Short Time Mets Relief Pitcher: Jeff Kaiser (1993)

Jeffrey Patrick Kaiser was born on July 24, 1960 in Wyandotte, Michigan. The six foot three inch, lefty attended Western Michigan University getting drafted by the Oakland A’s in the tenth round of the 1983 draft.

Kaiser began his minor league career well going 8-1 at A ball, Medford in 1980. He was 12-10 at Modesto the following season and by 1985 was converted into a reliever.


He first appeared with Oakland in 1985 pitching in 15 games posting a 14.58 ERA over 16 innings. Kaiser was traded to the Cleveland Indians the next year & spent four seasons pitching there in middle relief. He signed with the Milwaukee Brewers but was released, then signed with the Detroit Tigers in 1991. He saved two games there, but an ERA of 9.00 in ten games got him released again. The Cincinnati Reds gave him a shot but placed him on waivers after three games in April 1993, even though he posted his best ERA at 2.70.

The New York Mets picked him up off waivers at the end of April 1993. He spent less than a month with the Mets pitching in six games wearing #56.

His debut came against the Giants in San Francisco, where he gave up two runs in one inning in a 10-5 loss. His best performance was two scoreless innings against the Florida Marlins in a 6-4 loss.

His last outing was on May 17th, against the Pittsburgh Pirates, relieving Jeff Innis in a 9-4 loss. It didn’t turn out to well as he allowed a walk, a passed ball; a stolen base & a two run double to Orlando Merced.

He pitched in just six games from April 29th to May 15th and the Mets lost every one of those games. He posted no record but allowed six earned runs in just 4.2 innings pitched. He was sent down to AAA Norfolk, going 1-1 the rest of the year with nine saves & a 5.57 ERA.

At the end of the season he ended his pitching career, going 0-2 with a 9.17 ERA in 52 innings of 50 games. Kaiser spent the majority of his career in the minor leagues, in twelve seasons there he was 55-39 with 36 saves & a 3.88 ERA in 310 games pitched.

He played in the major leagues for parts of seven seasons but only appeared in fifty games in that time. He spent one season in Oakland- in 15 games (1985) then pitched four years in Cleveland- 31 games total (1987-1990) & one year in Detroit- ten games (1991).