It would be quite a shock if Baumann were to land a Major League deal. The 30-year-old spent the 2025 season with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. He wasn’t exactly dominant there. He pitched 15 innings at the highest NPB level with a 4.20 earned run average and 11 innings in the minors with a 4.09 ERA.
At the highest level, he struck out 25.3% of the batters in that small sample, but he also walked 16% of opponents. In the minors, he had a 20.9% strikeout rate and an 11.6% walk rate.
If it’s just a minor league deal, then it’s fine for the Mets. It adds some depth without using a grid spot. Baumann has some Major League experience. He pitched 167 1/3 innings during the 2021 through 2024 seasons with a 4.95 ERA, 20% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate and 42.7% ground ball rate.
Those numbers weren’t elite, but Baumann’s arsenal clearly intrigued teams. His foursider and sinker both averaged in the upper 90s. He also had a slider in the low 90s, in addition to a knuckle curve and changeup that both averaged in the high 80s.
He began the 2024 season with the Orioles, the club he has played for since being drafted in 2017. But he exhausted his last option season in 2023, meaning his hold on a roster spot had diminished. Over the course of the 2024 season, he went from the O’s to the Mariners, Giants, Angels and Marlins via small trades or waiver claims.
After that hot potato season, he tried to find some more security by moving to Japan. It didn’t work out, so he has come back to North America and will join the Mets. Assuming this is a non-roster pact, he will try to work his way onto the club’s roster. Even if he does, staying put will be difficult due to his aforementioned out-of-options status.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images
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