It’s apparent Rafael Montero doesn’t have it.  He has all the talent in the world.  Talent enough to lead the Mets to give him chance after chance after chance.  He’s squandered them all.  Last night was the latest example with him allowing five earned over 3.2 innings. The Mets cannot in good conscience let him make another start for this team.

Just like the Mets were forced to do last season, it is time to give someone else a chance.  Last year meant Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman.  Gsellman thrived, and as a result, he made the Opening Day rotation.  Lugo was making a name for himself in the World Baseball Classic until a slight tear in his UCL was discovered.  Lugo’s absence has been really felt with the injuries to Steven Matz and Noah Syndergaard.  With him and Matz still weeks away, the Mets need to figure out who should get a chance to pitch in the rotation.

As noted above, Montero has squandered that chance.  It is time to give someone else a shot.  Unfortunately, there are no stand outs right now in Triple-A meaning the Mets are going to have to take a chance on someone.  That pitcher should be Ricky Knapp.

Knapp is the son of former major league pitching coach Richard Knapp.  It should then come as no surprise that Knapp has repeatable and clean mechanics.  He’s also a four pitch pitcher that really doesn’t have one outstanding pitch.  Accordingly, Knapp is reliant upon location, mixing up his pitches, and pitching to contact in order to get batters out.  He has been largely successful in that because Knapp keeps the ball on the ground having a 1.46 ground out to fly out ratio.  As a result, Knapp has gone deep into games with him leading the Mets organization with three complete games last year.

As it so happens, Knapp is not the type of pitcher that typically thrives in Vegas.  That is quite evident in Knapp’s stats to start the season.  Through his first six starts, he is 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP.  This makes him yet another Mets pitching prospect who is struggling in Vegas.  Still, there are some signs of hope for him going forward.

Knapp is walking 2.1 batters per nine innings which is lower than his 2.3 BB/9 in his minor league career.  In his two road games, Knapp is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP.  His opponents have a .328 BABIP this season which is higher than the .299 BABIP batters have against him in his minor league career or the .274 BABIP Double-A batters had against him.  With a normalized BABIP and with Knapp replicating his numbers on the road, there is a strong case that can be made Knapp could succeed at the major league level.

Overall, there are signs for hope for Knapp to be able to succeed with the Mets.  Those hopes should be elevated when you consider Knapp will have the opportunity to work with Dan Warthen.  At the very least, he can’t be worse than Montero.  For that reason alone, the Mets should give him a shot until Lugo or Matz are ready.