Paul Sewald: Former Un-Popular Mets Relief Pitcher Who Lost His First 14 Career Decisions (2017 - 2020)
Baseball Family: His father, Mark Sewald was a prospect for the Boston Red Sox, drafted out of high school in 1979. His brother Johnny was selected by the Houston Astros in the 2015 draft. Both his parents were accountants & Paul also earned an accounting degree.
The six foot three, right hander attended the University of San Diego & was drafted by the New York Mets in the tenth round of the 2012 MLB draft.
A career reliever, Sewald posted 24 saves for the Mets AA Buffalo Bisons in 2015, while going 3-0. After a promotion to his hometown club, AAA Las Vegas, he saved 19 more games while going 5-3 in 2016.
Mets Career: He started out 2017 with the Mets big league club, getting an appearance in the 5th game of the year. In his MLB debut he gave up two runs to the Miami Marlins in the 8th inning of an 8-1 Mets loss.
He was back down at AAA for eight games in April 2017, then was back up by May to help a hurting Mets bullpen. Sewald posted a 1.35 ERA from Aprill 11th to May 29th. He was used often to finish out losses or mop out a win when the Mets had a rare big lead.
In June, he took his first loss, coming at Citi Field against the Pittsburgh Pirates, as they got him for five runs in less than inning of work.
It would be his worst outing of the year. From June 2nd to June 22nd, he gave up 11 earned runs in 7.2 innings for a 12.91 ERA.
He suffered losses to the NL Champion Dodgers, The Nationals & another in that year's subway series. From August 1st to the end of the year he posted a 5.41 ERA.Overall, he was 0-6 with a 4.55 ERA. His six losses tied him for sixth in losses among MLB relievers.
Trivia: Sewald became the first Mets pitcher to lose his first six decisions of his career while playing for the team.
He was second on the club in appearances (57) & holds (13). He finished up 12 games, while striking out 69 batters, walking 21 in 65.1 innings of work.
On the season opposing hitters batted .222 against him with runners in scoring position.
2018: After a good Spring Training he made the 2018 Mets bullpen team going north. On April 26th he took his first loss, followed up by two more in May in which he allowed three runs in each of them. On June 1st, he blew a Zack Wheeler shut out, eventually allowing four runs in 1.2 innings, taking another loss. After his ERA went over five he spent some time back in the minors in July.
On August 21st, he earned his first career save, it came in a 5-3 win over the San Francisco Giants. He earned a second save over the Nationals a month later.
Overall, in 2018 he was 0-7 on the year with the second most losses in the majors.
Trivia: His 0-13 start to his career was the worst start of a Mets career in team history.
Sewald collected two saves & a 6.07 ERA. He gave up 8 HRs with 58 strike outs & 23 walks in 56.1 innings of work in 46 appearances.
2019: On April 19th, Sewald was called up from AAA Syracuse on April 14 to replace Corey Oswalt. In his first game he helped finish off a pathetic Mets 14-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Sewald would finish off three more Mets losses, including a pair of blow outs, before getting designated for assignment in mid-May.The Mets picked him up again & he returned to the bullpen by late August.
On August 20th Sewald finished off a Mets win over the Cleveland Indians. He came back two nights later as the Mets swept the Cleveland series hot in contention of the wild card race. That night Sewald earned his first save, helping Noah Syndergaard complete a two-hit shutout.
Since his return, he allowed just one earned run in seven innings over five appearances.
Since his return, he allowed just one earned run in seven innings over five appearances.
On September 3rd, he gave up four runs in a 11-10 loss at Washington & on September 8th, he took a loss to the Phillies. First Career Win: On September 24th, he finally earned his first career win, coming after three seasons. He shut down the Phils in the top of the 11th inning & got the win when Brandon Nimmo drew a bases loaded walk.
Trivia: With that win, he broke a personal 14-game losing streak, which is the longest losing streak to start a career in NL history.
In 17 games he went 1-1 with a save, striking out 22 batters & walked 3 in 19.2 innings of work.
2020: In the Covid19 shortened season, Sewald pitched in five games, posting a 13.50 ERA in six innings of work. On August 10th, he gave up six hits & six earned runs in 9.2 innings of work in a 16-4 loss to Washington.He was sent back to AAA & then granted free agency at the end of the year. He claimed the Mets gave up on him. He signed on with the Seattle Mariners for 2021.
Mariners Career: In Seattle Sewald had a good 2022 season, he made 62 appearances going 10-3 with 11 saves posting a 3.06 ERA. His ten wins & his ERA were tied for second most on the staff. When he returned to Citi Field he was booed as he wasn't the most reliable reliever while with the Mets. He said the fans never took to him in New York & he enjoyed coming back to get "revenge: Those comments would have him tormented each time he came back.
2022 Post Season: He was back for the 2022 season going 5-4 with a 2.67 ERA. That year the Mariners won 90 games, winning the ALWC Series in a 2-0 sweep over Toronto. Sewald appeared in Game #2 getting roughed up for four runs in the 5th inning of the Mariners 10-9 win.
loss.
In 2023 he started out the season with Seattle getting traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 31st. Arizona was a having a hard time in the bullpen with their relief corps. At the time of his arrival though they were just 3.5 games back of the Dodgers but went on a nine-game losing streak falling out of the race.
From there they went 26-19 earning a wild card spot & had a tremendous playoff run taking them to the World Series. Sewald helped solidify the bullpen, as he became the club's closer earning 13 saves in 20 appearances.
In the NLDS upset sweep over the Dodgers he made two more appearances, collecting saves in Game #2 & Game #3.
In the NLCS win over the Phillies, Sewald earned the win in Game#3 pitching a scoreless 9th inning of a 1-1 tie. Arizona won it on a walk off single from Ketel Marte off Craig Kimbrel.
In Game #5, Sewald collected the save in the 6-5 win in Arizona. In Game #7 he collected the save with a scoreless 9th in the 4-2 win in Philadelphia, advancing the surprising Diamondbacks to the World Series. He became the 17th pitcher in MLB history to record at least six saves in a post season.
In Game #1 at Texas, Sewald served up a game tying HR to the Rangers Corey Seagar. They went on to win it on Adolis Garcia's walk off HR off Miguel Castro.
In the final Game #5 he came on in the 9th inning with Texas ahead 1-0. He gave up a two-run single to Jonah Heim then a two run HR to Marcus Semien in the 5-0 loss, as the Rangers went on to their first Championship.
Family: Paul met his wife Molly in 2016 while playing in the Arizona Fall League. They were married in 2018 & have one daughter.
Paul is an avid hockey fan of the NHL Las Vegas Knights.
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