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Jose Franco has been within the Cincinnati Reds farm system since way back in 2019, and in that seven-year stretch has seen plenty. After a strong 57.1 IP debut in the Dominican Summer League in 2019, he – like every one else – lost the 2020 season, and by the time 2021 rolled around he’d been brought stateside to take on A-ball batters with the Daytona Tortugas at just 19 years of age.

It didn’t go very well.

He trudged through two seasons in the Florida State League with some tough results only to then lose the entire 2023 season to Tommy John surgery. By the time he got back on the mound in 2024, though, something began to click for the then 23 year old, and he’s been on the rise up the system rankings ever since – and now finds himself on the 40-man roster.

Last year saw him pitch to a 3.11 ERA and 1.26 WHIP across 110.0 IP split between AA Chattanooga and AAA Louisville, his fastball flirting with 100 mph with great deception as he fanned over a batter an inning. While his secondary pitches are still a work in progress, it’s that heater that has him on the cusp of the big leagues, where he already looks like he’d be a solid reliever even if those secondary pitches never round into form.

If they do, though, suddenly the Reds have a 260 lb righty who can beef up their rotation options in a hurry.

Franco lands on this year’s Community Prospect Rankings in spot #11, which he rightly claimed with nearly 32% of the vote on a crowded (and talented) ballot. I’d add the photo of the voting totals here, but it somehow did not save properly before I cleared out the Google Form, so it’s lost to history unless you’re willing to simply take my word for it.

There’s no doubt veteran Harrison Bader improves the Giants outfield defensively. He’s got the flair, the hair, and the hardware, not to mention eight years of consistently excellent defensive metrics, to back up his reputation as one of the best center fielders in the game.

Considering the 2025 Giants outfield defense ranked dead last in many meaningful categories, this is a good get and a necessary one. The signing is a rising tide that lifts all ships. Thanks to Bader’s range, left field will get smaller, penning Heliot Ramos in and allowing him to focus on being more consistent within his patch of grass. Jung Hoo Lee is a far better fielder than last season’s numbers suggest. In 2026, he’ll have a season’s worth of first-hand experience in his back pocket. He’ll know the dimensions of outfields better, be better acclimated to playing outdoors, be more assertive — but with Bader now as the meat in the outfield sandwich, Lee will take this progress, along with his natural athleticism and strong arm, and focus on right field. Considering Oracle’s tough dimensions in the corner, it’s a position that deserves a player’s full attention.

What feels more up in the air is what Bader can do with his bat. The 31-year old has been a defensive first player for his entire career. He’s a harbor seal: graceful in the water, incredibly awkward on land. A wide flat lawn is Bader’s happy place. When he gets his cherubic curls bouncing as he tracks a liner into the gap, everything is gravy. Give him a glove and he’s zero to hero — he looks like the cartoon version of Hercules too.

But swap leather for wood, and Bader’s grace goes out the window. Hitting for Bader is all 12 of Hercules’ labors, from the Nemean Lion to Cerberus, rolled into one frustrating task. He’s been a free swinger who doesn’t walk much. When he makes contact, it’s rarely hard-hit. His career 96 OPS+ has him a hair below average — and that’s after a bit of a lift from a 114 OPS+ in 2021 (103 G) and a 117 OPS+ in 2025 (146 G). In the intervening three years, Bader didn’t log an OPS above .657. Success with the club has been few and far between. 

Then, after years in the wilderness, bouncing from team to team, Bader set career-highs with 146 games played and 501 plate appearances logged between the Twins and Phillies. He slashed .277/ .347/ .449, his .796 OPS, another career mark at the plate. 

Some nice, productive numbers there — but there’s plenty to suggest they’re a little fluke-y. For instance, his expected stats, like .220 xBA and .374 xSLG, were not only well below his actual results and in the bottom quarter percentile compared to the rest of the league. After hitting .258 against fastballs as a Met in 2024, Bader’s average jumped to .319 against the heater — but his .252 xBA suggests there wasn’t any significant change in the quality of contact. Did he just get lucky? Was he just catching an unsustainable amount of breaks, with squirrely balls in play finding gaps and holes? Those kinds of things to happen. Bader’s .359 BABIP was the highest in his career by far and another significant jump from 2024’s .276 average. 

