The Mets are selecting the contract of hard-throwing righty Alex Carrillo, as first reported by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. He’s not on the 40-man roster, so they’ll need to make multiple transactions to facilitate the 28-year-old’s first call to the majors.
Carrillo’s journey to the majors is fairly remarkable. The California native went undrafted out of Alabama’s Faulkner University in 2019 and briefly signed with the Rangers that summer. He pitched 4 1/3 innings with their Rookie-level affiliate in the Arizona Complex League but, like many low-level minor leaguers, was cut loose the following year as teams released large swaths of young talent in the early stages of the pandemic.
Up until Opening Day 2025, those 4 1/3 innings in the Rangers system was Carrillo’s only experience in affiliated ball. He’s since pitched for two different teams in the independent Frontier League and has also pitched in two seasons for los Tigers de Quintana Roo in the Mexican League. The Mets scouted him this past winter when he was pitching for los Tigres de Aragua in the Venezuelan Winter League, and Carrillo impressed enough to land a minor league contract.
Carrillo was not invited to major league spring training and was assigned to Double-A to begin his Mets tenure. He’s proven to be a terrific under-the-radar pickup thus far. The 6’2″, 220-pound righty posted a 4.19 ERA in 19 1/3 Double-A frames but did so with an eye-catching 36.6% strikeout rate. That 4.19 earned run average also included a rocky start that was followed by a huge finish; Carrillo pitched 14 1/3 innings with a 1.88 ERA and a 24-to-3 K/BB ratio before being promoted to Triple-A. He’s responded with another 5 2/3 innings of nearly perfect pitching in Syracuse. Carrillo hasn’t allowed a hit or a walk there but did plunk one batter. He’s fanned ten opponents and averaged 98.5 mph on his heater.
Setting aside Carrillo’s first four appearances with the Mets — he allowed six runs in five innings during that initial stretch — he’s riding a 20-inning streak of 1.35 ERA ball with just three runs on nine hits and three walks. He’s punched out 34 batters in that time and has shown the ability to reach triple digits with his four-seamer.
Since this is Carrillo’s first call to the majors, he’ll have a full slate of minor league options. The Mets will be able to shuttle him up and down between Syracuse and Queens for the remainder of this season and two subsequent seasons. He’ll have the standard six full seasons of club control, meaning that if he can continue to shatter expectations, he can be controlled all the way through 2031.
“has shown the ability to reach triple digits with his four-seamer.”
Because that’s all that matters.
Who TF said that’s all that matters?
whyhayzee, a pathetic troll.
metzfan it would be helpful Steve Adams if when writing an article about the Syracuse Mets and the Mets that when you say he pitched four innings for the Mets you specifically put Syracuse in front of it every time
Tell us reading comprehension is not your strong suit.
metzfan: Is that why you led your post with your own username?
Another good move by Stearns.
If this works out, it’s another Daniel Nava type story. Given his age, it’s remarkable and I for one will be rooting for him.
@Mr.McNasty Another good move by Stearns? If you think that this is a good move, then what were the other good moves by Stearns? Was Zach Pop a good move? Was Tyler Zuber a good move? Was Jose Castillo a good move? Was Tyler Jay a good move? Was Ty Adcock a good move? Delusional
Hope he throws strikes.
PS. Wrong link…..
Yes, he’s not even in Baseball Reference somehow, unless he’s listed under a different name.
He is on Fangraphs for anyone interested.
Not often the Mets bring soneone up I’ve never heard of.
Sounds promising with all the strikeouts and decent control so far.
@bbgod They called up Rico Garcia the other day, not to mention the other garbage time reliever “fixer-upper” types like Tyler Zuber and Ty Adcock. Most of the relievers they call up are no names, because of the penny pinching GM. No names produce no results
Might be the second coming of Sid Frinch.
*SIDD FINCH. And it was English, not Frinch. 🤣
Bye bye Zack Pop…
That happened Sunday…by the 5th inning.
Love hearing stories like this though. Congrats to him for making it to the big leagues.
And yet, there a people walking around right now throwing 90, with pinpoint control, and nasty breaking pitches that aren’t even being looked at anymore because they don’t throw 99.
It’s almost like Big League hitters handle 90 on the black just fine, but 99 is hard to hit no matter where you throw it.
@RonDarlingShouldntBeInTheHallOfFame when Stearns was hired, I was told that he was a “bullpen guru” and that he was going to be able to create a great bullpen with low-cost options that he could “fix up”. You can’t name not even one reliever that hes developed into a decent major league reliever. Can’t say Reed Garrett either, since he was an Eppler move
The question is will the Dodgers or Mets break the record for pitchers used in a season and how far past the current record they will go?
He once pitched for Aragua. Was the team called the Tren Days?