Mets call up reliever Kevin McGowan

With Neil Walker traded and officially off the Mets’ roster, the team will call up right-handed relief pitcher Kevin McGowan. The Mets drafted the 25-year-old in the thirteenth round of the 2013 draft, and he has spent this season pitching out of the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s’ bullpen.

In 62.0 innings over 44 appearances for Vegas, McGowan has a 4.06 ERA with 8.0 strikeouts and 3.5 walks per nine innings. And despite playing in a very hitter-friendly environment, he gave up one home run per nine innings. Before getting to Vegas, McGowan had been in the St. Lucie and Binghamton bullpens in 2016, and in his combined time at those levels—plus one Vegas appearance—he had a 2.35 ERA in 84.1 innings of bullpen work.

Although McGowan began his career, as many college pitchers do, making relief appearances in short season ball—the Brooklyn Cyclones in this case, obviously—he was almost exclusively a starting pitcher in 2014 and 2015 before the Mets moved him to the bullpen.