While there’s plenty to doubt about some of Bader’s seemingly inflated offensive numbers in 2025, there are foundational differences that might give us some hope that the improvements are viable.

Bader made some important changes to how he set up at the plate. He maintained the same distance from the plate and depth in the box but closed off his stance a bit, but shortened the distance between his feet by about ten inches and closed off his stance from 16 degrees open to 12 degrees open. This tweak simplifies his lower half as he steps into his swing. Instead of having to pull his front foot back and in at pitch release, the front foot starts further back and has a much quieter move to its position when the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand.

This fundamental adjustment in how Bader sets up at the plate could lend some credibility to the offensive numbers last year. The quality of contact did improve: His 40.3% Hard-Hit rate was a career high as was his 10.2% Barrel percentage (not including 2020). The harder contact came from a much quicker swing speed, jumping from a 71.2 MPH (38th percentile) in 2024 to a 73.5 MPH (71st percentile). Statcast points out that a “fast swing” at 75 MPH or quicker is akin to hitting a ball 95 MPH or faster. Good things happen when you pass that threshold. Fast swings mean harder hit balls in play which generally translate to higher averages and more damage.

Bader started making those quality cuts at a much higher clip than ever before, going from uncorking a  Fast Swing 20% of the time to doing it 37% of the time. Now he didn’t catapult himself into the upper-echelon of bat tracking gods like Kyle Schwarber or Aaron Judge, but those swing improvements did land him among a relatively high-tier. Bader’s 2025 bat tracking metrics would’ve put him comfortably in the top-3 of fast-swingers on the Giants line-up clustered right alongside Heliot Ramos and Matt Chapman.

The swing isn’t perfect by any means, but it’s got good bones. That being said, it’s hard to argue with history. Players don’t typically improve as hitters in the early-30s, or in San Francisco, and Bader will be both in his early-thirties and playing in San Francisco in 2026. So yeah, it’d be realistic to expect some sort of regression back to his mean offensively. The positive improvements and adjustments he made in 2025 aren’t cures to every ingrained bad-habit. You’d be right to point out that a fast swing still has to make contact with a baseball.

All those qualifications and realism aside — what happened last year happened. People change, and there’s the possibility that Bader is a better, not badder, batter than we thought.

Now that the 2026 Top 100 Prospect lists are out, it’s time to take a look at some of the Braves prospects who could make a push to be included on the 2027 versions of the Top 100 Prospects in the game. Of course Cam Caminiti will not make this list, as he is already a consensus Top 100 prospect in the game. We also won’t include JR Ritchie, who made the Top 100 on both Baseball America and Pipeline – only missing on Keith Law’s list among the three big lists released so far.

Didier Fuentes

Fuentes is one of the two easiest choices for this list after exploding last year, going from A-ball to the big leagues in the same season. Sure, he struggled in his brief MLB stint but it was apparent that the then-20-year-old wasn’t quite ready for the show. Fuentes will be given more time to develop this year, and isn’t likely to be forced into a role he isn’t ready for again as last year’s promotion was related to injuries. It would likely take improvement with his secondary pitches for him to move into the Top 100, whether his slider or splitter. If he could turn the slider into a second plus pitch, or make his offspeed pitch into an above-average offering to join his plus fastball and above-average strike throwing ability.

Owen Murphy

The other easy pick for this list is Murphy, who looked great in his small sample size after his return from Tommy John surgery last summer. Murphy was trending towards the Top 100 in early-2024, but going down with his elbow injury stunted that progress. Now that he’s healthy and in his second year post-TJ, the Braves will better be able to turn him loose this season. Murphy has three average or above pitches along with average command, so a full and healthy season could push him up the rankings this year.

Diego Tornes

While it may seem questionable to include a player who hasn’t played above the DSL, but Tornes is the type of prospect who could force himself up the rankings. Tornes was the top international signee by the Braves last year, has received great reports from coaches, and has five tools that grade out as average or better. He will get a chance to hit his way to full-season ball, which is likely what he will need to do to rise enough for the Top 100. With Tornes it is more likely a matter of when, and not if, he makes a Top 100.

