As the Subway Series is going on in Citi Field, the New York Mets decided to try to take a chance on a former New York Yankees left-handed pitching prospect Matt Minnick to a minor league deal. The news was first reported on Tueaday by MMN‘s own Michael Mayer.
Minnick, who was drafted by the Yankees in the 23rd Round in the 2019 MLB Draft out of Mercyhurst College (Pennsylvania), has yet to throw a pitch in 2023. However, according to Mike Ashmore of Baseball America, the 27-year-old right-hander has been healthy the entire time and had been throwing at the Yankees complex in Tampa.
Matt Minnick is listed as being released today by the Yankees. Led all of MiLB in WHIP last year, and I’m told he was in a throwing program at Tampa this year and was healthy, just waiting for a spot to open.
— Mike Ashmore (@mashmore98) June 8, 2023
It is a surprise that even in the new way the minor league structure is formatted that Minnick could not find an affiliate to pitch at this year after a strong 2022 season at the Double-A level. With Somerset, he appeared in 35 games and had a 1.81 ERA 62 strikeouts and 19 walks in 59 2/3 innings. Plus, he was able to hold opposing hitters to a .124 batting average.
Minnick was dominant towards the end of last season. If you look at his last 19 appearances, he allowed only one earned run (two runs total in 32 2/3 innings.
Mets have signed lefty reliever Matt Minnick to a minor league deal & assigned him to Double-A Binghamton. He was recently released by the Yankees and hasn’t pitched yet this year.
The 27-year-old had a 1.81 ERA, 0.74 WHIP and 3.8 H/9 last year in AA.
— Mike Mayer (@mikemayer22) June 13, 2023
One adjustment that Minnick made in 2022 compared to 2021 with Hudson Valley was that he did not allow as many line drives off the bat. According to FanGraphs, opposing hitters hit a line drive 14.6% of the time (down from 22.1% in 2021). In addition, his groundball rate went up from 33.7% to 35.8%.
If you look at Minnick’s pitch arsenal, he is a four-pitch pitcher that ha a four-seam fastball, a changeup, a curveball, and a slider. Wayne Cavadi from Minor League Ball talked to him back when he was in college and at the time he was trying to use more of his offspeed pitches.
“I have 4 pitches, which are a 4-seam fastball, a changeup, curveball, and slider,” Minnick said. “I’m definitely most comfortable with my changeup and fastball, and I’m working to incorporate my slider much more often.”
While Minnick is not going to wow people with his fastball velocity (low-90’s), his high arm slot allows it to have more deception than you would think. Last season, left-handed hitters only hit one home run against Minnick (.130 average) and he got 44 of his 62 strikeouts against right-handers, so he has the ability to face hitters from both sides of the plate.
The Mets have a familiarity with the Yankees system. This past year, they selected reliever Zach Greene in the Rule 5 Draft, but they ultimately returned him to the Yankees. Through their scouting, they might have found something in Minnick as they get much needed left-handed relief depth at the upper levels of the minor league system.
