Two days after calling right-handed pitcher Joey Gerber up from Triple-A Syracuse, the Mets have optioned him back to Syracuse and called up fellow right-handed reliever Daniel Duarte to replace him on the team’s active roster. Gerber did not get into either of the two games for which he was with the big league club, and Duarte exercised an upward mobility clause in his contract that forced the Mets to either call him up or risk losing him to another organization.
To make room for Duarte on the 40-man roster, the Mets transferred left-handed reliever A.J. Minter to the 60-day injured list, a distinction that won’t have any effect on the veteran’s ability to return to the team if and when he proves to be healthy and effective.
Duarte last pitched in the big leagues in 2024 with the Twins, and he’s thrown a total of 38.1 innings as a major league player, the vast majority of which came with the Reds in 2023. In total, he has a 3.99 ERA and a 6.11 FIP as a major league pitcher, as he’s walked nearly as many batters as he’s struck out while surrendering too many home runs.
In 17.1 innings with Syracuse so far this year, Duarte has a 2.60 ERA and a 4.21 FIP with a 19.7 percent strikeout rate and a 12.7 percent walk rate. Given the Mets’ reluctance to remove Craig Kimbrel or Sean Manaea from their active roster to this point, it certainly wouldn’t be surprising to see Duarte removed from the roster within the next day or two as the Mets continue to churn fringe pitchers.