Recent NY Mets free agent signing has been way too wild to call up from the minors

The New York Mets signed veteran left-handed reliever Colin Poche to a minor league contract on May 7th to add another left-handed arm to the bullpen after losing A.J. Minter to injury. Poche is a pitcher with a career ERA below 4.00 and had a breakout season in 2023 with the Tampa Bay Rays, where he finished with a 2.23 ERA and a 190 ERA+, among the league's top relievers.

Poche joins the Mets after being released by the Washington Nationals after posting an 11.42 ERA in 8.2 innings pitched. The left-handed reliever comes to complement a Mets pitching staff lacking options against reliable left-handed hitters.

A desperate need for a reliable left-handed relief

Poche has a great opportunity on the team due to the lack of left-handed pitching options with swing-and-miss ability on the MLB roster. The Mets' bullpen has been hit hard by injuries to their primary left-handers, with both A.J. Minter and Danny Young facing significant absences. This has left Genesis Cabrera as the lone southpaw, and while he's shown flashes, his consistency has been an ongoing issue. This scarcity of reliable left-handed arms makes any potential rebound from Poche all the more enticing for the Mets.

However, despite the clear path to the major league roster, Poche has gotten off to a terrible start in Triple-A with the organization. His brief appearances with the Syracuse Mets have been concerning, to say the least. While he's managed to retire more than 10 batters per nine innings via strikeout, his lack of control and propensity to draw hard contact are significantly hindering his performance this season.

The numbers paint a dire picture for Poche in Triple-A. He is issuing an alarming rate of walks, around two per inning, which demonstrates a serious problem with his control and command of his pitches. Furthermore, he has been significantly hampered by home runs, with more than two long balls per inning accumulated in his outings. This is a disastrous start for a pitcher hoping to make an immediate impact at the big-league level.

Poche's issues appear to be more related to his pitch location and command rather than a dip in his raw stuff. His velocity and spin rate remain at the same level as in 2023, when he held opponents to a wOBA of just .254, ranking in the top 5% of the league. This suggests that the physical tools are still there, but his execution is severely lacking. The left-handed reliever must focus on redesigning his slider to regain the swing-and-miss performance he generated in the past, which kept him an elite lefty specialist reliever during his years with the Rays.

Until Poche can demonstrate significant improvement in his control and limit the home runs at the Triple-A level, a call-up to the struggling Mets bullpen seems highly unlikely. The talent and past success are evident, but the current performance is simply too wild to consider him a viable option for a major league club in need of immediate relief. The Mets will patiently await any signs of his return to form, hoping that their investment in a reclamation project eventually pays dividends.