5 Mets minor league predictions for the 2022 season

2021 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game
2021 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game / Dustin Bradford/GettyImages
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The Mets cannot resist promoting Eric Orze to the big league bullpen

Edwin Diaz is a free agent after the 2022 season. If he leaves New York, who could take over?

Eric Orze is a guy I envision getting a chance to close games for the Mets. He had a pretty awesome season in 2021, going 4-2 with a 3.08 ERA in 49.2 innings of relief.

What makes Orze’s performance even better is that he lowered his ERA each level he rose. It went from 4.05 in High-A to 2.60 in Double-A and finally to 2.19 in Triple-A. Orze also managed to finish 14 games and pick up five saves. Minor league bullpens won’t always have a closer. If they did, I think Orze, in what was his first professional season, would have won it.

Now seemingly one step away from reaching the big leagues, Orze looks like a guy who could get some relief innings for the major league Mets in 2022 and not just the one in Syracuse. Taken in the fifth round of the 2020 draft, he has risen quickly through the system. His next stop is in Queens as he looks to break the drought of the franchise’s inability to produce quality relievers from the minor league system.

Orze shouldn’t make the Opening Day roster. However, as soon as bodies end up on the IL, he should be one of the first the Mets turn to for some help.