NY Mets seem undecided what they’ll do with one of their former best prospects

They’ll tell tall tales of the dangers of pitching in Syracuse. Why is it that practically every New York Mets prospect who gets to Triple-A suddenly becomes a batting tee? Dom Hamel did so well until he got to Triple-A in 2024. Currently far better than the 6.79 ERA he posted last season, a part of the success might be due to a role change.

Still considered to be a top 30 prospect, Hamel is already 26 and not blowing away batters in Triple-A the way we thought he would when he climbed through the system. Poor control, a whole lot of hits, and specifically the home run ball all had a hand in tanking his stock last year. It hasn’t improved a whole lot this season despite better overall numbers.

Somewhat quietly, the Mets have moved off from having Hamel as a typical starter. He pitched 5 innings in his season debut and another 3 in his second outing. No one scored against him. Then came three shorter outings that had the Mets shifting him into a different role.

Mets prospect Dom Hamel has quietly become a relief pitcher with a few opening starts mixed in

We can’t simply look at Hamel’s splits this season to get an idea of whether or not this relief role is right for him. Throughout the year, even in his two most recent games, Hamel started but was limited to one and two innings each. All three innings were shutout just like the way he started his year.

The timing of this was unique because in his previous two appearances, both as a reliever, Hamel got hit around. Overall numbers for him this year favor the ERA as a reliever by almost a full run (4.76 vs. 4.08) but again, with several starts lasting two innings at the most, it’s not a good way to judge anything.

Most eye-catching of all from the stats is how he has actually been a much better strikeout pitcher as a starter. Hamel’s 11.9 K/9 as a starter versus 8.8 K/9 as a reliever is a surprise to see until we realize he probably gives a reliever’s effort in several of the starts with the knowledge he’d be on a pitch count or innings limit. Alas, Hamel’s abilities offer us no new information.

Each month includes an ERA in the 4.00s with July at a yearly-best of 4.08. Notably, Hamel has not walked a batter all month in 8.2 innings. It has helped to give him a 0.80 WHIP for July. He has 11 strikeouts as well but his old nemesis, the home run ball, has lurked. Of the 7 hits he has allowed, 4 of them were home runs.

Ranked 29th on the latest updated MLB Pipeline list, Hamel is likely to get Kevin Parada’ed by the time the most recent Mets draftees are added on. The Mets chose not to protect him in last December’s Rule 5 Draft and he went untaken. The same theme could follow this year, unless of course someone is impressed enough by how he finishes out the year. Don’t count on it being enough.