One of MLB’s premier closers has a new home.
The St. Louis Cardinals sent Ryan Helsley to the Mets in exchange for prospects Jesus Baez, Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt, New York announced Wednesday.
Helsley, 31, has a 3.00 ERA and 1.39 WHIP over 36 innings with the Cardinals this season, striking out 41 and walking 14. The right-hander has 21 saves this season and led the major leagues with 49 in 2024.
The Tahlequah, Okla. native was drafted in the fifth round of the 2015 MLB Draft by St. Louis and had spent his entire seven-year career with the franchise to this point.
Helsley’s four-seam fastball averages 99.4 m.p.h., the seventh-highest mark in the major leagues. His primary offerings are the four-seam and a slider that grades out among MLB’s best with a plus-10 run value according to Statcast.
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Since taking over as the Cardinals’ closer in 2022, Helsley has a 2.03 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and ranks fifth in MLB with 103 saves.
Helsley is in his final year of arbitration eligibility and will become a free agent at the end of the season.
Despite being one game above .500, St. Louis has opted to sell, considering they are five games out of a wild-card spot and have a minus-seven run differential.
Baez and Dohm were ranked as the eighth and 14th-best prospects in the Mets system by MLB Pipeline, respectively, while Elissalt fell outside of the top 30.
A five-foot-ten shortstop, Baez is slashing .242/.332/.390 with 10 home runs and 42 RBIs while spending most of his age-20 season at high-A.
Dohm, a six-foot-four right-hander, has a 4.02 ERA, 77 strikeouts and 23 walks in 62.2 innings split between low-A and high-A.
