Minor League Mondays: Why Hasn't Dylan Ross Gotten A Look In The Mets' Bullpen Yet?

One of the few strengths for the New York Mets this season has been its bullpen. The unit has a lot of strength on the back end with Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, A.J. Minter and Brooks Raley forming a good late inning group while Huascar Brazoban and Austin Warren have done good work opening or in the middle innings.

The last spot in the bullpen has been a bit of a revolving door to keep fresh arms in the mix, with Joey Gerber, Daniel Duarte and Jonathan Pintaro getting looks there. One player on the 40-man roster who hasn't gotten a look there yet is righty Dylan Ross, who is the focus of this week's edition of Minor League Mondays.

Dylan Ross is waiting for his opportunity to contribute to the Mets' bullpen.

Ross, 25, was the Mets' 13th round pick in 2022 out of Georgia but had to wait to start his career until late 2024 due to injury concerns. A Tommy John revision meant Ross got his first pro reps in September of that year before beginning 2025 in High-A Brooklyn. A move to the bullpen proved to be the right one for Ross, who pitched to a 2.17 ERA across three minor league levels while racking up 80 strikeouts in 54 innings pitched.

That strong performance earned Ross a late-season call up for the Mets, but he didn't make an appearance in the final series of the season. Ross failed to earn a job out of camp after getting hurt in March and got off to a late start to the year with AAA Syracuse. The results haven't been stellar so far for Ross, who is 3-1 with a 6.89 ERA in 16 appearances so far this season.

Blowup outings have been a theme for Ross, who has given up at least two earned runs in four of his Syracuse appearances, with the worst result being a four run implosion in a third of an inning against Rochester on May 25. Walks have been a major issue for Ross as well as he has walked 19 batters in 19.2 total innings pitched, which is a no-fly statistic for a big league reliever.

The Mets will want to see Ross get his walks under control before considering him for a big league call up, making the second half very important for him. Ross' stuff can play at the big league level as his fastball can run up to 102 miles per hour, usually sitting in the upper 90s, with a strong splitter he can use as an out pitch against lefties and a slider to attack righties. A seldom-used curveball is Ross' fourth pitch, but his big league prospects come down more to questions of command than stuff.

MLB.com rates Ross as the Mets' 17th-best prospect and the fact he is on the 40 man roster certainly helps his cause. There has been plenty of bullpen churn for the Mets this season, so it wouldn't be shocking to see Ross get a look at some point down the stretch. Results do matter, so Ross has to pitch better to earn a big league opportunity, but he has the stuff to succeed once he returns to Queens to finally make his big league debut.