Former NY Mets player we all forgot about has a 1.30 ERA since leaving Queens

You were trying to figure out if the Tampa Bay Rays would trade Drew Rasmussen to the New York Mets the other day…

When you stopped and realized something else. You didn’t find a conclusion to whether or not it would make sense for the Rays to trade away Rasmussen whose contract goes over $5 million next season. A draft pick of David Stearns in the past but also someone he traded away, you fail to come to any strong conclusion. What you do notice is how a former Mets pitcher you forgot all about has been pretty amazing since leaving Queens.

Cole Sulser has been dominant since leaving the Mets

His 5 earned runs in 4.2 innings for the Mets in 2024 didn’t sway anyone to shed a tear when Cole Sulser was traded to the Rays for cash in July. At 34-years-old in 2024, he was one of those relief pitching projects Stearns has routinely added to the Mets organization. No one paid much attention to Sulser who would go on to 11.2 shutout innings for the Rays to finish off his 2024 campaign. He did so while giving up only 3 hits.

The Rays kept Sulser around for another year. At 35, the journeyman who returned back to the Rays, the team he debuted with in 2019, had another impressive stint with the team. Throwing 22.2 innings, he allowed 5 earned runs with a 2.8 BB/9 and 8.7 K/9.

Perhaps some smoke and mirrors were involved. He had an average exit velocity of 90 miles per hour. The hard-hit percentage of 47.5% suggests the 1.99 ERA performance this past year is unsustainable. Although not shy about giving up hits, Sulser kept runs off the scoreboard. At the end of the day (or inning) that’s what matters most.

Sulser now has a 1.30 ERA since leaving the Mets for the Rays in the middle of 2024. His career ERA with the Rays is at an astonishing 1.08 when we include the 7.1 shutout innings at the start of his career. He actually has fairly good career numbers thanks to a long and successful 2021 campaign with the Baltimore Orioles where he had a career-high 63.1 innings and a 2.70 ERA.

Not quite a case of “the one who got away,” Sulser more so represents a reminder of what the Mets are aiming for with their pitching lab. It’s rare a pitcher ends up with the Rays and gets worse. In Sulser’s limited time, he has gone from forgotten to outstanding.