John Gil

A quick look at his stat line shows Gil posted a .731 OPS with 25 doubles, a triple, and seven homers over 100 games with Augusta last year. What it doesn’t show you is the fact that he hit six homers with 10 doubles and the triple over his final 30 games there – which coincides with his return from injury in late-July. Gil has always had the hit tool and double-plus speed, but if this brief power spike can translate to this year he has only started to scratch the surface of his potential – even if Gil doesn’t homer once every six games this year, just some growth to make him a more well rounded hitter would go a long way.

Conor Essenburg

A bit of a sleeper pick here, as Essenburg was the Braves fifth round pick last year and has yet to make his pro debut. Still the reports from him from the summer and fall were promising for the former Illinois prep two-way star. As Essenburg focuses solely on hitting for the first time in his life, there is plenty of room for growth for the young slugger.

Briggs McKenzie

McKenzie wasn’t the Braves top pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, but he was the one who received the highest signing bonus. McKenzie will need to add more strength to hold his velocity deeper into games as well as gain more experience with his lightly used changeup, but he has all of the ingredients to push his way up the rankings this year or next.

Tate Southisene

As the Braves first round pick last year, Southisene is a candidate to push his way into the Top 100 for next season. I tend to think this is a bit aggressive, and that would likely be two years away for him as he needs to continue adding strength and adjusting to the pro game. Still he is a player with draft pedigree and has all five tools that are at least average.

Luke Sinnard

Another sleeper pick, Sinnard was the Braves third round pick in 2024 despite not appearing in a game that spring due to injury. His injury kept him out from June 2023 until April 2025, and while he missed some time with minor injury last year he did show why the Braves drafted him. Sinnard only threw 72.1 innings split between both levels of A-ball, though he did also make five starts in the Arizona Fall League after the season ended. Sinnard will be in his second season removed from Tommy John surgery, and the imposing 6’8” hurler has already shown he can miss bats with three of his pitches in the fastball, slider, and curve. If he can use this year to tighten his stuff and command, he is a player who could surprise from the Braves system.

“Meet the Mets, meet the Mets, step right up and greet the Mets.” As their theme song would suggest, the Mets have done a pretty good job of introducing brand new players to fans over the years. While the Amazins’ may not have an excess of World Series rings to show for their 64-year history, they boast six Rookie of the Year winners, and are one of just three franchises with at least four ROTY-winning pitchers (along with the Yankees and Dodgers). It’s been eleven years since the Mets had multiple rookies put up at least 2.0 bWAR in the same season, but that streak seems likely to end this year. Even after trading Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams to Milwaukee, the Mets enter 2026 with top prospects once again projected to get significant time in the spotlight — especially Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Carson Benge. Only time will tell which of these three players might blossom into stars by the season’s end, but all three should have the opportunity to make a mark.

In light of these exciting prospects waiting in the wings, this edition of Tuesday Top Ten will take a look back at some of the most memorable rookies who have worn orange and blue. As with all editions, this ranking is completely subjective, based on a healthy mix of stats, historical significance, and personal preference. So with all that out of the way, let’s count down the greatest rookie seasons in Mets history…

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Gary Gentry (1969)

The third starter on the Miracle Mets, Gentry pitched to a respectable 3.43 ERA and earned the win in the first World Series game at Shea Stadium.

Juan Lagares (2013)

Despite holding an 80 OPS+, Juan Lagares played stellar centerfield defense and recorded 3.4 bWAR, the second-highest mark for a position player rookie in Mets history.

Noah Syndergaard (2015)

Thor’s total of 166 strikeouts ranks sixth among Mets rookies, and his mark of 26 postseason strikeouts is tied for 5th among rookies in baseball history.

Jeff McNeil (2018)

Jeff McNeil impressed in limited playing time during his first season in the majors, putting up 3.0 bWAR and recording 74 hits in just 63 games.

THE LIST

10.Steve Henderson (1977)

Steve Henderson’s rookie season began in the wake of a massacre. In the final hours of June 15, 1977, the Mets did the unthinkable, trading Tom Seaver — a Met so iconic that his nickname was simply “The Franchise” — to the Cincinnati Reds. The stunning deal would soon be dubbed “The Midnight Massacre,” and is still widely regarded as the most infamous event in Mets history. In return for Seaver, the Mets received a quartet of young players, two of whom (Dan Norman and Henderson) had yet to make their major league debuts. Norman made his debut three months after the trade. Henderson made his debut the very next day.

