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There’s no question that the weakest part of the Mets’ roster currently is their bullpen. Though the team added Trevor May this offseason and Edwin Díaz appears to be in solid form, there are still a lot of question marks. While there’s no shortage of arms and potential contributors, each player has his own set of questions yet to be answered.
One of these players is Daniel Zamora. The lefty from Stony Brook University had brief stints with the Mets in both 2018 and 2019, but he did not appear in a major league game for the team last year. Zamora spent some time with the Mets last year, called up to the big league team for about a week, before being sent to the team’s alternate site in Brooklyn.
Due to COVID-19 and no minor league season last year, it has been two years since Zamora appeared in a regular season game at any level. Zamora has seen mixed results so far in his time in the big leagues. When he came on in August 2018, he impressed, appearing in 16 games, striking out 16 batters per nine innings to go along with a 128 ERA+ and 2.38 FIP. However, his 2019 did not go as smoothly in three short stints with the team. Pitching in 17 games, the lefty’s strikeouts per nine innings were cut in half from 2018 to 8.3, while his ERA+ was 82 and a FIP of 4.94.
Just last week, Zamora was optioned to Triple-A off the major league spring training roster. Barring any injuries in the last week of camp, it’s where he is set to begin the 2021 season while sitting on the 40-man roster. Because of that distinction, Zamora will always be a prime candidate to be called up if an injury were to occur in the bullpen. These chances would increase even more if lefty Aaron Loup were to go down at any point during the season. ZiPS projects Zamora to generously appear in 48 games, while posting 3.92 FIP and 0.4 WAR.
If Zamora is to see extended time in the big leagues this year, Mets fans can hope he is close to these projections and his 2018 levels of production. If so, he could be a piece for the team both this year and in the future.