Mets hope newly acquired Phil Maton will help plug major relief holes
Phil Maton of the Rays pitches against the Orioles during the sixth inning at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on May 31 in Baltimore. Credit: Getty Images/Scott Taetsch
Reliever Phil Maton arrived in the Mets’ clubhouse at Citi Field before Wednesday’s game against the Nationals, and not a moment too soon. The club’s relief corps has struggled as a group in recent days, slowing the team’s ascent toward a playoff spot.
Maton was acquired Tuesday from Tampa Bay for a player to be named or cash considerations. The 31-year-old appeared in 40 games for the Rays this season and was 1-2 with two saves and a 4.58 ERA. However, in 11 games since June 12, he has pitched 12 innings to a 0.75 ERA with 11 strikeouts.
Mets relievers had pitched 45 innings to an 8.38 ERA in the 15 games entering play Wednesday.
“Happy to have him obviously, especially where we are in the schedule,” manager Carlos Mendoza said before first pitch, referring to playing 17 straight days before the All-Star break. “I’ve seen him from the other dugout. Finally, he’s on my team . . . He’ll be ready to go.
“I told him our situation, bullpen-wise — how we’re stretched with so many games in a row. And he’ll be ready anywhere from the sixth until the ninth [innings]. He might be getting the last three outs today. He might be pitching in the seventh or high-leverage . . . He’s a guy that takes the ball. He’s done it before, especially in those situations. We saw the numbers as of late and that’s why we acquired him.”
Maton talked his No. 88 jersey off third-base coach Mike Sarbaugh (who will now wear No. 86) and took a locker on the wall with the other relief pitchers. Asked about his reaction to the trade, he replied, “Excited.”
“The pieces are here,” he added. “I think it’s one of those things where it’s that time of year, where it’s time to turn it on and make that final push and really go for it. I’m really hoping that we can do that.”
Maton has pitched in 20 postseason games with Cleveland and Houston and, in them, pitched 21 2⁄3 innings to a 0.83 ERA. The Mets flirted with signing him in the offseason, he said, before he joined the Rays.
“Whenever you sign somewhere you kind of always have that thought that you’re going to be with the club for the entire run and you get really committed to what we were doing in Tampa,” Maton said. “But we had kind of touched base with the Mets a little bit in the offseason really early on [about] potentially coming here. It didn’t work out, obviously, but it’s exciting to come here. They went out of their way to acquire me and add me to this team for a playoff push.”
Maton attributed the recent upturn in results to a mechanical adjustment regarding his landing foot that the Rays’ field staff spotted.
“It was a simple direction thing,” he said. “It’s amazing what just a few degrees of landing, [the] difference it makes . . . Basically staying closed down the slope [of the mound] — it’s something a seven-year-old should be told when they’re doing pitching lessons. That’s amazing [that] I still have to be told that at 31 years old.”
When asked how much he knew about the Mets this season, Maton chose to talk about facing the club’s offense.
“I was actually going through my notes and I remember it was actually a very tricky lineup to navigate,” he said.
As Mendoza said, it’s a virtual certainty that Maton will be coming into games late and be an essential part of the bridge to closer Edwin Diaz.
“I have tunnel vision while I’m out there. Every inning is extremely important,” he said of pitching in critical situations. “Big situations are fun when they’re done. It’s really exciting once you do your job and you’re able to celebrate. But in that moment, it’s all exactly the same whether there’s five fans there or it’s a packed-house World Series game . . . It’s just really trying to stay focused on the task at hand.”
Maton is the first Mets player to wear No. 88, which he’s worn with San Diego, Cleveland, Houston and Tampa Bay. His connection to it is more happenstance.
“When you’re [a] nobody prospect, that’s just what they get when called up,” he said. “So that’s what I was given my first spring training for the Padres. When I debuted, that’s just what they had for me. So I kept it.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
