and Cardinals as well.

The book on Shreve is that he won’t light up radar guns or sit batters down with strikeouts left and right, but his calling card is a strong slider that has only gotten better since he left the Mets, a splitter, a four-seam fastball, and tons of weak contact.

As noted by Sung Min Kim, Shreve has added over 11 inches of drop to his slider, going from 34.8 inches to 46.1, adding almost 25% drop to the pitch. Shreve ranked in the 94th percentile in baseball last season in Hard Hit Rate at 30.4%, while also being in the top 20% of the league with xBA.

Shreve joins a shallow group of left-handed relievers that will compete for a spot in the Mets bullpen, including Thomas Szapucki, Alex Claudio, and potentially the likes of David Peterson. The Mets obviously can also add to this group through free agency or the trade market, but as the roster currently stands these are the main candidates to be a lefty in the Mets’ bullpen.

Shreve is the second lefty reliver addition the Mets have made in as many days. On Tuesday they inked Mike Montgomery to a minors deal. He spent 2021 with the Mets and Yankees before departing to play in the KBO.

The Mets missed out on relievers like Andrew Chafin and are searching for any lefty that could be serviceable throughout the season.

The post Mets Bring Chasen Shreve Back On Minors Deal first appeared on Metsmerized Online.