Paul Sewald is the new Justin Turner! What?!? Hear me out. Once upon a time, before the bushy, orange beard and the fantasy relevance, Turner played for the New York Mets -- and not particularly well. Yeah, it's true! Turner played in parts of four seasons for the Metropolitans, hitting an underwhelming .265 with all of eight home runs in 895 plate appearances. He was a utility infielder and certainly nothing special. Heck, the Mets may not have even noticed when he hit free agency after the 2013 season, when he was 28.
Sewald, ironically enough, also played in parts of four season for the Mets, compiling a 5.50 ERA over 125 appearances and 147 1/3 innings. The 6-foot-2 right-hander went 1-14 in that time and offered no indication -- even less than Turner did -- of any pending future breakout. Granted free agency after the 2020 season at age 30, he found work with the Seattle Mariners on a minor-league contract and again, expectations were few. Sewald started the season with Triple-A Tacoma.
Turner completely turned his fledgling career around with the Los Angeles Dodgers due to actionable changes to his offensive approach, and it sure does remind me of Sewald, who is hardly the same pitcher he was for the Mets.
