The Mets trade for Trevor Gott has done a 180 degree turn in his last 12 outings

Trevor Gott came to the New York Mets with a purpose. The team was coming off of a terrifyingly bad June and the addition to the bullpen came as a bit of a surprise, particularly with how it involved the Mets eating the contract of Chris Flexen.

Gott had a stretch in July when he couldn’t have been much worse. From July 16-July 22, Gott made four appearances totaling 2.2 innings and 6 earned runs against him. It was looking like a classic Billy Eppler trade blunder. Only a week after, the Mets sold. Gott’s placement on the team was meaningless for this year. He could ride out the season and eat up a few innings. Anything more would’ve been gravy.

In his last 12 outings, Gott has been exceptional. The 3 runs the Boston Red Sox scored against him in an 8-6 loss on July 22 is the last time he had a mark against his ERA. Gott has tossed 11.1 scoreless innings in a row. We need to see more but the nearly dozen scoreless frames is a promising change from the direction he was headed only a month ago.

Trevor Gott is now showing us why the NY Mets traded for him

The volatility of being a major league relief pitcher is like no other industry. Crab fishermen won’t be attacked by a lion. A stock broker won’t show up to the office and forget what a 5 is. Never will a middle school substitute teacher be shown an ounce of respect. What is it with kids grades 6-8 that makes them so barbaric?

Gott’s MLB career hasn’t been all that notable. He joined the Mets with only a single year of posting an ERA below 4.00. This was all the way back in 2015 as a rookie for the Los Angeles Angels. He hasn’t pitched a whole lot since in the majors. He came into this year with only two more seasons of topping 40 innings.

A stretch of 12 scoreless appearances isn’t enough to elevate Gott’s role in the bullpen. He’s a middle reliever who can step in and pitch some of the more important innings when other arms are unavailable. We saw him close out the game for the Mets on Thursday against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Buck Showalter hasn’t been shy about giving Gott some bigger innings lately. Although many of his August appearances came as the seventh inning guy in Mets losses, he pitched the eighth in the team’s two wins over the Pittsburgh Pirates before getting the ninth against the Cardinals. It feels like a test for Gott and how he can handle those higher-leverage innings.

The Mets shouldn’t fool themselves into thinking Gott truly is more than a middle reliever. It’s like suggesting DJ Stewart is a viable DH candidate for next year just because he’s hitting a few home runs. Gott certainly already had the front office on his side already as they’d likely be willing to give him another crack in 2024 regardless of how he finished out this season. Fortunately, for almost a full month, Gott has been the guy they hoped they were landing.