The Mets announced today that they have selected the contract of right-hander Dom Hamel. Fellow righty Austin Warren has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse as the corresponding active roster move. The 40-man roster had a vacancy with righty Rico Garcia being designated for assignment yesterday.
Hamel, 26, gets called up to the big leagues for the first time and will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. He was picked by the Mets in the third round of the 2021 draft. As he climbed the minor league ladder, he worked as a starter and got some love from prospect evaluators. The short version of his scouting report is that he doesn’t have overpowering stuff but has a five-pitch mix that allows him to get outs against batters from either side of the plate.
For his first few professional seasons, Baseball America ranked Hamel as one of the Mets’ top 11 or 12 prospects. From 2021 to 2023, he tossed 246 innings over various levels with a 3.51 earned run average, 30.4% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate. However, he hit a wall last year, with a 6.79 ERA in 27 Double-A starts. His strikeout rate fell to 21.3% while his walk rate climbed to 13.2%. That got him bumped out of BA’s top 30 coming into 2025.
He’s been in more a swing role at Triple-A this year, having started eight of his 22 appearances. In his 53 1/3 innings, he has a 4.73 ERA, not amazing but much better than last year. His 25.8% strikeout rate and 6.6% walk rate are also encouraging. At the end of June, FanGraphs ranked him as the #22 prospect in the system, noting that he should be able to serve as a decent bulk reliever.
The Mets got crushed yesterday, losing 12-4 to the Giants. Even though starter Frankie Montas was getting hit around, he was pushed through four innings. Then Warren came in and saved the bullpen by tossing four innings of relief, tossing 68 pitches in the process. Ryne Stanek came in to get the ninth but struggled badly, allowing five earned runs while only getting two outs. Catcher Luis Torrens came in to get the final out of the ninth.
Warren wasn’t going to be available for a few days, so he’s been subbed out for Hamel. If tonight’s game turns out to be a laugher, then Hamel will likely be the one tapped to soak up some innings out of the bullpen. Since this is his first big league call, he has a full slate of options and could easily be sent back to the minors when the Mets again want to bring in a fresh arm.
Photo courtesy of Sam Navarro, Imagn Images
I don’t know much about this guy, but another well known “Dom” got a big hit yesterday to help beat the Amazins yesterday.
Maybe he’s related to Dom Torreto and really cares about family.
So?
Not much to know. Its a fairly typical prospect story. He moved quickly and generally pitched well through AA, and has struggled in AAA. He’s not being called up because he did well or is ready. He’s being called up because he’s expendable and they don’t mind yanking him back and forth, spending his options, or even DFAing him if a roster crunch should arise.
pretty sure i posted this 18 hours ago on the garcia article
Not sure you needed to rush this one on to the site before finishing the story.
Today’s bulk reliever. Mets have 1 starters and 4 openers.
The article needs correcting: “he hit a wall last year, with a 6.79 ERA in 27 Double-A starts.”. Hamel’s struggles and that ERA last year were in triple-A, not double-A.
At some point, I hope the Mets can more permanently keep one of the Triple-A shuttle pitchers who have actually pitched very well for them (Warren, Garcia, Castillo) and jettison Stanek, who hasn’t pitched well at all.
The bigger problem is that they need length from their starters. It’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, but I would have preferred they added to their starting pitcher depth at the deadline vs. acquiring Cedric Mullins, who is a decent player but not much of an upgrade to their outfield.
Starryl: I got the impression that asking prices for starting pitchers were too high for Stearns’ appetite.
If teams were insisting on names like Jonah Tong or Brandon Sproat for the likes of Sandy Alcantara, Merrill Kelly, or Mitch Keller, then I’m glad he didn’t pull any triggers.
Hat tip to Austin Warren. Whenever they call him up, he’s always ready to give them whatever they need. Four innings and almost 60 pitches yesterday. He’ll be back at some point.
Four scoreless innings against the Giants on Sunday wasn’t enough to keep Austin Warren in the majors. Of course, this move was just to bring in a fresh arm, but MLB has devolved to the point that a fresh arm can just be any pitcher at all with not much emphasis on quality (like with the Farhan Zaidi roster churns). Fresh maybe but not good.
At some point, I’d like the Mets to drop the starter who has nothing or the veteran bullpen guy who keeps getting torched instead of the guy who actually did his job
Stanek is almost outta here. Might as well DFA Stanek and drop Montas from the rotation. At this point, Blackburn should backfill Montas in the rotation. Then use Montas for bulk innings.
If Blackburn fails, then DFA him.
Montas $34 million for nothing but garbage pitching is not working out and it’s causing roster issues. The Montas contract is a disaster.
Montas and Stanek, nice job Stearns
Stanek has been decent at times. Montas, not so much.
In three of his seven starts, Montas has actually given up two or fewer runs. He’s been absolutely terrible in three other starts, and bad in one. Not too different than most teams typically get out of their fifth starter. Its just more magnified here because most of the rotation is failing to get length and the bullpen is worn out because of it.