Photo courtesy Tom Ryder Photography

When a team drafts a left handed starting pitcher with a sub .500 collegiate record and a 4.67 ERA in the 17th round of the draft, the last thing anything is thinking about that pitcher is – Future Closer!  And yet, that is exactly what David Roseboom had become this season for AA Binghamton.

It certainly was an interesting path for Roseboom.  Initially, he was supposed to be a starting pitcher for Ole Miss.  However, after they changed their coaching staff, Roseboom eventually found himself pitching for University of South Carolina Upstate.  Roseboom would start his collegiate career 0-10.  Overall, he had an enigmatic collegiate career that was complicated with him needing knee injuries his junior season.  Still, he had showed enough that the Mets drafted him after his senior season.

After having been a starter for almost his entire collegiate career, Roseboom found himself in the bullpen, and he struggled.  In 20 appearances with St. Lucie last year, he had a 4.55 ERA and a 1.611 WHIP.  The biggest issue with him was he wasn’t trusting his stuff.  He started shying away from contact much in the same way we have seen with Rafael Montero during his stints with the Mets.  The irony with that is once you start doing that teams start hitting you harder, and you start walking guys.

This season was a completely different season for Roseboom.  He started attacking the hitters and throwing strikes.

After some adjustments in April, Roseboom quickly became a valuable arm in the B-Mets bullpen.  He would become trusted more and more to get big outs.  He moved up the depth chart when the Mets traded Akeel Morris to re-acquire Kelly Johnson.  Finally, when Beck Wheeler was promoted to AAA Las Vegas, Roseboom found himself as the B-Mets closer.  He found himself as the B-Mets closer despite him only having a low 90s fastball combined with a slider and changeup.  However, as we have seen Addison Reed this season, when you’re hitting your spots, that’s all you need to dominate out of the bullpen.  And Roseboom hit his spots.

In 52 appearances, Roseboom was 1-1 with 14 saves, a 1.87 ERA, and a 0.90 WHIP.  Since becoming the B-Mets closer on July 2nd, Roseboom made 26 appearances converting 14 out of 15 saves.  In that stretch, Roseboom had a 0.92 ERA and a 0.68 WHIP.  Batters were only hitting .110 off of him.  All season long, he showed the ability to get both righties and lefties out with righties hitting .189 off of him and lefties hitting .141 off of him.

Overall, Roseboom was dominant out of the B-Mets bullpen, and he raised his game when the stakes were at the highest.  Roseboom as the most dominant reliever in the Mets organization this season, and because of that, he is MMN’s Reliever of the Year.

In addition to Roseboom, there are two other minor league relievers that deserve honorable mentions.

The first is Paul Sewald, who had the thankless task of being the closer for a team that pitched in the Pacific Coast League.  Like many pitchers for the Las Vegas 51s, it was a tale of two seasons for him.  The first was him needing to adapt to the extreme hitters league, and the second how you fared once you made the necessary adjustments.  In the first half, Sewald had a 4.14 ERA, a 1.35 WHIP, and he had blown three saves.

After the AAA All-Star Break, Sewald was a much better pitcher.  In his last 20 appearances, he was 10/11 in save opportunities pitching to a 1.85 ERA.  For the season, he was 5-3 with 19 saves, a 3.29 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP.  He has certainly made his case this season for the Mets to add him to the 40 man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.

The other pitcher that deserves honorable mention is Brooklyn Cyclones reliever Joseph Zanghi. Zanghi was signed as a free agent by the Mets after the Reds 2015 24th round draft pick failed to sign. It proved beneficial to the Mets as Zanghi was 1-0 with a 1.23 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP in 23 appearances. Most impressive of all was Zanghi’s 13.8 strikeouts per nine out of the bullpen.

Overall, as we have seen this season with relievers like Josh Smoker, the Mets farm system has been producing a number of talented relievers that have helped the major league team. After this season, we should expect Roseboom, Sewald, and Zanghi to do the same.