Brooks Raley’s Unexpected Decision to Stay in Queens: What It Means for the Team’s Future

After re-signing with the Mets while hurt, Raley returned to the big league mound in July of 2025 and was quite good: 25.2 innings of work, just seven earned runs, 25 strikeouts to six walks, no home runs, and a 2.45 ERA. The Mets very wisely picked up his option for 2026, and he returns to the Mets as their most veteran member of the relief corps.

Raley works with mainly four pitches: a sweeper, a sinker, a cutter, and a change-up. He relies mostly on the sweeper, throwing it just over 40% of the time. He makes up for a lack of velocity by getting a nice amount of spin on his balls; in his last season of regular work, Raley had elite fastball spin, which led to low exit velocity, and very few hard-hit or barreled balls.

Raley is enetering his age 38 season, so he’s no young gun, but with Minter starting the year on the IL and a proven track record of success, Raley will be the Mets’ primary lefty out of the bullpen as the season starts. Whether he can maintain that role once Minter returns remains to be seen, but the combination of his consistency and stuff will ensure that he’ll get lots of usage out of the bullpen this year.

One final note on Raley: he was one of five Tampa Bay Rays to opt out of wearing Rays LGBTQIA+ Pride-themed gear for their 2022 Pride Night. Raley did not comment on his decision.