The Mets will select reliever Dan Hammer onto the major league roster, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. They’ll need to make active and 40-man roster moves before tomorrow’s series finale against the Royals.
Hammer gets his first big league call a couple months before his 29th birthday. He was a 13th-round draftee by the Orioles out of the University of Pittsburgh in 2019. Hammer spent last year in Double-A with the Rays as a minor league Rule 5 pick. The Mets signed him to a minor league contract last offseason.
The 6’2″ righty has split the season between the top two minor league levels. Hammer has combined for 33 1/3 innings of 2.16 ERA ball. He’s striking out an impressive 26.4% of batters faced but has walked almost 15% of his opponents. Hammer works mostly with a four-seam fastball in the 95-96 mph range and a 90 mph cutter, occasionally mixing in a slider and curveball. He has missed bats at an above-average rate with well below-average control throughout his minor league career.
New York is cycling through middle relievers in a patchwork pitching staff. They’ve given brief looks to Guillo Zuñiga, Matt Seelinger and Xzavion Curry within the past few days. Zuñiga and Seelinger were almost immediately designated for assignment. Curry tossed an inning of one-run ball to finish tonight’s 6-2 win over Kansas City.
