Jeurys Familia's Dominance Is MVP of Mets' Breakout Success

Much has been made about the New York Mets' excellent starting pitching so far—and rightly so—from rejuvenated ace Matt Harvey, to superb sophomore Jacob deGrom, to ageless wonder Bartolo Colon, to underrated Jon Niese to new phenom Noah Syndergaard. The rotation deserves the pub for its performance to date, but perhaps no one pitcher has been more important to the Mets through the first six weeks than new closer Jeurys Familia.

That might sound like hyperbole given how much more valuable starting pitchers are than relievers, simply because of the number of innings each type of pitcher throws. But from a narrative perspective, it's hard to argue against Familia, who wasn't even supposed to be the ninth-inning man when the season began.

And yet here we are in mid-May, and the 20-14 Mets are off to a fast start and still in first place in the NL East. Not coincidentally, the 25-year-old Familia comes into play Thursday tied with Andrew Miller (of that other New York team) for the major league lead with 13 saves.

What's more, the right-hander has converted all of his opportunities, making Familia one of only five pitchers to achieve double-digit saves without blowing a single one so far. Of that group, Familia's 17.1 innings is the highest total, too, and he has allowed just three earned runs on eight hits while whiffing 21 against just four walks.

Again, not too shabby for a guy who wasn't expected to close entering the year.

The reason Familia has ascended to his new role has as much to do with injuries and ineffectiveness that have plagued the Mets bullpen as it does his own stellar work.

To wit, a number of New York's relievers are hurt, from former closer Bobby Parnell (recovery from Tommy John surgery) to setup man Vic Black (neck/shoulder), to lefties Jerry Blevins (fractured forearm) and Josh Edgin (Tommy John surgery), and most recently Buddy Carlyle (back/hamstring).

Then there's Jenrry Mejia, the projected Opening Day stopper after leading the club with 28 saves a year ago, who came down with elbow stiffness while warming up during the first regular-season game and soon thereafter was hit with an 80-game suspension for the steroid Stanozolol.

Got all that?

All of the above turmoil leaves the Mets with the likes of Alex and Carlos Torres, Rule 5 pick Sean Gilmartin, Erik Goeddel and Hansel Robles, each of whom is a relative unknown, if not an utter no-name.

No wonder Familia, who is in only his second full MLB season and not exactly a recognizable name himself outside of Flushing, deserves a ton of credit for holding everything together in the late innings.

"We came into ... spring training with huge expectations and the back end of our bullpen being very, very strong," manager Terry Collins said, per Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com, in the wake of Mejia's suspension, which was handed out just days into the season. "We'll have to regroup and get through the next 80 games with somebody else."

Turns out, that somebody else is Familia, who proved his mettle as a rookie in 2014 by putting up a 2.21 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 8.5 K/9 over 76 games, tied for fourth-most among all pitchers in baseball.

As Marc Carig of Newsday writes of Familia:

"

The 6-3 righthander has always possessed a blazing fastball that can touch 98. He's also featuring a nasty slider to go along with his nastiest offering, a two-seamer with enough natural sinking action to challenge even the best righthanded hitters in the game.

"

So while the Mets rotation gets most of the attention for the big-name, star-caliber, much-hyped arms like Harvey and deGrom and Syndergaard and even Colon, what shouldn't be lost is that the team's bullpen actually has a slightly better ERA (2.84 versus 3.15), in large part to Familia's efforts.

Once again, he is being used often—his 17 appearances are more than all but five relievers' thus far—and has been up to the task, all while handling a role that is almost entirely new to him. Prior to this year, Familia had just six career saves.

Familia attributes gaining confidence in his stuff to his ascension from shaky middle-inning arm who bounced between the minors and majors to dominating closer.

"One year ago, this guy was being talked about like he was going to be sent out," Collins says, according to Carig. "Now, he's leading all of baseball in saves. I mean, it's remarkable. And for me, he gets all the credit for it."

Familia's rise has been a rapid one indeed. And it has come just in the nick of time for a Mets team that badly needed some, well, relief.

Statistics are accurate through Wednesday, May 13, and courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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