When Gerson Bautista left the Mets in spring training for the minors, he figured he would be back.
He just didn’t figure it would be this soon.
“Yeah, I’m really surprised they called me earlier than expected,” Bautista said Tuesday after the Mets summoned him and his 100 mph fastball from Double-A Binghamton in time to strike out one in one inning in a 5-2 loss to Washington.
The 22-year-old right-hander, who was part of the return the Mets received in July’s trade of Addison Reed to Boston, pitched in three games for Binghamton, working a total of five scoreless innings, while allowing just two hits. More importantly, he struck out 11 and did not walk anybody. Bautista stressed getting ahead of hitters has been a big part of his success.
“One of the things that has been important is the first pitch I made in Double-A was for a strike. I focused on doing that, make the first pitch a strike,” Bautista, speaking through an interpreter, said while noting he comes equipped with an improved breaking ball. “I remember last year my breaking ball was very good and also I made some adjustments that I’ve improved even on that [for] the season.”
To make room for the 6-foot-3, 195-pound Bautista who hails from San Juan in the Dominican Republic, the Mets optioned Hansel Robles to Triple-A Las Vegas. Mets manager Mickey Callaway stressed Robles was a victim primarily of a taxed bullpen, a bullpen that saw five relievers flush a 6-1 lead in just 1 ²/₃ innings of the 8-6 loss to the Nationals on Monday.
Gerson BautistaAnthony J. Causi“Our bullpen right now, we needed a guy so we had to make a move,” Callaway said. “Unfortunately when something like [Monday] night happens or you play an extra-inning game, somebody loses their job temporarily. Unfortunately, it was Robles. He’s been pitching great. He probably didn’t deserve to go down. It’s the business side of things. So that was a tough conversation to have with him. But our bullpen overall is in a pretty good spot [though] we used probably more guys than we would have liked [Monday] night, especially given the 6-1 score.”
But Tuesday was more about getting Bautista comfortable, rather than praising Robles.
“Bautista’s been really, really good in the minor leagues, very similar to what we saw in spring training and maybe even a little bit better,” Callaway said. “We saw him throwing the ball over the plate with crisp stuff. Plus slider, plus velo obviously. And he was getting outs so we’re really excited that we get to see him here.”
The Mets acquired Bautista and two other right-handers, Jamie Callahan and Stephen Nogosek, for Reed on July 31. Bautista was 0-1 with a 1.26 ERA and five with 20 strikeouts in 14 ¹/₃ innings for Single-A St. Lucie last summer after the trade. In 88 career minor league games, including 23 starts, Bautista is 9-11 with 15 saves and 193 strikeouts over 213 innings.
With the Mets in spring training, he pitched 5 ²/₃ innings, allowing seven hits and four runs with eight strikeouts while posting a 6.35 ERA.
So he left the Binghamton team in New Hampshire and got to Queens ASAP.
“I received the phone call at 10:30 a.m.,” Bautista said. “I’m really, really happy because this is the dream coming true. This is what I’ve been expecting my whole career and now I’ve made it.
“They haven’t said anything to me [regarding a role] but if they call me I’m ready to play today,” Bautista said, noting he was anxious “to show what I’ve done before to throw the first pitch for a strike and be all the time on top of the batters and take advantage of that.”
