Rangers steal once promising NY Mets prospect off of waivers

The Texas Rangers aren’t loaded with ex-New York Mets players. Most notably is the presence of Jacob deGrom in their rotation. Arguably a top 5 Mets player of all-time, deGrom is one of several players with ties to the Mets who should receive starts for them next season.

Kumar Rocker is the other player of note. Drafted in the first round by the Mets in 2021, the Mets and Rocker failed to come to an agreement over medicals. Their employment of Jack Leiter, the son of Al Leiter, has a more mild Mets connection but one we can’t fully ignore.

Texas will have at least one more player with Mets on his resume for at least a little bit. Dom Hamel was claimed off waivers by the Rangers from the Baltimore Orioles this weekend. Hamel was DFA’d by the Mets recently only to land with the Orioles to sit around and do nothing. Re-entering the waiver wire once more, it was the Rangers who managed to bring in a guy who only two seasons ago was a top 10 Mets prospect.

What’s going on with all of the Dom Hamel distrust?

For the Orioles to bail on Hamel so quickly, one has to wonder just how unimpressive his abilities are to the scouts. His 5.32 ERA in Triple-A this season isn’t glorious, but as a team with pitching questions and Hamel being a guy with minor league options, how badly would it have hurt to have him stick around?

It was a strange season in the minors for Hamel. The ERA was horrific and yet other metrics rated well. His 2.9 BB/9 is outstanding for a Mets pitcher at any level. Add in his 10 K/9 and we have ourselves a pitcher with a fine ratio of free passes and punchouts.

What’s odd about him is his strikeout ratio actually went down during relief appearances, falling below one per inning. He improved his ERA from 6.18 to 4.61 but didn’t have a universal positive shift.

Baltimore didn’t see him appear in a game for them at any level yet were willing to part ways with him after a few days. The Rangers are trying to figure things out with their young pitching staff. Not appearing to be destined to start a whole lot in the big leagues, Hamel is a project Mets fans would assume a team would be willing to try to rectify. Apparently not.