Tommy Hunter

The Mets will soon be adding veteran reliever Tommy Hunter to their roster, according to Michael Mayer of Metsmerized. A specific date of his promotion hasn’t been specified yet.

The 35-year-old Hunter is a veteran who, once he gets into a game, will have pitched in each MLB season since 2008. He was largely a starter in his first few seasons but transitioned to bullpen duties full-time for the 2013 season. From that year to the present, he’s logged 402 MLB innings with a 3.18 ERA, 20.7% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 45.9% ground ball rate.

He was with the Mets last year, but pitched just eight innings before going on the injured list due to a back issue. He was later traded to the Rays for financial reasons but never made it back to the field, having undergone back surgery. After eventually returning to health, he held a showcase for teams in April and then returned to the Mets’ organization on a minor league deal.

Pitching for the Triple-A Syracuse Mets this year, Hunter has thrown 13 2/3 innings over eight appearances. His 4.61 ERA maybe doesn’t excite, though the peripherals paint a rosier picture. His 23% strikeout rate and 1.6% walk rate are being undercut somewhat by a .318 BABIP and 56.3% strand rate.

Hunter isn’t currently on the club’s 40-man roster, meaning a corresponding move will be necessary when his contract is selected.

The Mets are in agreement with reliever Tommy Hunter on a minor league contract, report Ken Rosenthal and Britt Ghiroli of the Athletic (Twitter link). The Athletic adds that the righty will report to the team’s complex in Port St. Lucie this week and is hoping to build into MLB game shape by June.

Ghiroli reported this morning that Hunter recently conducted a showcase in front of scouts. It didn’t take long for him to find a home after demonstrating his current form, as he’ll return to the place where he began the 2021 season. The 6’3″ hurler signed a minor league deal with New York last February, then pitched his way onto the MLB roster by the first week of May. Hunter worked eight scoreless innings across four appearances, punching out six while issuing three walks and allowing four hits.

Unfortunately, Hunter landed on the injured list just two weeks after the Mets called him up. He was nebulously diagnosed with lower back pain, but he was transferred to the 60-day IL not long thereafter. New York traded Hunter to the Rays to offset some money in the teams’ July Rich Hill deal, but he remained on Tampa Bay’s IL all season. The veteran qualified for free agency, and his stay on the open market was quiet until today.

According to Ghiroli, Hunter underwent back surgery at some point last year. He’s now progressed to throwing, and he’ll take the next month-plus to accumulate pitches and build stamina in hopes of making a midseason return to the bullpen. If healthy, the 14-year MLB veteran should have a good shot at landing a middle innings role for skipper Buck Showalter. Since moving from the rotation to the ’pen with Showalter’s Orioles in 2013, Hunter has tossed 402 innings of 3.18 ERA ball, holding opposing hitters to a .238/.285/.370 slash line. Hunter’s velocity has fallen from its 97 MPH peak into the 92-94 range of late, but he has excellent control and has generally induced ground-balls at a better than average clip.

Staying healthy has been an issue for Hunter, who spent some time on the IL in each season between 2016-21 (although his 2020 stint was COVID-related, not due to a physical injury). On a non-roster deal, there’s little risk for the Mets in gauging Hunter’s form over the next few weeks to determine whether to add him back to the big league bullpen.

MARCH 30: The Mets have re-signed Hunter to another minor-league deal, reports Mike Puma of the New York Post (Twitter link).

MARCH 25: The Mets announced Thursday that veteran reliever Tommy Hunter has been released. Newsday’s Tim Healey tweets that the right-hander had an opt-out clause in his contract today. Hunter will head back to the open market in search of a spot with a club that has a clearer path to the big leagues.

Hunter, 34, has been a rock-solid reliever for the past eight seasons but has battled injuries in recent years with the Phillies. A hamstring strain limited his time with the Phils in 2018, and a forearm strain wiped out nearly his entire 2019 season. He returned to the Phils on a low-cost, one-year deal last winter and performed fairly well, logging a 4.01 ERA and 3.57 SIERA with strong strikeout and walk percentages (24.5 and 5.9, respectively).

Dating back to the 2013 season, Hunter carries a 3.24 ERA/3.40 SIERA in 394 innings of bullpen work. He’s had excellent control throughout his career, but Hunter’s once-pedestrian strikeout rates have ticked upward in recent seasons. After punching out just 19 percent of his opponents from 2013-16, he’s fanned batters at a 23.5 percent clip from 2017-20.

Hunter’s sinker, which averaged 96.3 mph as recently as 2017 with the Rays, clocked in at a much more timid average of 92.7 mph with the Phillies this past season, so there’s perhaps some moderate cause for concern. But he still proved effective with that reduced velocity, perhaps in part due to a big jump in his curveball usage. His swinging-strike rate (10 percent) and opponents’ chase rate (34.8 percent) were both within striking distance of the levels he’d set in previous seasons as well, so it doesn’t seem as though the lost life on his sinker was a substantial detriment.

Hunter has pitched in five games this spring, allowing three runs on four hits and four walks with three punchouts through five innings of work. It’s not the most impressive body of work, but it is of course a rather small sample. The more important note for clubs seeking some veteran bullpen depth will be that Hunter has been getting in regular work this spring and should be largely built up for Opening Day readiness.