February has been busy for the New York Mets, as they’ve now made a deal moving one of their top prospects to the Baltimore Orioles for cash.
The New York Mets have made a somewhat surprising move, trading Baseball America‘s #9 organizational prospect in righty Gabriel Ynoa to the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for solely cash.We've traded Gabriel Ynoa to Baltimore in exchange for cash. Our 40-Man roster now stands at 39. #Mets
— New York Mets (@Mets) February 10, 2017
Ynoa made his Queens debut last season on August 13, and was largely kept to a bullpen role until September 18, when he started against the Minnesota Twins and threw 4.2 innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts.
But that would be the best outing of Ynoa’s short time in the majors for the Mets, as he ended the 2016 season with a 6.38 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP over 18.1 innings tossed.
The 23-year-old has had a very successful minor league career thus far though, managing a 3.36 ERA over seven seasons in the Mets’ farm system.
Ynoa, although he doesn’t have much of a major league track record yet, figures to fight for a rotation spot for the Orioles in Spring Training.
Baltimore is in dire need of good starting pitching, as six of the eight pitchers that started at least 11 games for them in 2016 had 4.00-plus ERAs, with five of those six being over 5.00 ERAs.
This move likely isn’t anything Metropolitan fans will have to worry about, as Ynoa looks as though his highest ceiling is only that of a five starter in a major league rotation.
