Mets reliever Adam Ottavino hasn't been able to be effective in high-leverage situations
Adam Ottavino hasn't been able to replicate the strong season he had with the Mets in 2022. Through 66 appearances, the right-hander posted a 2.06 ERA with an excellent 0.97 WHIP, retiring 79 batters in 65.2 innings pitched.
This 2023 Ottavino has presented a significant regression that has affected its results. The Mets reliever has an increase in his walks, his strikeouts have decreased, and most worryingly, his hard hit contact allowed has increased by more than 13 percentage points compared to 2022.
Ottavino shows a loss of velocity on all of his pitches except his cutter. However, this last pitch is the one that is doing the most damage. Currently, the SLG allowed by the cutter is above .600, a pitch with which he has allowed the most home runs this year.
Adam Ottavino should change the distribution of use of his arsenal of shots if he wants to generate better results. Meanwhile, with a team that lost its best bullpen arm, the need for Ottavino to pitch like in 2022 was even more important this season, and it wasn't. The 2023 season has been terrible for the team with a bullpen that hasn't lived up to it, and Ottavino has been a big part of this debacle.