The Mets have invited 11 pitchers to spring training on non-roster deals. Pitchers invited run the gambit from top prospects in the system, to veterans looking to break camp with a new team. Last season the Mets invited ten pitchers to camp and eight of them ended up seeing time with the big league club.
Kyle Crick is in the veteran bucket of NRI pitchers. He made his major league debut back in 2017 and has played with the Giants, Pirates and White Sox before not pitching with any clubs last season.
Crick was drafted in the first round back in 2011. After breaking into the majors with the Giants in 2017 was then traded to the Pirates. The Giants sent Crick with Bryan Reynolds for Andrew McCutchen. A star-studded trade for sure.
His best season was back in 2018 where he got into 64 games throwing 60 1/3 innings with a 2.39 ERA, 3.14 FIP and a 1.127 WHIP. According to Baseball Savant, he was in the 83rd percentile for xERA, 81st for xBA, 89th in fastball velocity, and 89th for average exit velocity. Further he was in the 97th percentile for Barrel% and 100 for Hard-Hit%. Just all around really good stats.
Back in 2022 he pitched 15 2/3 innings with a 4.02 ERA, 3.18 FIP, and a 1.340 WHIP. He did not pitch enough in 2022 to qualify for most Baseball Savant metrics. His fastball velocity though dropped down to the 24th percentile. He threw 57% sliders around 80 mph (league average is a tick below 85) and 43% fastballs, averaging 92 mph.
The bullpen was an area of weakness for the Mets last season and they have spent a lot of time this off-season bringing in a ton of different pitchers on a variety of deals with a diversity of throwing styles. We’ll have a better idea of Kyle Crick fits in the depth chart in just a few short weeks!
