New York Mets Reliever Jose Butto Could Quietly Be Dominating Force in Bullpen

The New York Mets have one of the stronger bullpens in MLB, and even with the big names at the backend, Jose Butto could prove to be one of their better options.

Sep 22, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets pitcher Jose Butto (70) reacts to getting the third out during the seventh inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field. | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

The New York Mets have put together one of the more star-studded bullpens across all of Major League Baseball.

With Edwin Diaz serving as closer, the rest of the unit contains household names like A.J. Minter, Reed Garrett, Ryne Stanek, and Griffin Canning. Just how great is their bullpen? FanGraphs projects young right-handed pitcher Jose Butto to serve as a setup man over both Garrett and Stanek.

Butto is approaching his age-27 season and his fourth at the Major League level. While he has not reached that top-tier level of reliever status yet, he has quietly laid a solid foundation through his first three years with the Mets and is now entering the heart of his prime.

The young pitcher has split time between serving as a starter and as a reliever, but has fared much better in a relief role. In 79 innings across 15 starts, he has posted a 3.76 ERA and 1.30 WHIP with 74 strikeouts; as a reliever, he has pitched to a 2.63 ERA and 1.05 WHIP across 41 innings in 25 games with 48 strikeouts.

Butto is not the flamethrower that many expect to see come running out of the pen late in games. His four-seam fastball averaged 93.9 MPH in 2024, falling in the 47th percentile in MLB. Despite the lack of velocity, it still grades out as one of the best fastballs in the sport, totaling eight points of run value in 2024, ranking 42nd out of 356 pitchers.

Butto's strength comes more from deception. The pitcher likes to fill the zone with his fastball before turning to his secondary offerings, making batters chase breaking and offspeed pitches out of the zone to put them away. This has led to a high walk rate (12.9 percent in 2024), though he counteracts that weakness by limiting base hits.

The young star is a reverse-splits darling, performing better against left-handed batters than he does those opposite. Against righties in 2024, Butto allowed a still-solid .213/.284/.339 line across 142 plate appearances. But lefties were only able to bat a meager .118/.290/.210 across 152 plate appearances. Butto can come in late in a game against righties or lefties and should face no issues.

Butto is not the flashiest reliever on the roster, but he makes his offerings work through deception and limiting hard contact. While he may walk more batters than some would like, he more than makes up for it by allowing a paltry amount of base hits, and his wide repertoire will continue to serve him well into 2025 and beyond.