For the second straight season the Mets are inviting Dom Hamel to major league camp. Hamel was part of a trio of exciting Mets pitchers to get invited to Spring Training in 2024 (Mike Vasil and Christian Scott being the other two).
Hamel had a rough 2024. It was so rough that at Metsmerized he isn’t even considered a Top 30 prospect for the 2025 season. Dom made 27 starts for Syracuse in 2024, totaling 124 2/3 innings with a 6.79 ERA and 1.749 WHIP. The previous season in Binghamton he had a 4.06 ERA and 1.266 WHIP in almost the same amount of innings (124). For the first time in his career his K/9 slipped below 11 (9.0 in 2024) while his BB/9 ballooned to 5.6 (4.4 career, 3.6 in 2023) and his H/9 also skyrocketed (10.2 in 2024, 7.8 in 2023, 8.1 career).
Dom Hamel, who will turn 26 on March 2nd enters a critical year. The Mets left him unprotected in the Rule V draft in December and no one selected him. Due to his performance last season, he’s even farther down the depth chart to start for the Mets this season. In addition to everyone on the 40-man roster, and veterans on NRI deals, he’s directly competing with top prospects Blade Tidwell and Brandon Sproat this year.
The Mets are absolutely going to give Hamel a look in camp this year. We’re looking for a step towards his 2023 self:
- Generating swings and misses
- Better control, less walks
- Opponents getting less hits
If Hamel can perform at level somewhere between 2023 and 2024, he’ll make his major league debut at some point this season. At the end of the 2023 season, MLB Pipeline had him listed as the #9 prospect in the Mets system. They wrote about his slider and it’s 2,800-3000 rpm. All really exciting stuff, but things have fallen apart fast. The Mets have seen prospects have down years and come back better. Mark Vientos had a -1.1 WAR and .620 OPS (69 OPS+) over 233 PA’s in 2023. David Peterson had two seasons with and ERA above 5 before last season’s breakout. Can Dom Hamel follow in their footsteps?
