The Yankees roster cut who found his way to the NY Mets and had a 1.49 ERA twice

You’ll rarely come across a relief pitcher who has numbers that stand the test of time in comparison to what some arms do in today’s world. The 1975 New York Mets had a rare exception with a guy who was traded to the Yankees but didn’t make the team.

A December trade between the Yankees and California Angels sent pitcher Skip Lockwood to the Bronx. On April 7, he was cut by the Yankees. A week later he signed with the Oakland Athletics and reported to Tucson, their Triple-A affiliate.

Lockwood had already played several seasons in the big leagues and was trending toward a role in relief. On July 28, 1975, the Mets purchased him from the Athletics. They used him exclusively out of the bullpen for the final two months of the year and were gifted with a 1.49 ERA performance.

Skip Lockwood was an impressive Mets steal months after he was cut by the Yankees

A 4.32 ERA with the Angels in 1974 didn’t offer any hits of such a brilliant finish with the Mets. His 24 games came out to 48.1 innings of work, but there’s more to it than just run prevention while going multiple innings at a time out of the bullpen.

Lockwood struck out 61 batters for an 11.4 K/9 rate that year. Anything over a strikeout per inning was impressive during this time period. Lockwood, who never topped 6 K/9 previously in any season, was doubling his previous rate.

Lockwood’s story doesn’t end after one season. He had a 2.67 ERA in 1976 and 10.3 K/9. This was over a 94.1 inning sample size. His time with the Mets would conclude after the 1979 season. He combined to have a 2.80 ERA and 8.7 K/9 rate. Along with it were 65 saves.

His final season included only 27 games due to injury but a mimic of year one with the team, pitching to a 1.49 ERA. He appeared in 24 games for the Boston Red Sox the following year but an ERA over 5.00 and the birthday candles on his cakes catching up along with the injuries had him calling it quits after the season.

Lockwood is maybe best remembered as an oft-used closer between Tug McGraw and Jesse Orosco. Short-lived and in a dark era of Mets baseball, none of it was possible without the Yankees cutting him from the team in April.

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