In just 99 games, Henderson put up 2.7 bWAR, the third-most among position players on the 1977 Mets. The left fielder hit .297/.372/.480, setting a new record for Mets rookies in each sector of that slash line (min. 300 PA) throughout the team’s 16-year history up to that point. Had he played for a full season, Henderson might have been named the N.L. Rookie of the Year, but he was ultimately voted as runner-up to the Expos’ Andre Dawson. Over the course of his twelve-year MLB career, Henderson never again put up a bWAR total as high as his rookie season’s in 1977. Over the course of his four-year Mets career, Henderson put up 9.4 total bWAR, the highest among the quartet of players the Mets acquired in the Midnight Massacre.

9. Jason Isringhausen(1995)

Better known for his time with the Cardinals (or even his short stint with the A’s), right-hander Jason Isringhausen began his professional career as a 44th-round draft pick by the Mets. As a 22-year-old rookie in 1995, Isringhausen served in the role of starting pitcher. In 93.0 IP, Isringhausen posted a 2.81 ERA (that mark was good for a 144 ERA+ back at the start of the steroid era) while winning nine of his 14 starts. Despite only debuting in mid-July, Isringhausen’s performance was enough to earn him fourth place in that season’s N.L. Rookie of the Year voting, behind Hideo Nomo, Chipper Jones, and Quilvio Veras.

When the Mets traded Isringhausen to Oakland at the deadline in 1998, he had just one career save: a three-inning performance in a blowout, 10-0 victory over Montreal. When the Mets signed Isringhausen again in 2011, he had 293 saves. On August 15, 2011 at Petco Park, the 38-year-old became just the third player to record his 300th save in a Mets uniform, joining John Franco and Billy Wagner. With exactly 300 career saves, Isringhausen currently ranks 30th on the all-time saves leaderboard — the fourth-highest placement for a homegrown Met behind Jeff Reardon, Randy Myers, and Rick Aguilera.

8. Kodai Senga(2023)

As a 30-year-old who entered the majors with eleven years of professional baseball experience in Japan, Kodai Senga’s rookie season stands out from the other entries on this list. Instead of watching a top prospect deliver on high expectations or an unknown youngster rise to stardom, Mets fans in 2023 were treated to the story of a battle-tested veteran fighting to prove himself in a new league.

During a year when things came chaotically crashing down around the Mets and their postseason aspirations, Senga was a steady presence, posting a 2.98 ERA and making 29 starts (the most on the team). In just 166.1 IP, Senga struck out 202 batters, a mark which is rarely reached anymore by major league rookies. Since 2000, only four rookies have collected 200 strikeouts: Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2007, Yu Darvish in 2012, Spencer Strider in 2022, and Senga in 2023. It’s no coincidence that three of those four players came over from Japan, giving them more high-pressure experience while also ensuring a full season of rookie eligibility (most rookies are called up from the minor leagues midseason, while Japanese players debuting in MLB are typically signed before the regular season starts). Senga did not become the seventh Met to win the N.L. Rookie of the Year Award, as that honor was unanimously bestowed upon Corbin Carroll, but Senga ran away with the runner-up position, becoming the tenth (and most recent) Met to finish first or second in ROTY voting.

7. Darryl Strawberry(1983)

A rookie season which long stood as the greatest by a Mets position player, Darryl Strawberry’s 1983 was the first sign of better things ahead for a fledgling franchise. After making his debut in early May, the 21-year-old and former first-overall pick put up a 134 OPS+ over 122 games, clubbing 26 homers and stealing 19 bases. Strawberry was the first rookie in baseball history to put up those home run and stolen base totals despite missing a month of the season, and only four other players in baseball history have matched them since: Nomar Garciaparra, Chris Young, Mike Trout, and Julio Rodríguez.

Strawberry got off to a relatively slow start. At the end of June, he was hitting .180/.245/.317, with only four homers to his name. But over the next 82 games, he hit .295/.379/.609 with 22 homers. At the time, Strawberry set new franchise rookie records in home runs and RBI, both of which would hold until a certain Polar Bear broke them in 2019. Strawberry also won the N.L. Rookie of the Year, and was the only Mets position player to achieve that accolade…until 2019.

