You cannot tell the story of Jeurys Familia without mentioning Armando Benitez. You just can’t. The two New York Mets closers were far too alike in many ways. In appearance alone, both were large men from the Dominican Republic.
Familia is listed at 240 pounds on Baseball-Reference which probably doesn’t account for his recent weight loss. Benitez, meanwhile, has 180 pounds on his Baseball-Reference page. This probably doesn’t account for any weight he put on after age 12.
For a point of reference, Jacob deGrom is 180 pounds.
Benitez and Familia are two closers who were able to get the job done often for the Mets.