Mets veteran reliever lands on IL amid pristine start to season

The Mets announced that left-hander Brooks Raley has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to elbow inflammation.  Righty Grant Hartwig was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.

Raley has been untouchable this season, with a spotless 0.00 ERA (with two hits and three walks) over seven innings out of the New York bullpen. He last pitched on Friday, tossing 20 pitches in two-thirds of an inning in the Mets’ 9-4 win over the Dodgers. Raley’s previous outing was back on Monday, so it could be that he had been trying to pitch through his elbow soreness after taking a couple of days, or perhaps his elbow simply started barking after Friday’s game.

It was almost exactly a year ago that Raley was also placed on the Mets’ 15-day IL with a bout of elbow inflammation, and he was able to return after just a minimal absence.  Raley and the Mets can only hope that this latest injury is similarly minor, as Raley has an important role as the team’s chief southpaw reliever.  With Raley now sidelined, Jake Diekman is the only left-hander in New York’s relief corps.

Raley has posted a 2.58 ERA, 27.3% strikeout rate, and nine percent walk rate over 115 1/3 innings since the start of the 2022 season.  While he had a 4.78 ERA in 2021 with the Astros, the advanced metrics indicated a performance level closer to his 2022-24 numbers, so the Rays’ decision to give Raley a two-year, $10M deal in the 2021-22 offseason ended up being a very canny move.  The Mets acquired Raley in a trade in December 2022 and this past fall exercised their $6.5M club option on Raley’s services for the 2024 campaign.