At this year’s trade deadline, the Mets were looking like a buyer. They had multiple different directions they could head in to improve the team, but one of the biggest ones was their bullpen. Several games had been blown by relievers so far this season—close games, big leads, and everything in between.
The Mets made a move for Tyler Rogers on Wednesday, which looked like it would be the team’s biggest bullpen move. But David Stearns had another trick up his sleeve, acquiring All-Star closer Ryan Helsley in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Helsley was drafted as a college sophomore by the Cardinals in the fifth round of the 2015 draft. He spent a little more than three seasons moving his way up through the minor leagues before finally getting called up to the major league team in 2019. In his six-plus seasons in the major leagues, Helsley has been a fantastic reliever. He has a 2.67 career ERA in 299.2 innings, with 105 saves and 355 strikeouts. He has a 10.7 K/9 over the length of his career and a 154 ERA+.
He’s been an All-Star twice in his career, in 2022 and 2024. 2022 also saw the lowest ERA of his career, a sparkling 1.25, and a 313 ERA+, racking up 94 strikeouts in just 64.2 innings. 2024 saw him win the National League Reliever of the Year Award, with a 2.04 ERA, 49 saves, and 79 strikeouts in 66.1 innings, culminating in a 204 ERA+.
So far in 2025, he has a 3.00 ERA, with 21 saves already on his ledger. He’s struck out 41 in 36 innings, with a 10.3 K/9 being just a shade below his career average. He’s also had a bit more of an issue with home runs this year, with a 1.0 HR/9 being the highest of his career since the COVID-shortened 2020 season. He has a 139 ERA+ this year, lower than the last few years for him but still very good.
Helsley’s main issue this year seems to be his fastball. Batters are slugging .522 against his four seam fastball this year, which is the highest it’s been since 2020. Luckily, his slider is deadlier than ever, with batters slugging a paltry .154 against it. If he can make an adjustment on his fastball, he may go back to being the suffocatingly dominant reliever he’s been before this year. And the Mets pitching apparatus might be just the right group to help Helsley make that adjustment.
Adding Helsley to the bullpen with Rogers as more high-leverage options to complement Edwin Díaz is an incredible coup for the Mets. The Mets’ bullpen has struggled lately and the team has been cycling through options to try and patch over multiple pitcher implosions. But adding Helsley and Rogers not only allows for mix-and-match options for high-leverage innings, but pushes pitchers like Ryne Stanek and Reed Garrett into lower-leverage spots and lightens their load. And it helps the Mets with load management for Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga as they work their way back to full speed from injury.
It also lines up an absolutely lethal prospect for opposing teams during the playoff push and hopeful playoff run. Ryan Helsley would be a frightening proposition in his own right, but in a do-or-die playoff game where he and Díaz are splitting the last two innings of the game could spell the end for any playoff opponent.
A final thing to note about Ryan Helsley, off the baseball field: he hails from Talehquah, Oklahoma, and is a part of the Cherokee Nation. He has spoken out in the past about his disdain for the Tomahawk Chop that the Braves fans do, calling it “disrespectful” and saying that it depicted Native Americans in a “kind of caveman-type way.” The Braves toned it down when they played the Cardinals in the 2019 postseason (when Helsley originally spoke out about it) but have since seemingly leaned into it more, especially on a national stage such as their 2021 World Series run.
Adding Ryan Helsley is a massive boon for the Mets bullpen. It pairs one dominant closer in Edwin Díaz with another in Helsley. It gives the Mets a longer, better bullpen for the rest of their playoff push. And it provides a frightening mountain to climb for opposing teams in the postseason.
