At this point, of course, we all know about Nelson Figueroa: he’s the unlikely fifth starter for the 2008 New York Mets, a local Brooklyn boy made good, and reigning MVP of the Taiwan Series for the CPBL Uni-President Lions. He’s the current feel-good story for a troublingly mediocre Mets team, and is apparently very mechanically inclined. But is he any good?

Well, there you got me. I honestly have no idea whether he’s any good or not. Seriously. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2004, which would tend to make you think that he isn’t; and at seasonal age 34, you’d be awfully surprised to think that he’s suddenly gotten a lot better.

On the other hand, his minor league numbers have been, if not spectacular, then at least decent. Nelson, as we all know, was drafted by the Mets in the 30th round in the ’95 draft, and was variously traded to or signed by the Diamondbacks, Phillies, Brewers, Pirates, and Nationals (also the Lions, Dorados, Orange Growers, Cibaeñas, and Yaquis) before ending up back with the Mets. He owns a 3.61 ERA in 82.1 innings as a reliever in the big leagues, so it’s kind of surprising to me that he couldn’t stick with somebody, at least in the bullpen.

On the other other hand, a ballplayer who’s played for that many teams is kind of like herpes: anything that gets passed around that much, you don’t want it.

But Nelson has pitched pretty well for the Mets, with a 4.05 ERA in three starts and two relief appearances. Granted, twenty innings pitched is a tiny, tiny sample size, but if the Mets can get anything approaching that level of production, with injuries to Pedro and El Duque, from what is essentially their number seven starter they should be ecstatic.

Figueroa has gotten it done in 2008 by striking out more batters than in his last go ‘round – 7.2 K/9 this year, his highest strikeout rate yet – accompanied by 4.5 BB/9, also a personal high. That gives Nelson a very pedestrian 1.6 K/BB ratio. So how’s he getting it done? Two things: 1) he’s only allowed one homer in his 20 innings of work, and 2) luck. Nelson had been sporting a .232 BABIP, which short up to .276 in his last start. He’s allowing more than 20% line drives, so it’s not like that .232 BABIP is made up of nubbers, toppers and comebackers, either. And that means that we should expect some regression to the mean.

On a positive note, Nelson’s had BABIP under .300 (league average) for four out of his six professional seasons, counting 2008, so there’s some hope that he might be one of those clever pitchers who’s able to limit the hits they give up on balls in play. And frankly, as a swing-man/number seven starter, Nelson doesn’t have to be all that great to be an asset to the team.

But looking at Nelson’s minor league numbers, I’m a trifle surprised that he got shuffled around as much as he did, until I looked at these two: 6’1” and 155. That’s pretty scrawny for a big-league right-hander. Now, he’s listed variously at 155, 160, and 170 pounds. Buck-seventy looks about right these days, but that’s still on the small side for a starting pitcher. Hell, even mighty mite David Eckstein is listed at 177.

Anyway, I think that Nelson got passed over because of his physique. No, he was never going to be Tom Seaver, but his minor league numbers, along with his limited record in the big leagues, plus his dominance of the Mexican / Taiwanese / Dominican leagues prove that he could be useful to somebody. But how many 155 right-handers do you see these days? Not that many.

Of course, maybe I’m totally fooling myself about Nelson’s ability to contribute on a major-league roster. Not that many pitchers break back into the major leagues at age 34. On an unrelated note, I’ve been working on a new cutter.

Special thanks to Baseball Reference, Baseball Musings, and of course Phil the Golden Turtle, God of Small Motors (lawnmowers and such).