Mets Reliever Brooks Raley Is Breaking Baseball Analytics

[Cory Sparks]

Image courtesy of © David Frerker-Imagn Images

Nowadays, the young, flamethrowing pitcher archetype seems to be the talk of the town across the professional baseball landscape. Players throwing triple digits with sky-high whiff rates are the hot commodity and apparent ultimate prerequisite in dominating in today’s day and age. Brooks Raley is none of those things, and yet he's been one of the best relievers in the sport. Let’s dive into how he’s successfully climbed uphill all year for one of the best seasons of his illustrious career.

Brooks Raley's Path to Dominance

Raley is a 37-year-old relief pitcher for the New York Mets, and he’s defying almost every sense of logic present in today’s game. The veteran southpaw stands at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, and he possesses north of 270 innings of experience over 284 appearances. Nearly ever single one of those appearances have been out of the bullpen, as the 2009 sixth-round pick by the Chicago Cubs has proven to be a steady, reliable relief option over his nine-year career. 

The Texas A&M alum has major league experience with the Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Rays and now the Mets. With no All-Star selections, it can be easy for some to overlook the veteran southpaw. However, he has had to overcome some pretty significant hurdles to make a living in the majors. 

Velocity and Whiffs Aren't Mutually Inclusive

The average fastball in 2026 glides across the plate in the mid-90s, and that value has only climbed over the years. Raley has a different way of going about his business. His fastball clocks in at an average of 89.9 miles per hour, putting him in the 4th percentile of MLB pitchers. This isn’t new for the veteran hurler, either; his average fastball has never eclipsed 91 miles per hour at any point throughout his career.

Naturally, his whiff rate isn’t astronomically higher either, sitting at 26.4% (59th percentile). However, that's still an impressive, above-average figure. This is someone who can’t rely on blowing a pitch by someone, and in turn, if he makes a mistake and catches too much of the plate, it’s more likely that Raley gets punished than, say, Milwaukee Brewers hurler Jacob Misiorowski (who leads MLB in pitches over 100 miles per hour this year). Yet, even without the velocity to generate more swings and misses, Raley has struck out 27% of hitters (81st percentile). How does he do this and stay on a pace that’s given him 29 punchouts in 24.1 innings this year?

Raley's Deep Arsenal

It all starts with his arsenal of pitches. While the league seems to be dominated by hard throwers, finesse pitchers still exist. Having a variety of pitches is usually one of the first ways that soft-tossers can meander their way through a lineup. Sure enough, Riley utlizes four different pitches as a reliever. 

His sweeper, which he uses 44% of the time, bites hard glove-side with plenty of horizontal movement. Opposing hitters have struggled to time it up, as they’ve hit just .196 with a .219 expected batting average against Raley’s primary offering. The sinker and cutter share time as his secondary pitch, being utilized at 22% and 21% of the time, respectively. They both dart in very different directions; the 37-year-old’s sinker glides around 18 inches to his arm-side, while the cutter has more of a sharp, bullet-like movement to it. His changeup has almost the same path as the sinker but buzzes in at 5.7 miles per hour slower (84.2). 

Raley fires out of a 32-degree arm angle which is considered a lower arm slot. That allows for more side-to-side movement on his breaking pitches. 

Mitigating Solid Contact

While Raley’s strikeout rate is well above the league average, his bread and butter is generating weak contact. The cerebral lefty is allowing just a 29.5% hard-hit rate, or proportion of baseballs leaving the bat at 95 miles per hour or greater. He doesn’t generate a ton of ground balls, but the sharper launch angle doesn’t hurt him since opposing hitters aren’t piecing up his offerings.

In effect, this is a pitcher who can beat you in multiple ways. Be it by soft contact or strikeout, Raley has insulated himself from the kind of damage that tends to ruin a reliever's ERA. A rather impressive feat for someone who barely touches 90 miles per hour, no?

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