The New York Mets have reportedly traded Jay Bruce for Cleveland Indians reliever Ryder Ryan.
RHP Ryder Ryan
Ht: 6’2″ Wt: 205 lb Level: Midwest League (A)
B/T: R/R Age: 5/11/95 (22) Age Dif: 0.1
Acquired by Indians: 2016 30th Round Draft Pick out of the University of North Carolina (Indians also drafted him in 40th round of 2014 draft)
MLB Pipeline Rank: NR
2017 Stats: 3-4, 4.79 ERA, 33 G, 6 SV, 41.1 IP, 1.476 WHIP, 10.7 K/9
Profile: Ryan is the fifth reliever obtained by the Mets with the team selling at the deadline and now in August. When he was drafted as a sophomore by the Indians he was expected to be a hard sign. He was named by Baseball America to have the best fastball in the Indian’s 2016 draft class.
Ryan was highly regarded coming out of high school with teams looking at him as pitcher and some as a third baseman. There was even rumors of interest in the third or fourth, but he fell because teams thought he wasn’t going to sign and instead honor his commitment to UNC. He was also named an All-American after his junior season.
Ryan appears to be the prototypical reliever whom the Mets organization covets. He is a fastball/slider pitcher who can get his fastball into the mid 90s. When he amps it up, Ryan is able to get his fastball up to 97.
What is interesting about Ryan is he pitched only one game in college because he focused on being a third baseman. To that end, he should remind you a bit of Max Kuhns. Essentially, these are arms with not a lot of mileage, a lot of potential, but the both lack polish. As a result, mechanics and location become the biggest issues.
As of the moment, Ryan has a high 3.7 BB/9, but it is a step in the right direction after he posted a 4.3 BB/9 last year. He has struggled in the second half with a 10.67 ERA after posting a 1.67 ERA in the first half that earned him a spot in the Mid-season All-Star spot.
Ultimately, Ryan has strikeout ability, and when batters make contact, it is in the ground.
Ryan’s dad, Sean, made it to AAA during his baseball career and his uncle Jason Ryan pitched part of two seasons in the big leagues for the Minnesota Twins.
Overall, Ryan is an interesting arm with a high ceiling, but he is a project.
As a fan would have preferred the Mets acquired Ryan as a second piece of a deal. Yes the Mets could have eaten some of Bruce’s salary and then asked for a higher profile prospect coupled with a Ryan.
The Maverick loves projects. Too bad none amount to anything
That Reed guy was terrible.
Absolutely agree with this.
Miscounting — 5th reliever. One for Duda, three from Boston and now this “project” for a guy who hit 37 HRs and drove in 94 over his 152 game Mets career. In the words of a certain orange haired blowhard, “Sad, just sad.”
Reed was a project? He may have have some up and down years, but he had some rather good (and bad) yrs before the Mets picked him up. He was far from a “project”.
Wilpons are back. Guess we missed the playoffs so they weren’t going to pay for a playoff team.
So was Degrom a converted shortstop. Yes Omar drafted him but he was developed by Sandy’s crew.
AJ Ramos is the 5th reliever the Mets acquired.
Forgot about him — that’s 6 relievers. Ramos, Smith, Ryan and the three from Boston.
Sometimes i hate myself for being a Mets fan.
Here’s the thing. Through trades and the draft, The Mets have a plethora of mid-range bullpen prospects, nice arms but not huge upside (except for Bautista maybe). I think Alderson thought it was time to take a risk on a big upside guy that their people saw some things they like
Yep. The idea of stocking a bunch of young bullpen arms makes sense with the current major league rotation. But one lottery ticket for Bruce feels way too cheap.
He’s a project with a big arm. Much like a good chunk of the returns we’ve gotten this trade deadline. Sucks bc the return would’ve been more if Bruce had another year left on his deal and if the power OFers were more of a premium like they were in prior years. Heck the numbers of Cespedes and Bruce were similar when they were traded and Tigers got a wayyyy better return two years ago. Fulmer was an injury prone starter who had ace potential when healthy and he is meeting that potential. Good trade on both ends.
we could of tried to eat some of the pay to get something decent.