Current NY Mets players and their active MLB counterparts

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 05: Luis Guillorme #13 of the New York Mets looks on against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on August 05, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - AUGUST 05: Luis Guillorme #13 of the New York Mets looks on against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field on August 05, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
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PORT ST. LUCIE, FLORIDA – MARCH 03: Noah Syndergaard #34 of the New York Mets delivers a pitch during the spring training game against the Miami Marlins at Clover Park on March 03, 2020 in Port St. Lucie, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
PORT ST. LUCIE, FLORIDA – MARCH 03: Noah Syndergaard #34 of the New York Mets delivers a pitch during the spring training game against the Miami Marlins at Clover Park on March 03, 2020 in Port St. Lucie, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

The word “doppelganger” might be a little strong here, but it is true that for the New York Mets and all over baseball, players on different MLB teams sometimes resemble each other. No two players are ever created exactly equal, but baseball players often fit into certain “molds” or “profiles” that tend to be replicated throughout the league.

There are plenty of MLB players across different teams that are similar in name only. Take Will Smith, the Los Angeles Dodgers catcher, and Will Smith, the Atlanta Braves reliever. One homered off the other in the postseason last year (I’ll let you figure out who did what). There are also two MLB relievers named Josh Smith, both of whom were on the Miami Marlins at the same time in 2020.

Besides just with their names, baseball players can evoke each other with their appearance, pitching arsenal, and defensive prowess, among other things. Here are three player pairs, one Mets and one non-Mets player, that I think on the surface profile similarly. I look forward to seeing how alike these players really are after doing some digging.

Mets/non-Mets matchup: Noah Syndergaard and Tyler Glasnow

When I think about “right-handed power pitchers” (besides Jacob deGrom) with plus-velocity on all of their pitches and devastating strikeout-worthy stuff, these two pitchers come to mind. Noah Syndergaard has a better overall track record than Tyler Glasnow, with one more season in the league and a career ERA that is over a run lower than Glasnow’s. Though I love the ERA statistic as much as the next person, their overall career ERAs do not tell the whole story when examining the similarities between these two pitchers.

Both of them came into the league throwing over 95 mph with ease, and with a plus curveball to boot. Syndergaard has since become more of a mixed bag with his pitches, weaving in sinkers, changeups, and sliders much more as his career has progressed. Glasnow sticks more to a fastball/curveball mix with the occasional changeup thrown in, and in 2021 he has begun experimenting with a slider/cutter combo that he has dubbed “the slutter.”

In 2019, the two were near the top of several velocity-related pitching leaderboards, with the caveat that Glasnow’s season was shortened due to injury. In average fastball velocity across all pitchers with at least 60 innings pitched, Syndergaard’s 97.8 mph ranked 4th, while Glasnow’s 96.9 mph was tied for 14th. In changeup velocity within that same group of pitchers, Glasnow ranked #1 in all of baseball with an average changeup of 92.6 mph, while Syndergaard ranked sixth with a 91.1 mph changeup.

Something else interesting to note is that both Glasnow and Syndergaard have pitched much better during the day than at night during their careers. Their career ERAs are both at least two-thirds of a run lower in day starts than night starts — Syndergaard’s night ERA is 3.59 vs. a 2.77 mark in day starts, for a 0.82 run difference, while Glasnow’s night and day ERAs are 4.50 and 3.84, respectively, for a 0.66 run difference. Perhaps in the future, one of them will snatch the “Sunshine Superman” nickname away from deGrom, who currently sports a 1.88 career ERA in day games.

Glasnow and Syndergaard have also been frequently featured by Rob Friedman, aka “Pitching Ninja,” on Twitter.

Aside from those statistical similarities, both starters have several intangibles in common. They are tall, imposing, right-handed presences on the mound, Glasnow standing at 6-foot-8 and Syndergaard at 6-foot-6. They were both traded away from the team that drafted them, and both have pitched in one World Series in their careers. Of course, they also both have notably fantastic hair. Despite their outstanding pitching arsenals, neither pitcher has come super close to winning a Cy Young award, though Syndergaard knocked on the door by finishing 8th in the 2016 NL Cy Young voting.

I think of Glasnow as similar in potential dominance to Syndergaard, but with less pinpoint control (his career walk rate of 4.1 BB/9 is nearly double Syndergaard’s career mark of 2.1 BB/9).  It’s hard to come up with a true counterpart to Thor elsewhere in MLB, but these two pitchers are similar enough that examining their careers side-by-side is, at the very least, a fun exercise in going down baseball-related rabbit holes.

PORT ST. LUCIE, FLORIDA – MARCH 18: Aaron Loup #32 of the New York Mets delivers a pitch in the seventh inning against the Washington Nationals in a spring training game at Clover Park on March 18, 2021 in Port St. Lucie, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)
PORT ST. LUCIE, FLORIDA – MARCH 18: Aaron Loup #32 of the New York Mets delivers a pitch in the seventh inning against the Washington Nationals in a spring training game at Clover Park on March 18, 2021 in Port St. Lucie, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

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.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 09: Luis Guillorme #13 of the New York Mets throws out Chance Sisco #15 of the Baltimore Orioles on a ground ball in the ninth inning at Citi Field on September 09, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 09: Luis Guillorme #13 of the New York Mets throws out Chance Sisco #15 of the Baltimore Orioles on a ground ball in the ninth inning at Citi Field on September 09, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

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.

Next. Who had the sweetest swings in Mets history?

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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.

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