"Five weeks into his Mets tenure, and Ryan Helsley still cannot figure it out. The former St. Louis Cardinals shutdown closer, who was acquired by New York at the trade deadline to be Edwin Diaz's set-up man, continued his miserable stint with his new club on Wednesday afternoon when he yielded a three-run home run to Kerry Carpenter in the seventh inning of the Mets' 6-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers."
"Yeah, I mean that's the frustrating part here, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. This is a guy, you look up and [he's throwing 102 mph] and they continue to take some really good swings. Then the way they're taking the breaking ball, too. And I don't think it's tipping-related; he's made some adjustments. Talking to [pitching coach Jeremy Hefner], how do we help this guy? Because right now we're not doing it. When you got that type of stuff and they keep hitting it, something's going on here."
"The next logical problem could be as simple as an inability to locate his pitches properly. There are no mechanical issues with Helsley's stuff, and the velocity on his fastball remains toward the very top of Major League Baseball. But the 100 mph fastball that Carpenter was able to turn on and crush into the right-field seats was low and inside. That's a pitch that needs to be at the very top or even above the zone."
Five weeks into his Mets tenure, Ryan Helsley has struggled to get results. He was acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals to be Edwin Diaz's set-up man but yielded a three-run homer to Kerry Carpenter in the seventh during a 6-2 loss to the Detroit Tigers. Helsley has allowed 14 runs in 11 innings across 14 appearances, producing an 11.45 ERA. Initial concerns about tipping were investigated and adjustments made, but poor results persisted. There are no mechanical issues and his fastball velocity remains elite. The primary problem appears to be pitch location, particularly an inability to elevate the fastball into the power zone for left-handers.
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