3 NY Mets players who will be better in 2025, 2 who will be worse

Edwin Diaz coming off his first season with the pitch clock will be better prepared for 2025.

Diaz's resiliency played a huge role in the Mets’ run to the NLCS last year. Far too often, however, fans had trouble trusting Diaz to finish games. Diaz blew seven of his 27 save opportunities, and saw his regular season ERA balloon to 3.52, the second highest mark of his Mets career behind 2019 (5.59).

The context of Edwin Diaz’s 2024 season explains why he will be better in 2025. He missed all of 2023 due to the patellar tendon injury he suffered in the World Baseball Classic, and it was also the first year of the pitch clock in the majors. He was a year behind the rest of the league adjusting to the new normal and that was perhaps a factor behind his walk rate increasing.

Still, his analytical outputs were excellent. He had an expected ERA of 2.49, expected batting average expected of .166, an average exit velocity of 85.9 mph, a hard-hit rate of just 30.3 percent, and struck out 38.9 percent of the hitters he faced. All these marks ranked in the 97th percentile or higher.

Chances are his ERA will not be 3.52 again with the way he threw last year, and he will return to being one of the best closers in baseball.