6. Jacob deGrom(2014)

If you had told ten Mets fans on May 15, 2014 that a right-handed starting pitcher making his major league debut that week against the Yankees would go on to win Rookie of the Year, all ten fans would have bought Rafael Montero jerseys. Jacob deGrom, a 26-year-old drafted in the ninth round, was an afterthought — a quiet, lanky kid from Florida without a superhero persona or a Futures Game resume — but he impressed in his debut on both sides of the ball, firing seven one-run innings and getting a hit in his first major league at-bat (the Mets’ first hit of the game). Despite the performance, he was pinned with a hard-luck loss as the team fell 1-0 to their crosstown rivals. If that isn’t foreshadowing, I don’t know what is.

After some midseason struggles, deGrom went on a tear to close out 2014, going 9-3 with a 1.90 ERA in his final twelve starts of the season. In his penultimate start on September 15, deGrom struck out the first eight Miami Marlins he faced, at the time tying a major league record for most consecutive strikeouts to open a game. By the season’s end, deGrom had tallied 140.1 IP, posting a 2.69 ERA and recording 144 strikeouts. Five and a half months after his unassuming promotion to the majors, deGrom had been named N.L. Rookie of the Year, and had become one of the key pieces in the franchise’s plans to build an elite rotation of young fireballers. 

5. Tom Seaver(1967)

Tom Seaver was terrific out of the gate. While not yet at the level of dominance he would reach in 1969, when he won the N.L. Cy Young Award (along with 25 games), Seaver made an impressive statement as a 22-year-old Rookie of the Year in 1967. In 251 IP, Seaver posted a 2.76 ERA and racked up 170 strikeouts. He also mustered a complete game in 18 of his 34 starts, marking the most for a right-handed rookie since 1948.

Seaver eventually being nicknamed “The Franchise” feels inevitable when considering that, as a rookie, he set almost every major single-season pitching record — wins, strikeouts, and complete games — up to that point in the Mets’ six-year history. By 1969, at just 24 years old, Seaver had set the Mets’ all-time record in all three categories. He still holds each of those records to this day.

4. Jon Matlack(1972)

The Mets entered 1972 with a familiar, formidable duo of Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman sitting atop the starting rotation, but it was 22-year-old rookie Jon Matlack who might have been the team’s true ace. The lefty recorded a 2.32 ERA in 244 IP, striking out 169 batters and winning 15 games. He handily won the N.L. Rookie of the Year Award, becoming the second Met to win the award (after Tom Seaver had done so five years earlier).

Of all the phenomenal rookie seasons the Mets have had throughout their history, Matlack’s is perhaps the most overlooked — as is his career more broadly. Matlack ranks 12th all-time for bWAR as a Met, above two players (Keith Hernandez and Mike Piazza) who have their numbers retired, while he only played seven years in Queens. And as stellar as his 1972 was, Matlack’s magnum opus came in 1974, when he recorded 9.1 bWAR and seven shutouts. The only Mets pitcher with more shutouts in a single season slots in at the top spot on this list…

3. Jerry Koosman (1968)

Wait a minute, Jerry Koosman wasn’t even named the N.L. Rookie of the Year in 1968. What is he doing at third place on this list, ahead of four players who actually won the award? Even for “The Year of the Pitcher,” Koosman’s rookie season stands out as one of the best in Mets history. The 25-year-old southpaw pitched to a 2.08 ERA, the third-lowest for a rookie since integration (min. 150 IP). He totaled 178 strikeouts in 263.2 IP, firing a complete game in 17 (exactly half) of his 34 starts and racking up seven shutouts, marking the second-most for a rookie since integration behind Fernando Valenzuela’s eight in 1981. He also compiled a whopping 19 wins, a mark which only two rookies (Mark Fidrych in 1976 and Tom Browning in 1985) have reached since then.

Koosman’s numbers surely would have been enough to earn him Rookie of the Year honors, but the lefty — often overshadowed on his own team by ace Tom Seaver — was characteristically relegated to No. 2 status by future Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, who won the award by a single vote.

2. Pete Alonso(2019)

Pete Alonso’s inaugural season comes with the most punchy accomplishment on this list: he hit more home runs than any other rookie in baseball history. No addendums. No specific timeframe. No qualifying splits. He hit 53 home runs, and that’s the most by a rookie in the 157-year history of the major leagues. It almost feels trivial to add, but Alonso also obliterated the Mets’ record books, setting the rookie mark for RBI by mid-July and the single-season mark for homers before the end of August.

