Buttó Comes Up Clutch Against Braves

On Thursday, Luis Severino entered his sixth inning of work with a one-run lead against the Atlanta Braves. He subsequently allowed the tying run to score and saw two more runners reach base before he was removed from the game. Consequently, the Mets called on Jose Buttó from the bullpen to help them get out of the jam.

Buttó has quickly become a preferred option in high-leverage situations for the Mets. Entering Thursday, Butto had a 0.84 ERA, 44.4 percent ground ball rate, 3.33 FIP, 3.09 xFIP and 13 strikeouts in 10 2/3 innings across six appearances since he assumed his new role as a reliever.

Despite entering a very difficult situation, he displayed great poise in executing his pitches. He struck out Eddie Rosario and Nacho Alvarez Jr. in succession before inducing a flyout from Ramón Laureano to escape trouble.

Buttó has displayed a knack for generating swings and misses this year. He currently sits within the 76th percentile (26.4%) for strikeout rate and 89th percentile (31.6%) for whiff rate according to Baseball Savant. This skill became especially useful when Buttó found himself in a 2-and-0 count against Rosario. He was able to battle back and strike him out by generating three swinging strikes on his changeup, a pitch that has a 42.5 percent whiff rate and .149 batting average against this year.

This success would transfer to the next two frames too, as Buttó did not allow any baserunners in either one. He also accumulated two more strikeouts, both of which came in his final inning of work.

Overall, he tossed three perfect innings with four strikeouts to go with a 45 percent whiff rate across all his pitches. He also did not allow any walks, which is a positive development given his 13.5 percent walk rate this year.

More importantly, he was able to keep the score tied against a formidable Braves offense while bridging the gap between Severino and Edwin Díaz.

Severino commented on the impressive nature of Buttó’s seamless transition to his new role.

“I don’t know how you can do that, being a starter and then just go to the ‘pen and be outstanding,” Severino said. “We won because of him today.”

He is certainly correct in that assessment, as Buttó’s ERA as a reliever dropped to 0.66 ERA after he exited the game.

With his successful transition to the bullpen, Buttó may be destined for an extended role as a multi-inning reliever going forward. Luckily for the Mets, Buttó indicated that he is enjoying the new challenge during his postgame comments.

Between Adrian Houser and now Buttó, the Mets have been able to repurpose their internal starting pitching options into long-relief depth that should aid them in their postseason race.

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