1 NY Mets player the team has used perfectly this season

Bullpen management rarely grabs headlines, but this season, Carlos Mendoza’s approach deserves a second look. In a league full of overworked arms and misused relievers, Mendoza plays the role of a master tactician, like Q in MI6 carefully selecting the perfect gadget for each mission. There’s one arm in particular he’s leaned on, not every night, but always at the precise moment when the stakes are highest. Deployed with the exact timing of a well-calibrated device, consistently impactful, this reliever has become a key piece in the New York Mets bullpen puzzle. It’s a lesson in patience, timing, and knowing exactly when to send in the right tool.

Carlos Mendoza’s smart use of Reed Garrett has been a game-changer for the NY Mets bullpen.

When Mendoza needs stability in chaos, he doesn't reach for the standard option, he goes for the one designed for the job. Reed Garrett has become that piece. For the season, Garrett owns a 0.95 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 28.1 innings, holding right-handed hitters to a .169 average and a .483 OPS. He’s faced them in 68 of his 103 at-bats, often dropped in with surgical intent to disarm the middle of an order before it gets loud. 55 of the batters he’s faced have come from the heart of opposing lineups, hitters slotted third through sixth, proof that Mendoza isn’t saving Garrett for clean innings. He’s using him where the damage lives.

And it’s not about throwing him out there every day. Garrett has pitched three times on zero days’ rest, and while serviceable, the results are telling: a .308 average and a .665 OPS in that small sample. The real precision shows when Mendoza gives him time to recharge. On one rest day, hitters are batting .163 with a .485 OPS. Give him two, and the numbers drop off the grid: .083 average, .433 OPS. It’s less about managing fatigue and more about maximizing utility, like knowing exactly when to push the right button.

While Garrett has seen plenty of the eighth, facing 50 batters in that inning alone, he’s not confined to it. 68 of his 119 total batters faced have come outside the eighth, a sign Mendoza trusts him to handle leverage whenever it shows up. Garrett has seen 73 high-leverage matchups this season, often entering as the Mets’ pressure valve, the reliever you use not because the inning demands it, but because the moment does.

There’s no guesswork here. Mendoza’s not reacting, he’s anticipating. Garrett isn’t being saved for one specific role; he’s being positioned to neutralize threats before they escalate. The eighth inning might show up often, but it’s not the assignment that defines him, it’s the timing. Whether it’s the sixth, seventh, or a high-wire moment with runners on and no outs, Mendoza keeps Garrett holstered until the mission calls for precision. Like any good quartermaster, Bond’s own Q included, he knows the real edge doesn’t come from flash, but from knowing exactly when to deploy the right tool.