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Time Is Running Out for Marcos Molina

By Kirk Robinson

May 24, 2018 No comments

Photo By Ernest Dove

It’s only May, but the Mets have already called-up Corey OswaltChris Flexen, and P.J. Conlon to help contribute much needed innings to the Mets. Ultimately, every starting pitcher on the Mets 40-man roster has been called-up to the Majors. That is all except one – Marcos Molina.

Entering the season, Molina was tabbed as MMN‘s 15th ranked Mets prospect and MLB Pipeline‘s eighth. The hope was in 2018, Molina, another year removed from Tommy John surgery and with significant time in Binghamton under his belt, Molina would take the next step in his prospect journey by dominating Double-A, getting promoted to Triple-A, and could receive his first cup of coffee in the Majors.

So far, however, the opposite is occurring. Right now in Binghamton, Molina is sporting a 6.14 ERA, a 6.4 K/9, and an 11.8 H/9. In other words, Molina is fooling no one, and hitters are making consistent contact against him. Compounding these issues, Molina is walking considerably more hitters this year in Binghamton (3.9 BB/9) compared to his career (2.5 BB/9).

Now, with other Mets prospects progressing, and the major league team grappling with injuries, one could envision his 40-man roster spot being in jeopardy. What is happening?

Surely there are several factors contributing to Molina’s regression, but one that continues to consistently surface are reports of his diminished fastball velocity and secondary pitches post-Tommy John surgery. Before surgery, scouts had his fastball consistently in the low-to-mid 90s with good sink to induce groundballs. Similarly, his slider had hard bite and upper-80s velocity. After surgery, Molina’s fastball sat more in the low-90s/high-80s range, accompanied by less bit overall to his secondary pitches.

However, even with his reduced stuff, Molina was dominant in St. Lucie last year before getting called-up to Binghamton. He didn’t enjoy the same results in Binghamton, but with a 3.92 ERA and 3.00 K/BB ratio, he was not overmatched like he is now. Considering last year, it could be argued there are other contributing factors. At this point it is very difficulty to discern if this is a confidence issue, a mechanical issue, a new injury, the ebbs and flows of a small sample size, or just plain old bad luck (.368 BABIP).

Regardless of the full array of causes, Molina has clearly taken a step back in his development and is not ready to contribute to the major league team anytime soon. Nor is he equipped to a be a starting pitcher anymore even after improving what were ugly mechanics that didn’t allowed him to get his lower half involved in his delivery.

The Mets may be down to one option to squeeze value out of Molina; move him to the bullpen in hopes of a velocity spike. Even when his stock was high there were still people that believed he would wind up in the pen because of his mostly arms mechanics.

At some point soon the Mets may need the valuable 40-man roster spot that Molina currently holds and it would be wise of them to get a look at him as a reliever before that time comes.

Time will certainly tell, but at present, Marcos Molina’s velocity does not seem to be returning, he is struggling, and his stock is dropping.