Brandon Sproat is making it nearly impossible for the Mets to keep him down in the minors for much longer.
The 24-year-old has hit his stride with Triple-A Syracuse after a bobble upon his promotion from Double-A Binghamton. He went six innings on Tuesday night, allowing just one run on two hits with eight strikeouts. Over his last nine starts (48.1 innings pitched), he has a 2.05 ERA with 57 strikeouts and a 0.850 WHIP.
He was the odd man out when the organization decided to call up top pitching prospect Nolan McLean for his MLB debut on Saturday against the Seattle Mariners at Citi Field. It was the right call, too, as the righty went 5.1 innings of shutout ball in his debut, allowing two hits with eight strikeouts and four walks.
His arrival provided a spark in a rotation that had been sputtering for the better part of the last two months, and his win was the first of three straight for the struggling Mets.
Why not provide another shot in the arm?
The Mets are in a 16-game-in-16-day stretch that will stretch an unreliable rotation heading into the final legs of a playoff push, and expanding to a six-man unit should be something for president of baseball operations David Stearns and manager Carlos Mendoza to consider.
Clay Holmes is on the cusp of throwing double the number of innings as his previous career high after spending the previous six seasons exclusively as a reliever. Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea finally have no restrictions after dealing with injuries, but preserving them for the final month of the season could go a long way.
There would have to be some roster gymnastics to fit Sproat on the roster, most likely in the DFA’ing of a reliever like the struggling Ryne Stanek or the recently demoted-to-the-pen Frankie Montas. The only pitchers with options remaining on their contract for a demotion to Triple-A are Senga (obviously never happening) and reliever Reed Garrett.
