NEW YORK -- Earlier this season, as he worked through the later stages of his Tommy John rehab while unemployed, Brooks Raley held a showcase for interested teams. When he arrived at the field at the appointed hour, Raley said, “I felt like I was in college again.”
“Like 12 scouts show up,” Raley recalled. “Everybody’s got their gun out. I’m warming up in front of them. I was like, ‘I haven’t done this in a long time.’”
Within days, Raley heard from Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, who wanted him back. The sides agreed to terms, Raley began pitching in Minor League rehab games not long after and, on Friday, he officially returned from the injured list as the only left-hander in New York’s bullpen.
“It’s huge,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It feels like a Trade Deadline acquisition here.”
Despite the steady trajectory of Raley’s Tommy John rehab, there were no guarantees that this would ever come to pass. When Raley tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow last April, he was nearing his 36th birthday -- an age when many of his contemporaries were considering retirement. Returning to the Majors would mean undergoing a major surgery, rehabbing for 12-18 months, then regaining his prior form at age 37.
Which is exactly what he did.
“How special it is to have a guy like that who can not only get lefties out, but with the way he spins the baseball, you feel good about whether it’s a righty or a lefty,” Mendoza said. “He’s experienced. He’s a guy that can come into the middle of an inning with traffic, [or] a clean inning, [and] get you three outs. Could be in the ninth, could be in the eighth, could be as early as the sixth. There’s a lot of flexibility there. Having a guy like that is important. We definitely missed him, and I’m glad that he’s back.”
Since 2022, Raley has been one of the better left-handed relievers in baseball, with a 2.58 ERA over 134 appearances. In 2023, his only full season with the Mets, Raley actually featured reverse platoon splits, but he’s been a shutdown weapon against lefties in the past. During a long rehab process, Raley said, his stuff was “definitely in line, maybe a tick better” than it was before his surgery.
The Mets, who designated Richard Lovelady for assignment to make room for Raley, could still add another left-hander before the July 31 Trade Deadline. In the interim, they’ll lean on a successful lefty from their past.
“Quite the journey,” Raley said. “But today is cool.”
Kranick weighing surgery
Another Mets reliever, Max Kranick, will undergo a major arm surgery in the coming weeks.
A stalwart of the early-season bullpen, Kranick will either undergo Tommy John surgery or a flexor tendon repair operation. If he can avoid a full Tommy John, Kranick would have a much better chance of impacting the Mets next season.
Before injuring his arm, Kranick held a 3.65 ERA over 37 innings.