April 30: The Mets have now made it official. Waddell has been selected with right-hander Kevin Herget optioned as the corresponding move.
April 29: The Mets are going to select the contract of left-hander Brandon Waddell tomorrow, per Tim Healey of Newsday. The southpaw will either start the game or work bulk innings behind an opener. That decision will perhaps be determined by who the club uses in tonight’s game. The Mets have an open 40-man spot after designating José Ureña for assignment earlier today, but they will need to make a corresponding active roster move.
The move is perhaps a reflection of the club’s schedule, as they are currently four games deep into a stretch of playing 13 straight. Kodai Senga, Clay Holmes, Tylor Megill and Griffin Canning started the first four. David Peterson starts tonight. Rather than have Senga pitch on normal rest tomorrow, Waddell will take the ball and push everyone else by a day.
Waddell, 31 in June, signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the offseason. He has made five Triple-A starts to begin the year and logged 23 1/3 innings, allowing just 1.54 earned runs per nine. He has a 21.6% strikeout rate, 7.2% walk rate and 50% ground ball rate.
His previous major league experience is fairly limited. He tossed 12 2/3 innings over the 2020 and 2021 seasons with the Pirates, Twins, Orioles and Cardinals. He headed to Korea for the 2022 through 2024 campaigns, pitching for the Doosan Bears of the KBO League. He tossed 244 2/3 innings over that time with a 2.98 ERA, which led to his minor league deal with the Mets this past winter.
Presumably, Waddell is just going to make one appearance and then be sent back down to the minors. He does still have an option remaining, so it’s possible he could hang onto his 40-man roster spot to serve as depth.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
Where’s that “Lol Mets” guy that called me an “old man” when I told him and others to “trust in the David Stearns process?” And I’m hardly any Met’s fan.
“lol Mets” guy was muted by every single person on this app, so nobody can see him anymore
Why would they need to make another active roster move after Ureña was on it yesterday? Maybe there was a move when Ureña was DFA’d.
Because per the article on the DFA, they already called up Kevin Herget to take his place on the active roster.
Herget pitched tonight against AZ.
Ahh, I see they brought up Herget before selecting Waddell.
Called this the other day when Minter went down. Waddell has pitched very well in Syracuse after pitching overseas. Hopefully he pitches well and they can use him again later in the season.
… or make him another lefty (and long man) in the pen after the 6-man is no loner needed.
Could well happen.
Any relation to Rube? Or Tom?
Known affectionately in Syracuse as “Duck.”
I was excitedly looking for this reference and you did not disappoint.
Decent work in AAA but the 1.283 WHIP and good luck on HR allowed don’t inspire a lot of confidence.
Still, he was solid in Korea in 2023-24. No idea what to expect from Rube, Jr.
Big chance to shine ?
Old enough to remember when Rick Reed was called up to start a game circa 1997. Recall the WFAN Mets beat reporter at the time prefacing with (paraphrasing) “that’s the game you worry about.” How sweet it would be if this fellow could find similar magic