Current NY Mets players and their active MLB counterparts

Mets/non-Mets matchup: Aaron Loup and Adam Kolarek

In my opinion, there can never be enough sidearmers in Major League Baseball. These two pitchers are both lefty sidearm relievers that make a living off of fooling hitters with their unusual windups. Aaron Loup is a new Met this year, having played most recently for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2020. Adam Kolarek, who was actually drafted by the Mets in 2010 before they released him in 2015, spent two-plus years with the Rays in 2017-2019 before landing in his current spot with the Oakland A’s.

These two lefty sidearmers faced off against each other in the 2020 World Series, when Loup was a key arm in the Rays bullpen and Kolarek was with the eventual World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers. They were in unique company on those World Series rosters as two of the eight players across both teams who were never ranked on a top 30 prospects list.

As one of the newest members of the Mets relief corps, Loup brings with him a funky windup from the breeding ground of funky windups, AKA the Rays bullpen. He and Kolarek employ the sinker as a primary weapon in their pitching arsenals, both starting out their careers throwing that pitch approximately 80 percent of the time. Loup’s usage of the sinker has tailed off in recent years in favor of his cutter and curveball, while Kolarek’s sinker is still by far his number one pitch.

Their career opponent batting averages are nearly identical — Loup has held opposing hitters to a .251 average since he made his debut in 2012, and Kolarek has a career batting average against (BAA) of .245. However, when you split up that batting average across righties and lefties, there is much more disparity between their numbers. Righties have historically hit .307 off of Kolarek, while lefties have only hit .178. For Loup, the numbers are much more even — right-handed hitters have a .261 average against him, compared with .235 for lefties.

These two are not a perfect pitching match, but they have a similar brand of “lefty sidearm reliever/sinker specialist” and enough other similarities to make them worth comparing.

Mets/non-Mets matchup: Luis Guillorme and David Fletcher

In limited playing time since 2018 with the Mets, Luis Guillorme has become unofficially known as “the bearded magician” thanks to his sparkling defense in Queens. Guillorme has never played enough of a season to qualify for a Gold Glove nomination, though if his defense were extrapolated out over a full year, that could certainly be in the cards. Over in Anaheim with the Los Angeles Angels, David Fletcher has also manned multiple infield positions with ease since 2018 while flying under the radar nationally (he, too, has never been nominated for a Gold Glove). He and Guillorme have both made many “web gems” in their young careers.

Though Fletcher’s bat may be a bit more potent than Guillorme’s (Fletcher is a lifetime .292 hitter, compared to Guillorme at .267), Guillorme did bat .333 in 29 games for the Mets last season, indicating that his hitting might not be as much of a weakness as originally thought. Neither player hits for much power; Fletcher has 10 career home runs in 1103 at-bats, while Guillorme has just one in 191 career MLB at-bats.

Nonetheless, their solid infield instincts and contact-hitting prowess has made them both valuable roster pieces on either side of the country. Amidst a lineup containing the power threats of Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon, Shohei Ohtani, and Albert Pujols, Fletcher doesn’t need to be a “big bopper” and can stick to his strengths to help the team win games. Similarly, in New York, Guillorme plays with formidable power hitters such as Pete Alonso, Dominic Smith, Michael Conforto, and the newly acquired Francisco Lindor, among others, so his lack of power is comparatively not a weakness. Both players also rank as among the fastest runners on their respective teams.

Fletcher recently signed a five-year, $26 million extension with the Angels. The Mets will have several impending free agents to negotiate with over the next couple of years, so it is unlikely that reworking Guillorme’s contract will be high on their list of priorities. Still, he and Fletcher’s career trajectories thus far have been similar, and they both fit a “scrappy, defense-first infielder” roster profile that has made them fan favorites in their respective cities.

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If there’s one thing I learned after writing this article, it is truly that no two Major League Baseball players are perfectly alike. Even pitchers with seemingly identical arsenals or infielders that both catch everything in sight will have different ticks and quirks to their games. Part of the fun of baseball is that there is so much room for individual technique and flair between the lines. Even as a Mets fan, it is fun to watch players on other MLB teams and appreciate how they remind you of or take after your own guys.