The Best Bullpen in The MLB?

A Blog by Greg

Over the past decade or so, the New York Mets have not been known for their strong bullpen pitching. In fact, over the past two seasons, their relief pitching has ranked in the bottom 10 in WAR, FIP, and SV. However, despite making only minor additions to their bullpen in the offseason (mainly the addition of left-handed pitcher A.J. Minter), the Mets’ relief pitching ranks as the best in the league in multiple categories.

While the 2025 MLB regular season is still in its infancy, it must be a pleasant surprise for Mets’ fans to watch a competent bullpen for the first time in years. Even with star closer Edwin Diaz struggling and having back-to-back horrendous outings against the Marlins and Athletics, where he gave up 5 ER in only 1.2 IP, the rest of the relievers have certainly picked up the slack. Currently, the Mets bullpen has the highest WAR (1.3) and the lowest FIP (2.51) in the entire MLB. Additionally, the relief pitchers in Queens currently rank 2nd in HR/9 (.30), 5th in BABIP (.235), and 3rd in ERA (1.82).

A lot of this success can be attributed to three relievers in the Mets’ bullpen who have started the season red hot. Max Kranick, Reed Garrett, and Ryne Stanek have pitched a combined 22 innings while surrendering 0 runs and striking out 22 batters. Garrett has been a below-average pitcher for his entire career, sporting an 85 ERA+, while Stanek, who had an incredible season with Houston in 2022, has struggled the past 2 seasons, playing for 3 different teams with a combined 4.50 ERA and 89 ERA+ in a little over 100 IP. However, the most surprising contributor has certainly been Max Kranick. The 27-year-old righty was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates for two seasons, from 2021 to 2022, where he only appeared in 11 games and put up mediocre numbers. He then spent the entire last two seasons in the minor leagues before being called up for the start of the 2025 season for the Mets. Since then, Kranick has pitched in 6 games, finishing four of them in the process. Most impressively, the previously unknown Kranick has the lowest BABIP (.077) in the league amongst relief pitchers with 10.0 or more innings pitched.

Going forward, the overall success that the Mets’ pitching rotation and bullpen are experiencing is likely to even out as the season progresses. However, despite the small sample size, the depth of this bullpen is definitely intriguing. Another thing to keep an eye on is Clay Holmes. While he has performed decently throughout his first 3 starts, he has struggled later in his outings as his pitch count increases. This isn’t abnormal for a pitcher who spent the entirety of his career as a reliever before joining the Mets; however, if this trend continues, his move to the bullpen could be imminent. Adding Holmes to an already elite bullpen could be a smart move for the Mets, especially with Sean Manaea returning from the IR soon.

As always, Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for new blogs from me and the rest of the Skippers’ View team!