There are pros and cons to social media (that’s the understatement of the century). Regardless of which one you think is more prevalent, it’s cool that there’s a chance to interact with professional athletes. The thought of “What if they actually see what I say?” is in the back of many minds. We don’t know how much they all see, but Mets reliever Adam Ottavino has apparently seen enough on Instagram.
Last week, MLBNerds continued its preseason rankings for each position by looking at the game’s top 50 relievers (in their eyes). New York has several hurlers on this list, but three are ranked between 40 and 50: Brooks Raley (45), David Robertson (46), and Ottavino (49).
The right-handed hurler wasn’t amused by his ranking:
Where were you when Adam Ottavino cooked MLB Nerds pic.twitter.com/2VS9QhxLRI
— jack (@Jolly_Olive) January 19, 2023
I don’t see many places ranking the top 50 relief pitchers in baseball. This is probably how football players feel when new Madden ratings get released, though.
That would’ve been enough, but Otto wasn’t done folks. While this might’ve already been on his profile, my guess is he added it after seeing these rankings:
Adam Ottavino is a savage for having his own Savant link in his IG bio ? pic.twitter.com/tiSGQbGH8H
— Mets'd Up Podcast (@MetsdUp) January 19, 2023
Ottavino has a point when looking at his Statcast metrics.
The Mets signed him last March to a one-year, $4 million deal, and not many of us thought much of it. This seemed like a decent depth signing to fortify the rotation a bit. But he ended up being one of the bullpen’s most dependable relievers, along with acting as a crucial part of the bridge to closer Edwin Diaz.
He turned that 1.1-fWAR and 2.06 ERA performance into a two-year, $14.5 million deal to stay in Flushing. The second year is a player option.
How much can he improve on this ranking in 2023? Probably not too much, and mostly because ranking the top 50 of anything feels just about impossible — especially relievers. But we now know Otto has no problem letting loose on Instagram when he sees an injustice being done against him.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
