ST. PETERSBURG — Adrian Houser isn’t naive to his struggles. The right-hander knows that he hasn’t been pitching well enough to give the Mets a chance to win every five days and he understands why he’s being moved to the bullpen next week. For Houser, the move isn’t necessarily a demotion as much as it’s a path forward.
Houser can take this time to work on his mechanics, control and arm slot while contributing on the mound, albeit in a different way.
“I’m disappointed in myself,” Houser said Saturday at Tropicana Field. “I have no one to blame but myself for not getting the job done. But there is still a job to be done, so I need to prepare every day and be ready to go.”
Houser is 0-3 with an 8.16 ERA over his first six starts to the season, a stretch he described as the “toughest” of his career. A lack of command has led to 20 walks in 28 2/3 innings (6.3 per nine innings), and even more worrisome is that hitters have been putting the ball in the air. For a guy with a career 51.9% ground-ball rate, it gave cause for concern.
The Mets haven’t necessarily identified one singular issue with him, but command of his sinker is key. It’s the pitch he uses the most and the pitch that gets the most ground balls.
He reported positive results from a bullpen he threw Saturday at the Trop. The first day the Mets will be able to use Houser in relief is Monday, when they begin a series with the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
“It was really good and it felt a lot better,” Houser said. “Like I said after my last outing, it was a step forward. Today was definitely another step forward. We’re getting where we need to be.”
Houser is working with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner using video, analytics and other methods to refine his mechanics and get him throwing from a consistent arm slot with a consistent motion. Having pitched out of the bullpen in the past for the Milwaukee Brewers, he’s comfortable doing it again, even with traffic on bases and in high-leverage innings.
“We’re doing a little bit of everything,” he said. “Staying with the routine and then looking at video, seeing where we’re off, seeing what we need to do and what we need to fix. And we’ll get back to some of the stuff. I got a connection ball that I work with. Just trying to get back to how I was feeling last year.”
Last year, Houser posted a 4.12 ERA in 21 starts. He was about league average, but he could eat some innings. He doesn’t have a wide array of pitches that he throws and he can’t throw much out of the zone because his stuff isn’t fooling hitters right now. They’ve done their homework and they know they can lay off him.
The Mets want to see him attacking hitters again and pounding the zone. Houser is also healthy, so there isn’t any concern there, but that could make it more frustrating as well: He’s healthy and his stuff in the zone is getting hit.
“It starts with fastball command,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “Using that two-seamer into righties — backdoors to righties and front hip lefties — and just attacking hitter. Him and Hef are working in some of the mechanics that he needs to be making some adjustments to, but he’ll be fine.”
ROSTER MOVE
The Mets optioned right-hander Dedniel Nuñez and left-hander Danny Young to Triple-A Syracuse after they pitched two days in a row. They used one roster spot to call up Christian Scott, Saturday’s starter, and another to call up right-handed reliever Cole Sulser.
This leaves the Mets with only one left-hander in the bullpen, Jake Diekman, but Mendoza isn’t worried since they have right-handers who get lefties out.