The White Sox were connected to a number of Mets’ pieces ahead of the deadlines (including Clay Holmes and Luis Torrens). Ultimately, it was Huascar Brazobán who headed to the south side in exchange for two minor league arms.
Zach Franklin is a 27-year-old reliever with a 4.37 ERA in Triple-A who has never pitched in the majors, a description that is not going to excite anyone. The stuff, though, is downright impressive. He throws a 4-seam fastball that lacks elite reliever velocity but which has above average vertical movement. He also throws a devastating splitter that batters cannot lay off, a pitch he should probably be throwing more than 15% of the time. Both those pitches rate well above average in stuff models. There are a couple distinct breaking ball shapes he’s played with as well, all of which could use more teasing out / improvement. We’ll likely see Franklin on the major league roster down the stretch.
Gabe Davis is the bigger name – and bigger player, standing at 6’9”. A former college teammate of both Carson Benge and Nolan McLean at Oklahoma State, Davis was selected in the 5th round of last year’s draft and has been downright dreadful in Double-A this year as the White Sox attempted to convert him to starting. What you’re betting on here is a big bodied player with good extension and velocity figuring it out in a better development environment. Not a bad dart throw as a second piece.
The immediate reaction from many I suspect is that this is not enough to move Brazoban, who has a 2.56 ERA and isn’t even a free agent til 2030. The reality is that Brazoban’s shiny ERA this year was more a product of a small sample than significant skill changes – he’s fundamentally not all that different a pitcher from what he was last year (when he was demoted to Triple-A and used as a bulk guy) or even when the Mets first acquired him from the Marlins (when they gave up next to nothing). Betting on Franklin, ten years Brazoban’s junior, to the be a better pitcher as soon as 2027 is not at all unreasonable.
So yes, this is not a return that will have most fans celebrating in the streets. But given what Brazoban’s actual value was, the Mets appear to have done pretty well here.
