WASHINGTON — Mets’ right-hander Dominic Leone took the loss Sunday in the first game of a doubleheader against the Washington Nationals because of one bad pitch. He missed up and in with a cutter to CJ Abrams in the seventh inning of a tie game. Abrams took it over the fence for the go-ahead homer to hand the Mets, and by default Leone, a loss.
It was the 31-year-old right-hander’s first loss with the Mets but it certainly wasn’t the first of his career. The veteran reliever has struggled to maintain consistency with control throughout his career. The one thing he doesn’t struggle with after a decade in the Major Leagues is his confidence.
“Yesterday, I make one bad pitch in two innings and it ends up in a loss,” Leone told the Us.Mistertruthon Monday at Nationals Park. “But you have to show up the next day.”
The Mets signed Leone to a one-year contract on May 4. He had pitched so well in Triple-A with the Texas Rangers to start the season that he opted out of his contract to see if he could catch on with a Major League team.
Leone has been an interesting case study in year-over-year results. During the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he posted a bloated 8.38 ERA with Cleveland. The following season was the best of his career. He went 4-5 with a 1.51 ERA and a 3.08 FIP with the San Francisco Giants.
“I was in a groove,” Leone said. “I was comfortable in my mechanics and how I was going about my process. It makes the game so much easier so I was just able to go out and do the things I know I can do.”
But last season his ERA was back up to 4.01 with San Francisco. His walk rate has also been relatively high since 2018. His good seasons have correlated with lower walk rates and his bad seasons have correlated with higher rates.
It doesn’t take a baseball genius to know that throwing more strikes and limiting the number of free passes issued is the key to success on the mound, but even in 2021, Leone was still walking nearly four batters per nine innings (3.69).
“There are certain situations in which you need to be a little bit more delicate with the hitter and whatnot, but I’ve always been about pitching aggressively and pitching in the zone and trying to attack hitters. In 2021 I did a really good job with that. My confidence was sky-high and I felt really, really good. Like, I’m going right at the guy and it didn’t matter, night in and night out.”
The Mets like this approach as well. Leone had some elbow discomfort earlier in the weekend in Washington, but after working past that he was able to reach back and get a little more velocity on his fastball. His walk rate has also been down to less than two batters per nine innings.
But he’s only pitched 5 and 2/3 innings, so it’s too small of a sample size to know if the reduced walk rate or the velocity are trends, but the Mets like what they’ve seen so far.
“I was watching a lot of his stuff from before he came here, and I don’t want to say that he got overused but he’s working his way back there,” said manager Buck Showalter.
The Clemson product who grew up in Norwich, Connecticut, is happy to be back in the Northeast closer to friends and family. It’s a good fit for him in a veteran clubhouse and he’s hoping to learn all he can about career longevity from Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.
But the one thing he knows how to do better than anything else at this stage in his career is how to turn the page.
“I’ve lived the ups and downs,” Leone said. “I’ve had the super highs and the super lows. Just to kind of stay in an even-keel mindset and process is the biggest thing. In this clubhouse, we have a lot of guys who have a tremendous amount of experience, so I’m constantly trying to learn and pick their brains. Even though I’ve done it a while, they’ve done it longer. So it’s nice. You learn.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Right-hander Carlos Carrasco (elbow bone spurs) had a work day in New York on Monday and is expected to be activated off the injured list later this week. The Mets are considering giving him an extra day of rest before his next start, which is expected to come next weekend against the Cleveland Guardians.