Hansel Robles: 2015 NL Champion Mets Relief Pitcher (2015 - 2018)

Hansel Manuel Robles was born August 13^th, 1990, in the Dominican Republic. The five eleven right-handed reliever was signed as an amateur free agent by the New York Mets in 2008 during the Omar Minaya era.

Robles pitched two years for the Mets in the Dominican Summer League before arriving in the Appalachian League with the Kingsport Mets in 2011.

In 2012 Robles was 6-1 with a league leading 1.11 ERA  on a strong Brooklyn Cyclones (45-11) staff where he began to get attention. The Cyclones finished second that year losing in the playoff semifinals to the Hudson Valley Renegades.

Hansel spent 2013 with the Gulf Coast Mets & the St. Lucie Mets as well as pitching in the Arizona Fall League. In 2014 he began as a starter with AA Binghamton but struggled until he was turned into a reliever. There he began to thrive; he ended up going 7-6 striking out 106 batters in 110 innings although his ERA was over four. In 2015 he began the year at AAA Las Vegas going 1-0 in just five games before getting the big league call up.

Mets Career: On April 24^th Robles debuted coming in relief of Sean Gilmartin in the annual subway series matchup. 

With two men on & nobody out he gave up a single. Now with the bases loaded he got Mark Teixeira to pop out, then struck out Brian McCann & Carlos Beltran.

From there he began to get used more by Terry Collins in the 7th & 8th innings. Robles had a good fastball, showed good confidence & no fear on the mound. 

On May 25th he earned his first hold, then the next day he blew a three-run lead to the Phillies, but Wilmer Flores won the game with a walk off single. On May 30^th he took his first loss, coming from the Miami Marlins.

On June 15^th he gave up an 11^th inning run in an extra inning game at Citi Field against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Mets came back with RBI singles from Lucas Duda & a walk off hit from Wilmer Flores giving him his first win.

That month he also earned four holds & took a loss at Milwaukee.

On July 3rd, he earned his second win, it came at Dodger Stadium in a 2-1 thriller where Noaah Syndergaard & Clayton Kershaw went head-to-head. Kevin Plawecki's 9th inning RBI sac fly was the game winning run.

On August 1st, Robles earned his third win pitching a scoreless 8th inning in a big game with the Nationals. Lucas Duda hit an 8th inning RBI double for the game winning hit as the Mets got to within a game of first place. The Mets swept the Nat's & took over place during a six game win streak.

Battles with the Phillies: On August 25th in the 7th inning of a game in Philadelphia, he threw a first pitch, quick pitch to Darin Ruf. Home plate umpire Dan Bellino called time, but the Phillies bench went wild. Jeff Francoeur came out of the dugout & shouted at Robles, when Bellino told him to get back to the dugout, hot tempered coach, Larry Bowa came out fuming. As he screamed & his face turned Phillie red he was ejected. Bowa was still upset at Daniel Murphy's bat flip the previous night after a HR & commented to Murphy upon his exit.

The Mets swept the series & would win 14 of 19 games with the Phillies that season.

On September 30th, in another matchup with the Phillies, things got ugly. In the 3rd inning with the Mets holding a 5-0 lead, Phillies pitcher Justin De Fratus hit Yoenis Cespedes on the hand with a pitch. He had to leave the game but luckily was ok. In the top of the 5th, Adam Loewen hit Kirk Nieuwenhuis with a pitch as well.

The Mets had enough, in the bottom of the 5th, the Mets Logan Verrett hit Odubel Herrera with a pitch. Both benches were warned but it didn't end there.

In the bottom of the 6th, Robles came into pitch & wasted no time. He threw a pitch near the head of batter Cameron Rupp. Both benches immediately emptied but no punches were thrown. Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud did a fine job in cooling the situation. Home plate umpire Bob Davidson ejected Robles & Terry Collins. 

Robles would get fined & suspended by MLB but he appealed, then was allowed to play out the regular season as well as in the post season with the suspension starting next season. Later that inning the Mets Dario Alvarez was ejected after hitting Aaron Altherr with a pitch. The Mets ended up losing the wild game 7-5.

