Mets Relief Pitcher: Dana Eveland (2014)

Dana James Eveland was born on October 29th 1983 at Palmdale, California. The six foot one left handed pitcher attended the College of the Canyons at Santa Clarita & then Hill College in Hillsboro Texas. He was a 16th round draft pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2002.

Eveland got to the majors in 2005 with the Milwaukee Brewers playing there for two seasons, mostly as a reliever. He would go the Arizona D-backs in 2007 then was part of five players going to the Oakland Athletics for Dan Haren & Connor Robertson. In Oakland he was a starter, second on the staff in wins behind Justin Duchscherer going 9-9 with a 4.34 ERA. The next season he was 2-2 as a starter & reliever.

In 2010 he was woth Toronto Blue Jays & Pittsburgh Pirates (3-5 total with a 6.79 ERA). He then went to the Los Angeles Dodgers (2011) & Baltimore Orioles (2012) before signing iwith Hanwha in the Korean baseball League in 2013 where he was 6-14.

In February 2014 he was offered a contract with the New York Mets. He was impressive at AAA Las Vegas going 4-1 with a 3.91 ERA & 58 strike outs in 46 innings in 12 appearances. He was called to the big league staff making his Mets debut on June 2nd, recording a hold in an 11-2 win over the Phillies at Philadelphia.

Two days later he took the loss at Wrigley Field in a 5-4 loss to the Cubs. On June 18th he recorded a save in St. Louis.

He began to see regular action, keeping his ERA under three until early August. On August 9th he pitched a scoreless 10th innings at Philadelphia & earned a win, when Lucas Duda drove in the game winning run with a single off Antonio Bastardo. Eveland would blow a save a week later & earn another hold at the end of the month.

In 30 appearances he was 1-1 with a save, striking out 27 batters & walking six in 27.1 innings. He was granted free agency in the November.