The Mets will add Vic Black to their roster on Sunday for the team's doubleheader with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The team is taking advantage of Major League Baseball's current collective bargaining agreement, which allows teams to add twenty-sixth player to their roster for doubleheaders.
Black was acquired with Dilson Herrera from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Marlon Byrd and John Buck. Known for his hard fastball and high strikeout rate, Black made fifteen appearances with the Mets last season after having made three with the Pirates. In total, he posted a 3.71 ERA and 3.46 FIP.
Coming into spring training, Black seemed to have a very good shot at making the Mets' Opening Day bullpen, but the team wound up sending him to the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s to begin the year because of control problems. In seventeen appearances there, Black has managed a 1.45 ERA, but he's walked an alarming 20.7 percent of opposing hitters.
Following the doubleheader, the Mets can either keep Black on the roster and jettison another player, or they can just send him back to Vegas if they think he still needs to work on that walk rate.