On top of all that, he won the Home Run Derby, invented a new slogan in “LFGM,” and instantly propelled himself to face-of-the-franchise status in the wake of David Wright’s retirement. For a player who was openly disappointed that he didn’t get a call to The Show during the prior season, Alonso proved he belonged in every possible sense. It’s also worth noting that without the gutsy decision of another “rookie” — first-time General Manager Brodie Van Wagenen — to sacrifice a year of team control in order to have Alonso on the team’s Opening Day roster, the Polar Bear might not have set his famous single-season records (not to mention his eventual franchise home run record).

1. Dwight Gooden(1984)

Arguably the most electric start to a pitching career in major league baseball history, Dwight Gooden’s emergence was the type of fantasy you dream up when throwing baseballs in your backyard, or beginning a new create-a-player mode in a video game. In 218 IP, Gooden struck out 276 batters, setting a record which still holds for the most strikeouts by a rookie in the modern era, as well as a record which has since been broken for highest K/9 (11.8) put up by a rookie. Gooden reached a new gear as the season came down the home stretch; over his final nine starts, he went 8-1, struck out 105 batters while only walking 13, and pitched to a 1.07 ERA and 0.74 WHIP. Gooden also dazzled on the national stage by striking out the side at the 1984 All-Star Game, earning him one of the top entries on another Amazin’ Avenue ranking.

While Gooden’s dominance reached its peak during his sophomore season in 1985, his rookie season in 1984 was more than enough to spark a city-wide sensation. His starts were must-watch events, drawing energized crowds which Shea Stadium wasn’t used to seeing after seven straight years of losing baseball. While I wasn’t alive to watch Gooden pitch, the stats speak for themselves, and the stories—well, the stories still seem to speak from every corner of Citi Field today, including the literal “K Korner,” which endures in scoreboard form in left field. Oh, and as if that level of on-field excellence and off-field phenomenon weren’t enough to cement this season’s legacy, Gooden was only 19 years old. That’s two years younger than any other player on this list. Doc’s 1984 comes out on top in a crowded field of impressive Mets rookie seasons, and it would take quite a campaign to strip him of that title. Though as Mets fans are known to say, “Ya Gotta Believe,” and nothing is impossible…(We’re looking at you, Nolan McLean.)

Have a top ten list you want to see featured on this series? Comment with your category below!

After 13 consecutive years of making the postseason, a run that included six American League pennants and four World Series titles, 2008 marked the first season in some time that the Yankees failed to play for keeps in October. It was still an 89-win campaign, but given their historic run, it was a disappointing way to end their tenure in that iteration of Yankee Stadium.

2009 was a new chapter for a the franchise, with a fancy new stadium to call home. Clearly, they had intentions of making some noise that year, and began that process with a historically active offseason. Many of their important moves will be covered in this series, but the first free agent domino to fall, which helped fuel the Yankees to their 27th World Series win, was veteran pitcher A.J. Burnett.

A.J. Burnett
Signing Date: December 13, 2008
Contract: Five years, $82.5 million

Allan James Burnett, born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, was drafted by the Mets in the 8th round of the 1995 draft. Prior to breaking into the big leagues, the 6-foot-4 right-hander was sent off to the Marlins, in exchange primarily for Al Leiter. A season later, Burnett would be making his Major League debut for Florida.

This began a seven-season run with the Marlins, which was largely successful for Burnett and his club. His time in South Florida was not without his highlights — in May of 2001, Burnett tossed a no-hitter against the Padres, and later that season made blooper reels with a warm-up pitch that “accidentally” hit a promotional pickup truck driving behind the plate.

The following season featured some of Burnett’s finest work on the mound, as he managed a 3.30 ERA in over 200 innings of work, while topping 200 strikeouts for the first time in his career. He missed most of the ‘03 season after undergoing Tommy John Surgery, and had to watch from the dugout as his squad went on to beat the Yankees in the World Series that year. He would return, however, posting two more solid seasons with the Fish, throwing as hard as ever post-procedure.

