NY Mets: 8 Ex-Amazins who killed it with other teams in 2021

These two former Mets, both on the World Series roster in 2015, had really nice seasons in 2021 — even if they weren’t spectacular.

Steven Matz

Matz’s Mets (say that ten times fast) career was interesting, to say the very least. From the time of his first interview on SNY with Kevin Burkhardt, there was a ton of hype surrounding the southpaw. He started out well but never was able to take that step into becoming a reliable, middle-of-the-rotation starter. By the time the Mets shipped him off to Toronto before the 2021 season, he was coming off of a just horrific season where he threw just 30.2 innings to the tune of 9.68 ERA.

Matz didn’t blow the doors off of anything in 2021, but by the time it was over, he still turned in his statistically best season by pretty much every metric since 2016. He started out on fire, posting a 2.31 ERA through his first five starts, and while he certainly stumbled at times throughout the season, he finished with a very respectable 3.82 ERA. Nothing crazy, but certainly a nice and solid season.

Wilmer Flores

The all-time leader in walk-off hits for Mets, Flores holds a special place in many Mets fans’ hearts. A good role player who could man all four spots on the infield (even if he couldn’t play them that well), Flores was an important part of the Mets teams of the mid-2010s. He was never a star, and he was statistically about an average hitter, but he had an uncanny knack for coming up big in the most important spots.

In 2021, his second year in San Francisco, Flores wasn’t spectacular by any means. He’s not going to appear on any MVP ballots and he’s not going to win a Gold Glove or Silver Slugger. What Flores did do though was have the best season of his career in terms of bWAR, putting up a 1.6 mark. He hit .262/.335/.447 with 18 home runs, tied for the most in his career.

Most importantly, Flores was a key cog in a 107 win San Francisco Giants team that shocked the baseball community. While their season (and especially Wilmer’s) ended unceremoniously, the Giants were one of the best stories in baseball in 2021, and Flores was a key part of it.

It’s time to quickfire some not-at-all memorable pitchers who had Mets careers that ranged from bad to flat-out horrific. Spoiler alert, it’s mainly the latter.

Paul Sewald

Sewald is the only one out of the four who had even any minor success when he was a Met. HE was never good, but he was at times a passable bullpen arm in non-crucial situations. Still, his best season was when he had a 4.55 ERA, and he finished his Mets career with a 5.50 ERA in 147.1 innings over parts of four seasons.

With the Mariners in 2021 however, Sewald had a 3.06 ERA in 64.2 innings pitched and even picked up 11 saves along the way. He was a huge part of the Mariners’ bullpen as Seattle got dangerously close to snapping their over two-decade-long playoff drought.

Chris Flexen

Amazingly, Sewald wasn’t the only former Mets pitcher to turn his career around on the 2021 Seattle Mariners. Flexen, who was just awful in parts of three seasons with the Mets from 2017-19, was legitimately good in 2021. Seriously, after putting up an 8.07 ERA in 68 innings with the Mets, Flexen turned in a 3.61 ERA in 179.2 innings with the Mariners.

He made a whopping 31 starts as he really just blossomed into the starter Seattle evidently thought he could become. The West Coast Mets were a fun story in 2021, and with Flexen and Sewald under control for a while and a young roster around them, maybe we’ll see them in October soon.

Collin McHugh

An 18th round draft pick of the Mets in 2008, McHugh made his MLB debut in 2012. In June of 2013, after Mets career with a 8.26 ERA through 28.1 innings, he was traded to Colorado. The Mets got back Eric Young Jr. for him, and while EY never really hit, he could fly, and he was a useful piece in Queens for a couple of seasons.

After an unsuccessful stint with the Rockies, McHugh completely transformed his career in Houston, starting out in the rotation for four season before transitioning to the bullpen for his final two with the Astros. After opting out in 2020, McHugh spent his 2021 season in Tampa Bay where he put up a great 1.55 ERA in 64 innings, even acting as the opener for Game 4 of the ALDS. He’s now a free agent, so who knows, maybe the Mets can bring him home.

Hunter Strickland

Do you remember Strickland’s 3.1 innings pitched for the Mets in 2020? Neither do I, but Baseball References says it happened, so technically, he’s a former Mets. He did also get in a full fist/helmet fight with Bryce Harper a few years ago, so he at least gets some bonus points for that. Despite playing for three different organizations in 2021, Strickland actually had a good season, something not usually associated with jumping from team to team.

He was just about league average with the Rays before they sent him to the Angels for cash in May. There, he was really bad for a handful of outings before the Angels apparently changed their minds about wanting him and dealt him to the Brewers for some cash in June, where he was really, really good. Ultimately, he finished the season with a really nice 2.61 ERA on a playoff team, as he turned in a year just about any team would be happy to get.

Let’s talk about Jenrry Mejia! Yes, you read that right.

No, the first player to ever receive the lifetime ban for PEDs (a ban that he has since been reinstated from) did not pitch in the big leagues this season. He did however pitch in The Mexican League for the Algodoneros de Union Laguna, so that’s something. In 26 games and 28.1 innings pitched, Mejia had a 3.81 ERA and 14 saves, not too shabby.

Really though, this was just an excuse to talk about him. Remember how fun he was when he was on the Mets? There are few things in the last decade of Mets baseball that stand out more than his stomp after he saved a game. For a little while there, he was actually really solid too. He carried a ton of weight in 2014, racking up 93.2 innings pitched in 63 appearances, including 28 saves and seven starts.

The Mets even used him as a starter at the beginning of the

year, and while he wasn’t nearly as good in that role, he certainly wasn’t close to the worst thing Mets fans had ever seen. Then, after he transitioned to the bullpen role, he put up a 2.72 ERA from that point forward. His 3.65 ERA on the year isn’t even that bad, but it doesn’t show just how good he really was.

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Yes, he may have been a bit of a roller coaster ride while on the mound, but what reliever isn’t? The bottom line is he got the job done, and while his time in the bright New York spotlight might have been brief, it was as memorable as they come.