PORT ST. LUCIE — Zach Greene’s goal this spring is to avoid getting offered back to the Yankees.
To achieve that, the 26-year-old right-handed reliever will have to be placed on the Mets’ major league roster and remain there. Such is life for a Rule 5 draft pick.
Last season Greene struck out 96 batters over 68 ¹/₃ innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre and pitched to a 3.42 ERA, but it wasn’t enough to earn him a spot on the Yankees’ 40-man roster after the season. Greene, who had just finished his fourth professional season — leaving him unprotected — took the exclusion in stride.
“Those guys have so much talent, so I couldn’t fault them at all,” said Greene, who was selected by the Mets in the Rule 5 draft at the winter meetings in San Diego. “There definitely was a little bit of disappointment, because I know me and I have belief in myself and I know I can perform in the big leagues, but at the same time the job they have over there, they have to manage that roster, it’s really so difficult, you really can’t fault them.”
Greene joins a group that includes Stephen Nogosek, Elieser Hernandez, Jeff Brigham and Stephen Ridings among the relievers who will battle for spots at the back end of the Mets’ bullpen.
Though Greene doesn’t possess a big fastball — his velocity sits in the 92-93 mph range — he pitches with a “deceptiveness,” according to pitching coach Jeremey Hefner, that produces strikeouts.
Greene said his competitive nature is his strength.
“I might not be the guy that is throwing 100 [mph] like Ridings, and there’s a lot of guys that are probably more talented than me,” Greene said. “But I don’t think there is anybody more competitive than me. When I step on that mound, my only thought is to get guys out.”
The Mets last received a helpful piece from the Rule 5 draft before the 2015 season when they selected Sean Gilmartin, a left-handed reliever. Gilmartin stuck with the club all year and remained with the Mets into 2016.
Greene — a Jacksonville, Fla., native who grew up rooting for the Red Sox — was selected by the Yankees in the eighth round of the 2019 draft from South Alabama.
“If it doesn’t work out, I realize it’s because there is a whole lot of talent in this room,” Greene said. “I was in good position with the Yankees, and it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to go back to them, even though I am trying my hardest to see that doesn’t happen.”
