Cole Sulser is one of the more interesting veteran non-roster invitees in camp as a couple of years ago he had a dominant season. Since then he’s been mired by injuries.
Sulser was drafted in 2013 out of Dartmouth by Cleveland. In 2018 he was part of a massive 3-team trade between Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Seattle that included Carlos Santana coming to Cleveland. Sulser was part of the package that Tampa Bay received. He would make his debut during the 2019 season. After that campaign he was selected off waivers by the Orioles and that’s when his career took off. At the start of the 2022 season he was traded to the Marlins as part of a five player swap. Since then he has bounced around between the Diamondbacks and Rays organizations until the Met signed him.
Sulser struggled in his first real season, 2020. Over 19 games and 22 2/3 innings (remember, this was the shortened baseball season), he had a a 5.56 ERA, 4.91 FIP, 1.500 WHIP and an 85 ERA+. Then things clicked for Sulser in 2021. Over 63 1/3 innings he had a 2.70 ERA, 2.98 FIP, 1.121 WHIP and a 166 ERA+. His Baseball Savant stats that year reflected his traditional stats. He ranked in the 98th percentile for offspeed run value, 86th for xERA and 85th for xBA.
Sulser’s 2022 season looked more like his 2020 season. Last season he got into three games near the start of the season but then headed to the injured list with a shoulder strain.
The 33-year old righty has four pitches in his arsenal. About half the time he throws a low-to-mid-90’s fastball. He tosses a mid-80’s changeup about a third of the time. His third pitch is a mid-80’s slider and on occasion he will toss a curve.
In camp we’ll be looking to see if Sulser looks healthy and effective. If he looks resurgent this spring he could be in a position battle for one of the final roster spots. Last year the Mets had a lot of pitchers in camp that weren’t hard throwers, like Sulser. This year the Mets have brought in a diverse array of arms, so Sulser is really competing against the pitchers left in camp that have a similar profile to him.
