Many 51s adjust to ups and downs of life in Triple-A baseball

Sean Gilmartin has spent the last couple months somewhat in flux.

One week he might be with the Mets in the bullpen, another with the 51s starting. He could be living in New York or all the way in the other side of the country in Las Vegas.

“I’m a phone call away. It could happen at any moment, and that part’s the exciting part about it,” Gilmartin said of a potential call-up less than 10 days ago while he was still a member of the 51s.

Since that time, that phone call did come. It came from the Mets to manager Wally Backman, who delivered the news earlier this week to his starter that instead of coming with the team from Salt Lake City to Reno, he’d be going to New York instead.

For Gilmartin, life in Triple-A means being able to adapt and be ready for a potential call-up at any time. It’s also true for a handful of his teammates, especially those on the 40-man roster, as they open a four-game series at home against the Sacramento River Cats.

By this point, Gilmartin is used to it. After spending all of last season with the Mets, he has mostly been in Las Vegas this year and keeps an apartment in the city. But he’s also been up in the majors, getting called up on May 12, sent back down on May 17 and then returning to New York before he started again for the 51s for a roster move that never panned out.

When he goes to New York, he stays at a hotel, not knowing if he’s going to be there long enough to make an apartment worthwhile. As part of the collective bargaining agreement, the Mets pay for the hotel for the first seven days, Gilmartin said.

“You’ve got to be comfortable with being uncomfortable I guess is the best way to put it,” Gilmartin said. “You kind of have to get used to living out of a suitcase and living out of a hotel really.”

Perhaps nobody on the 51s knows that better than Eric Campbell, who over the past few years has bounced between New York and Las Vegas too many times to count.

He said it’s more difficult for his wife than him.

“But after three years, she understands how the game works,” Campbell said.

This season alone, Campbell started the season with the Mets, was optioned to Las Vegas on April 13, was recalled on April 16, was optioned on May 31 and then was recalled on June 7 for a doubleheader before being sent down again a day later.

“When you get called up to the big leagues, your goal is to stick, and in order to stick, you have to play well, so the toughest part is getting sent down,” Campbell said. “It means you didn’t do your job as best as you could, so I guess just coming back here and trying to get your game right is the biggest thing. But as far as going up and down, the only part that sucks is going down.”

When a player returns to Triple-A, Backman likes to sit down, see where he’s at and what the coaching staff can do to help.

Often Campbell will get regular playing time at Triple-A and then get called up and be used sporadically off the bench — he has just 63 at-bats in 30 games with the Mets this year.

It’s not uncommon to see a guy get hot in Triple-A, get the call up and then struggle as a bench player after not playing for three or four days as he adapts to a different role.

“For a guy like Soup (Campbell), it’s tough,” Backman said. “When you’re not playing every day and you’re facing — the bullpens today, when you get to the seventh inning, you’re facing good guys.

“When you’re coming off the bench hitting against those guys every day and not getting an adequate number of at-bats, it’s hard on them. It’s tough mentally probably more so than anything.”

The same goes for Ty Kelly, who has been back and forth between the two teams twice in the past month.

Earlier this month, when the Mets called Kelly up, there was chatter about multiple roster moves as the Mets dealt with injuries and Backman said he was “sure that’s going through all their minds.”

But dealing with speculation and staying focused is just another part of the job for players who could be called upon at any moment.

“You always think about that kind of stuff. Anybody who sits there and tells you otherwise is lying to you,” Gilmartin said before his call-up. “But it’s how you choose to let it affect what you do, I think. If you let what’s going on up there dictate what you’re doing down here, then I think it becomes a problem.”

And for players who don’t let that affect them and exhibit success at Triple-A, that call can come whenever.

“That’s kind of like what you’re playing for down here,” Gilmartin said before his call-up. “You’re playing to keep yourself ready to go up there and help the major league club win.”

Betsy Helfand can be reached at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @BetsyHelfand