He flies under the radar barely a footnote to the average New York Met fan. But Cody Satterwhite, continues to put together a stellar 2014 season out of the NYSEG Stadium bullpen. If he continues to shine quietly, unassumingly; Satterwhite will build a case with a strong argument that he should be in the long term conversation about who should fill bullpen options at Citi Field.
Cody Satterwhite has seen both ends of the spectrum as a professional baseball prospect. He entered professional baseball as a highly regarded pitching prospect, a 6’4”, 205 pound kid from Jackson, Mississippi, who could bring the heat. The Tigers picked Satterwhite as the 67th overall pick in the 2008 draft with a high prospect ranking from Baseball America.
Arm issues derailed Satterwhite’s pitching career and the big right-hander had labrum surgery in 2010 and didn’t pitch at all, then after pitching only 10 innings in 2011, he needed surgery again in 2012 without throwing a pitch that season. The Tigers cut ties with their former top pitching prospect that year.
It was during his long, hard rehabs that Satterwhite rethought his approach on the pitching mound as the future B-Met closer began to transition himself from a thrower to a pitcher. Here’s what Satterwhite told Worthy of the Binghamton Press.
“During my rehab I talked to a lot of older guys about pitching and just learning from them,” Satterwhite said. “I think this year shows that it’s not all about talent. It’s not all about the hype that you have in each player. It’s about learning how to develop and learning how to pitch … I think when I was pitching in ’09 in this league I almost got too lackadaisical and too caught up in myself, and all the Baseball America stuff, thinking that it was just going to get handed to me.”
The Mets picked up Satterwhite as the right-hander tried to restart his career pitching for Sioux City in the Independent Leagues. Satterwhite has been terrific working out of the Binghamton pen, first as a set-up man for closer Chase Bradford and then as the B-Met closer when Bradford got the call to move to Las Vegas.
In 50 innings for the B-Mets, Satterwhite has been almost unhittable with opposing hitters batting only .185 against him while allowing only a single home run. The B-Met closer is 3-1, has saved a team high 13 games, striking out 55 with 19 walks and a 1.02 WHIP. Satterwhite can still bring on the heat reaching 95 mph on the radar readings but his slider and split-fingered fastball have made Satterwhite the complete relief pitching package.
The 2014 point of pride for the New York Mets has to be the emergence of a cadre of young power pitchers in their bullpen. That fact does not preclude the possible ascendency of additional weapons in the Met bullpen arsenal. From the Independent Leagues in 2013, to the Eastern League All-Star game in 2014, Cody Satterwhite is constructing a convincing relief pitching resume. If his pitching progress continues on its current arc, it won’t be long before people take notice.
