Strike-throwing NY Mets prospect is resurrecting his career after lost season

The New York Mets announced their award winners for their minor league system on Monday. There weren't many surprises, as players like Carson Benge, Jonah Tong, and Elian Pena all brought home awards. All three of these prospects had fantastic seasons and dramatically improved their prospect stocks. However, what did come as a surprise was who won the Dominican Academy Pitcher of the Year.

Osiris Calvo was given this award, and it was well deserved. After missing the 2024 season with an unspecified injury, he came back and dominated the Dominican Summer League. In 11 starts, he pitched to a 2.51 ERA over 43 innings with 45 strikeouts, nine walks, and a WHIP of 0.98. He was also named to the DSL All-Star Game.

While one might expect a strong season like this to elevate Calvo's status as a prospect, that has not been the case. The main reason why people are so quick to write off this season from Calvo is because he's 21 years old. That's two and a half years older than the average player in the Dominican League. However, although he had a big advantage over his competition, Calvo still looked impressive and has an opening to rise up the farm system.

Does Osiris Calvo have a chance to pitch at Citi Field one day?

This season was not Calvo's first go around in the DSL. Before suffering the injury, he pitched part of the 2023 season for the Mets Dominican Academy team. While not as dominant as this past season, he still put up decent numbers. In 15 starts, he had an ERA of 3.82 over 30 2/3 innings with 40 strikeouts, nine walks, and a WHIP of 1.17. Do these numbers jump off the page? No. But it shows he has decent stuff, and the age difference was not the main reason why he was dominant this past year.

A big reason why analysts have been high on Calvo is because of his 6'4", 195-pound frame. There are a few things you can't teach in baseball, and height is one of them. Taller pitchers always seemed to have an advantage as their higher release point allows them to put more spin on the ball and create better movement. It also helps that he's a lefty, which is something every MLB team covets.

The biggest thing that Calvo has going for him is his high strikeout rate. In 2023, he had a strikeout percentage of 31.3% and in 2025, it was 26.2%. While it did drop over the last couple of seasons, it's still impressive. It shows that his pitches are effective and keep the batter off-balance. A sign of a good pitcher. He's also dropped his home run per nine from 1.47 to 0.42; that's a massive improvement.

While Calvo showed flashes in the DSL, he needs to demonstrate his effectiveness stateside before we can judge whether he can become a future big leaguer. If he's able to carry over the success he had this summer, it wouldn't be a surprise if one day he climbs the Citi Field mound as a solid middle-inning reliever.