Burnett would test free agency for the first time following the 2005 season, and landed in Toronto, where he would continue his solid work as a hard-throwing strikeout-heavy big league starter. In 2008, the righty pitched a career-high 221.1 innings and was the AL’s premier strikeout artist, amassing 231 of them. For the 31-year-old, it was among the ideal ways to enter free agency once again.

Burnett’s strong performance in Toronto, his free agency (via opt out), and the aforementioned Yankee desire to build a contender after a disappointing ‘08 season seemed to make for a good match. Hank Steinbrenner had made the Yankees’ interest in the veteran righty clear, and the club unsurprisingly inked Burnett to a five-year deal worth over $80 million.

A.J. Burnett’s time in New York started out quite well. Across 33 starts in 2009, he topped 200 innings once again, and despite a league-leading 97 walks, the hard-throwing righty racked up just shy of 200 Ks, and managed a respectable 4.04 ERA (114 ERA+). In terms of bWAR, it was actually Burnett’s most valuable season in the Majors – not a bad way to ring in the new contract.

On top of the solid regular season, Burnett made his mark in the Yankees’ successful postseason run as well. He started five games in the playoffs, including two in each of the Championship Series against the Angels, and the World Series against the Phillies. This stretch was highlighted by his performance in Game 2 of the Fall Classic, when he pitched seven innings, allowing just one run on four hits, while striking out nine Phillies to help New York quickly even the series in wake of a bumpy Game 1.

He wasn’t the Yankees premier starter that year, as they had signed CC Sabathia later in the offseason to fill that role, but Burnett, along with Sabathia and Andy Pettitte, formed a more-than-suitable front of the rotation — one that was clearly good enough to help win them a ring.

Unfortunately, the ‘09 season would be the best of Burnett in pinstripes, as he struggled to maintain nearly the same level of success over the following seasons. He continued to go out there every fifth day, making 33 and 32 starts respectively, between 2010-11, but with much diminished performance. In 2010, over 186.2 innings, the righty sported a much less palatable 5.26 ERA (82 ERA+), with a lower strikeout rate that he hadn’t seen since his early days as a starter. He struggled in the postseason too, allowing five runs in his lone start that October.

In his age-34 season, 2011, both he and the Yankees likely hoped for a rebound on the mound. Unfortunately, the story was much the same for the veteran. His 83 ERA+ marked little improvement, as more concerns started to pile up, as he also allowed a career-high 31 home runs in his third season with the Yankees. Burnett had become more inconsistent than anything following 2009, and despite still having good stuff on the mound, the Yankees appeared to have had enough after a second straight disappointment in 2011. He at least had enough to conjure up one last bit of playoff magic in the much-memed “I Believe in A.J.” start, Game 4 of the ALDS when the Yankees’ backs were up against the wall. Burnett was the benefactor of greatdefense in center from Curtis Granderson, but he still tossed 5.2 innings of one-run ball for the win. (The Yankees were eliminated the next day.)

After shopping Burnett’s services, the Yanks eventually struck a deal with the Pirates, sending the veteran starter to Pittsburgh for the final two years of his contract. The Yankees would eat more than half of the remaining money owed to him.

Burnett would pitch the next two seasons as a member of the Pirates (and eventually finish there), and despite beginning the 2012 season with a freak injury, would play some of his best baseball as well. Between 2012-13, in nearly 400 innings of work, Burnett posted a 3.41 ERA and impressive 3.17 FIP, figures he hadn’t touched since his days with the Marlins. On top of that, the 2013 season saw him remarkably post a career-best 26.1 percent strikeout rate at the age of 36.

Burnett made a brief and unsuccessful detour to the Phillies for the 2014 season, before returning to Pittsburgh to even more success. In 2015, his final season, Burnett posted a career-low ERA, walked fewer batters than he had in a decade, and for the first time, at 38-years-old, made an All-Star team.

Although his time in New York was shorter than what he or the organization envisioned when he signed his five-year deal, it would be hard to call his contract a failure. His success was mostly contained to just one season, but when that one season is spent as a critical part of a championship team, other warts can reasonably be overlooked.

His time in pinstripes was brief, in the span of a 17-year career in the Major Leagues, a very good one at that, but A.J. Burnett did his part when it mattered for the Yankees, making his signing all the more significant.

See more of the “50 Most Notable Yankees Free Agent Signings in 50 Years” series here.