The Mets signed Zach Muckenhirn to a minor league deal back at the end of November. The 27 (soon to be 28)-year old is looking to break through on to the 40 man roster as a lefty reliever. In addition to competing with the players already on the Mets roster, he is competing against other NRI’s like T.J. McFarland to be that lefty specialist.
Muckenhirn was drafted by the Orioles in the 11th round back in 2016 out of the University of North Dakota. In his last year with the Orioles in 2019, he showed success in AA ball (3.21 ERA, 37 games, 53 1/3 innings) but faltered in his brief time in AAA ball allowing seven runs over 3 2/3 innings. Then Covid19 happened and minor league baseball stopped. He bounced over to Puerto Rico where he had success in small samples. Over 11 outings (12 1/3) innings in 2020 he had a 0.73 ERA.
This was enough to get picked up by the White Sox in 2021 where he impressed with a 1.77 ERA over 40 2/3 innings. He continued that success into the winter where he played in another 9 games allowing no runs.
Muckenhirn continued to have success last year in AAA ball with the White Sox with a 3.11 ERA and 1.345 WHIP over 47 games and 55 innings.
Right now, Muckenhirn is on the outside looking in. He’s fighting for a roster spot and doesn’t have any major league experience yet. The last couple of seasons though, between playing in Puerto Rico and States, he has shown flashes of success. It’s all about getting hot at the end of the Spring. Muckenhirn can make some noise and force the issue. Ultimately, the Mets will be looking at how he does against major league level players for a later in the season callup.
If Muckenhirn has a spring similar to what he did in Charlotte last season, and starts off in Syracuse the same way, it feels more than likely he’ll see some playing time in Queens this year.
