Mets Designate Cole Sulser For Assignment

The Mets have designated right-handed reliever Cole Sulser for assignment, per a team announcement. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to catcher Logan Porter, whose previously reported split major league deal is now official. Porter, who still has multiple minor league option years remaining, has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse.

Sulser, 34, signed a minor league deal over the winter and pitched 4 2/3 innings for the Mets back in April and May. He allowed five runs on six hits and three walks with seven punchouts during that short stint. He’s spent the majority of the season in Triple-A, where he’s posted a sparkling 1.48 earned run average in 30 1/3 frames. Excellent as that mark has been, however, Sulser has also walked 13.2% of his opponents and benefited massively from a .182 average on balls in play. Even with a sharp 28.1% strikeout rate and huge 56.7% grounder rate, it’s fair to expect a good bit of ERA regression.

For one season with the Orioles, Sulser looked to have broken out as a quality big league reliever. He pitched 63 1/3 innings for Baltimore in 2021 and turned in a 2.70 ERA, 28.4% strikeout rate, 8.9% walk rate and 41.3% ground-ball rate. Traded to the Marlins alongside Tanner Scott the following offseason, Sulser hit an immediate wall. From 2022-24, he’s pitched 44 MLB innings between the Fish, D-backs and Mets but limped to a 5.93 ERA. He’s still fanned just over a quarter of his opponents, but Sulser has done so with an 11.3% walk rate and with immense susceptibility to home runs (1.84 HR/9). He’s also seen a heater that averaged 93.2 mph back in ’21 dip to an average of 91.9 mph this year (both figures via Statcast).

The Mets will either trade Sulser, release him or place him on outright waivers within the next five days. Waivers would be an additional 48-hour process from the point at which he’s placed. Within a week’s time, he’ll know the outcome of his DFA.