Mets' Sean Manaea Reflects on New Relief Role

In the week leading up to Opening Day, the New York Mets made the decision to bump Sean Manaea out of the starting rotation.

Although Manaea asserted himself as a starting pitcher and Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns anticipates using him as such over the course of the season, the lefty made his 2026 debut with a relief outing on Sunday. He threw 29 pitches over the course of 1.1 innings and allowed a hit and two walks, but didn't allow a run and struck out two.

A pair of strikeouts for Sean Manaea in the 8th pic.twitter.com/GnmqDLJxXW
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 29, 2026

After the game, which ended in a 4-3 extra-inning defeat, Manaea was asked by the media about how he felt during his outing and his expectations in a relief role.

"Still got some things to work on, but overall it felt really good," Manaea said. "At the end of the day, I'm just going to pitch when they need me to. Whatever that case may be, I'll be ready."

Sean Manaea was asked if being used in relief was different than he expected:

"At the end of the day, I'm just going to pitch when they need me to. Whatever that case may be, I'll be ready." pic.twitter.com/k8t3lt4Iq9
— SNY (@SNYtv) March 29, 2026

How Sean Manaea Could Be Utilized This Season

It wasn't a particularly encouraging outing for Manaea, as his velocity remained down at 88.7 MPH on his fastball. Additionally, all three balls the Pirates put in play had exit velocities over 100 mph, with the last batter (Nick Gonzalez) recording a 108.6 mph exit velocity on a groundout. Nonetheless, it still gave the Mets the chance to win a game that manager Carlos Mendoza later admitted was limited in bullpen usage.

By the way, Sean Manaea's velocity did not tick up with the adrenaline of his first regular season outing.

Manaea averaged 88.7 mph on his fastball today over 1.1 innings (29 pitches) in relief. That's 3 mph softer than his average last year, the same trend we saw from the lefty…
— Max Goodman (@MaxTGoodman) March 29, 2026

The intent of moving Manaea to the bullpen was to use him as a piggyback pitcher in relief of a starter (in today's case, Nolan McLean). However, he was used later in the game than what would normally be expected from a piggyback pitcher, replacing Huascar Brazoban (who took over for McLean in the sixth inning) in the seventh in a higher-leverage appearance.

Leadoff batter Oneil Cruz was the first Pirate to face Manaea on the afternoon, which indicates that Mendoza waited to deploy him once Pittsburgh's lineup flipped to the top of the order. The top four of the Pirates' order (Cruz, Brandon Lowe, Bryan Reynolds and Ryan O'Hearn) featured three lefties and a switch-hitter, which further made it an optimal lane to use Manaea.

With the eventual intent for Manaea to start games, his next relief appearance will likely be over the course of more innings and see him throw more pitches to build himself up. He could also be used in long-relief alongside Tobias Myers, creating a lefty-righty platoon role there until he is re-slotted back into the rotation.

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