That month Robles notched five more holds & was credited with a win in Miami. He finished the year at 4-3 with a 3.67 ERA in 57 appearances. He collected 12 holds with 61 strike outs & 18 walks in 54 innings pitched. He also served up an alarming eight HRs in that time.

At times Robles was brilliant but other times immature. Mets broadcaster Ron Darling stated Robles was still a thrower & not yet a pitcher. 

2015 Post Season- NLDS: In Game #2 of the NLDS loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Robles struck out two batters finishing off the game.

He did not appear tin the NLCS.

2015 World Series: In the World Series vs. the Royals, Robles first appeared in the Game#2 loss at Kansas City pitching a scoreless 6th inning.

In Game #4 he finished out the 5--3 loss at Citi Field, striking out two Royals, finishing off the 9th inning.

After the Pennant: In 2016 he was the main set up man to Jeurys Familia, notching five holds with a 1.53 ERA into late May. But he also suffered three losses, serving up HRs in two of them. On May 28th the Dodgers hit three HRs off Robless in the 7th inning, although he took no decision in the 9-1 loss.

On June 21st, in a rematch with the KC Royals at Citi Field, Robles had to relieve Bartolo Colon in the 1st inning. Robles put in a 3.2 inning relief performance earning the 2-1 win, led by Yoenis Cespedes' HR. That week he put in relief performances of two innings or more three times, collecting two victories.

Hansel had a personal five game win streak going until August 9th when he took a loss to Arizona.

Wild Card Race: In September the Mets fought to win a wild card spot in the playoffs. In his 
final eleven games Robles allowed just one run & struck out 14 in 12.2 innings of work. He earned a win, a save & four holds.

On the year he was 6-4 with a save & 15 games finished, collecting nine holds in68 appearances. He posted a 3.48 ERA with 85 K's 36 walks 7 HRs issued inn 77 innings of work. The Mets made the playoffs but lost the wild card game.

2017: The Mets fell to 4th place winning just seventy games as the pennant team was slowly dismantling. Hansel started out the year at 4-0 with a 1.42 ERA into mid-May. But then three straight outings of three runs or more, where he served up four HRs saw his ERA soar to 6.45. He was demoted to AAA returning two months later. For the year he won a career high seven games (7-5) posted a 4.92 ERA while giving up a career high ten HRs in 56.2 innings.

2018: He began the season at AAA but was brought back up when Anthony Swarzak went down with injury. Robles quickly notched two holds & two victories in his first five games. In May he took two losses & had his ERA go over five. He would appear in 16 games going 2-2 but was designated for assignment in late June.

Post Mets Career: He was picked up by the Angels & pitched in Los Angeles for three seasons (2018-2020). In 2019 he saved 23 games for the Angels going 5-1 with a 2.48 ERA in 71 appearances, having his best season. The next year he was 0-2 as his ERA went over ten. He then went to Minnesota (2021) & Boston (2021-2022).

2021 Post Season: In the AL Wild Card game win over the A.L. New York team he pitched a
scoreless 8th inning. He appeared in two ALDS games with Tampa getting roughed up for two runs in Game #3, including an 8th inning solo HR from Wander Franco.

2021 ALCS: In Game #1 of the ALCS in Houston, he was the losing pitcher after serving up an 8th inning HR to Carlos Correa breaking the 3-3 tie leading to the Astros 5-3 win. Robles made two ore appearances in the series loss.

In 2022 he began the season with the Red Sox but was released on July 9th. He signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers pitching for their AAA Oklahoma club. In 2023 he went to pitch in the Mexican League.

Career Stats: In his eight-year career, Robles was 28-26 with 43 saves & a 4.11 ERA. He struck out 457 batters walked 185 & gave up 57 HRs in 427.1 innings of work in 411 appearances while finishing off 130 games.

Family: Hansel married Yasmilka (Morel) in December 2019, they have one son.