The Mets are set to promote hard-throwing right-hander Alex Carrillo, as first reported by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Since Carrillo is not currently on the 40-man roster, the club will need to make a series of moves to make room for the 28-year-old’s debut in the majors.
Carrillo’s path to the big leagues is nothing short of impressive. Originally from California, he went undrafted in 2019 after playing at Alabama’s Faulkner University. That year, he briefly signed with the Rangers and pitched 4 1/3 innings at the Rookie level in the Arizona Complex League. Like many minor leaguers at the time, he was released in 2020 when the pandemic prompted widespread cuts.
Until Opening Day 2025, those 4 1/3 innings marked his only experience in affiliated baseball. Since then, he has pitched for two different clubs in the independent Frontier League and spent two seasons with los Tigres de Quintana Roo in the Mexican League. The Mets discovered him while scouting los Tigres de Aragua in the Venezuelan Winter League last offseason and were impressed enough to offer him a minor league deal.
Carrillo didn’t receive an invitation to major league spring training and began the season at Double-A. So far, he’s proven to be a hidden gem. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound righty put up a 4.19 ERA over 19 1/3 innings at that level, along with a striking 36.6% strikeout rate. That ERA included a rough start, but he turned things around in a big way—over his final 14 1/3 innings there, he recorded a 1.88 ERA with a 24-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio, earning a promotion to Triple-A.
At Syracuse, he’s continued to dominate, throwing 5 2/3 hitless, walk-free innings (with the exception of hitting one batter), striking out 10, and averaging 98.5 mph on his fastball.
Outside of his first four outings with the Mets—during which he allowed six runs across five innings—Carrillo is on a roll. He’s now on a 20-inning streak with a 1.35 ERA, giving up only three runs on nine hits and three walks, while striking out 34 batters. Notably, he’s also demonstrated the ability to touch triple digits with his four-seam fastball.
Since this will be Carrillo’s MLB debut, he retains a full set of minor league options. That means the Mets can move him between Syracuse and the big league roster throughout this season and the next two. If he keeps outperforming expectations, he’ll remain under team control through the 2031 season.
