Ryan Helsley isn’t sugarcoating what’s been a tough stretch since joining the Mets. The closer has struggled to keep balls in the yard and looks nothing like the dominant pitcher who racked up saves in St. Louis.
Wednesday’s outing against Detroit made that crystal clear. Helsley came in during the seventh inning and promptly gave up a three-run homer to Kerry Carpenter that sealed the Mets’ loss.
After the game, Helsley didn’t dodge the questions about his performance. He was refreshingly honest about what’s going wrong and what he’s trying to do to fix it, via SNY’s Colin Martin.
“Just trying anything and everything,” Helsley said. “Feels like [I] make a good pitch and it gets hit, and then mistakes obviously get hit as well. Seems like everything’s failing. Obviously can’t walk guys and got to compete out there. Just keep trying to get after it when I’m out there.”
That’s a pitcher who sounds genuinely frustrated. Helsley feels like he can’t get anything past hitters right now – even his good pitches are getting barreled up.
Back to Square One
Helsley went deeper into his mindset and how he plans to turn things around. For him, it’s about stripping everything back to the fundamentals if he wants to help this team in high-leverage spots again.
“Just trying to get back to the basics and start at square one. Try to get back to form and be myself and help the team win.”
It’s the kind of reset that closers sometimes need when the strike zone starts feeling smaller and every mistake ends up in the seats. The Mets are counting on Helsley to figure it out – and soon.
