Edwin Diaz Looks Like Difference Maker for New York Mets
The New York Mets have an elite closer this season.
Edwin Diaz picked up his first multi-inning save of the year on Sunday night to secure a 5-5 record for his team on a difficult 10-game west coast road trip.
With the Mets leading the Los Angeles Angels 3-1 with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning and the tying run at the plate, manager Buck Showalter turned to Diaz to come in to pickup a five-out save. This move proved to pay off.
Diaz struck out the mighty Mike Trout on an 100 mph fastball, and despite issuing a two-out walk, the righty came back to strikeout Jared Walsh on an 102 mph heater, his fastest pitch thrown this season.
Fast forward to the ninth inning, in which the Mets now led 4-1 after a Pete Alonso solo home run, and the Angels didn't put up much of a fight. Diaz struck out the side, picking up his 12th save of 2022. He struck out five of the six batters he faced in this game, and did not allow the Angels to put a ball in play.
The biggest moment of the game came down to Diaz entering to face a superstar in Trout as the tying run in the eighth. Fortunately, Diaz knew how to attack Trout, given the experience he had facing him in the American League West from 2016 to 2018. The result was a blistering triple-digit fastball to strike him out.
"I've faced him before, I know how to pitch him. I got a good result against him, and today I did my job," Diaz told reporters afterward.
"It was their best against ours," Showalter said of the decision to use Diaz for five outs to lockdown Sunday's win.
One longtime rival agent recently described Diaz as a "difference maker" for the Mets this season. And that is exactly what the flame-throwing closer has been.
According to Baseball Savant, Diaz is throwing his slider 53.9% of the time, which has drawn a .138 batting average. Last season, he threw it 37.8% of the time, with a .152 opponent average. His fastball usage has lowered from 61.6% to 45.8% in 2022.
Diaz looks like the best version of himself since being traded to the Mets prior to the 2019 season. So far, he appears to have finally recaptured his previous dominant form with the Seattle Mariners, in which he led the American League with 57 saves and captured the AL Reliever of the Year Award in 2018.
In 25.1 innings this season, Diaz, 28, has posted a 1.1 bWAR, 2-1 record, 2.13 ERA, 190 ERA+, 1.066 WHIP and 17.1 K/9. He has also struck out 48 of 100 batters he has faced in 2022.
During his tenure with the Mets, Diaz has certainly endured his ups and downs on the mound. But this season, during a contract year, he appears to be putting it all together. He is now looking like a difference maker for the first place Mets.
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