The familiar face he hadn’t met before was there to greet him.

Dan Goggin shared an introduction with his new skipper, Lorenzo Bundy, as the pair of James Madison alums erased the 37-year gap between their respective stints with the Dukes.

“When I went to go shake his hand, he had a JMU mask on,” pitcher Goggin said. “And I had known he was a legend at JMU and an alum, of course, and we’ve been talking shop about JMU since.”

Said Bundy: “When he got the call up, my video guy and my analytic guy let me know, ‘The JMU boy is coming your way.’ I said, ‘Oh, here we go.’”

Last week, Goggin took another step in his rapid ascent through the New York Mets’ farm system, earning a promotion from the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones to the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies, who Bundy is managing. Earlier this month, Goggin, a 2019 17th-round draft choice, began the Minor League Baseball season with the Low-A St. Lucie Mets.

But his success along with a mounting list of injuries for the big-league club, which created a ripple effect all the way through the lower levels of the organization, presented an opportunity for the 6-foot-2, 206-pound right-hander.

“I was throwing the ball well and so I’m confident in my ability to pitch up here,” Goggin said. “My goal at the beginning of this year was to play in Double-A at some point. It happened pretty quick, and I didn’t expect it to, but I’m here now and I think I’ll be able to compete at this level.”

In one relief outing for St. Lucie, he threw two scoreless innings and struck out two. Across two appearances for Brooklyn, Goggin didn’t allow a run and struck out five in three frames.

During his short stay with the Cyclones, they were on the road for all of it and the only moments he actually spent in Brooklyn were those when their manager, Ed Blankmeyer, told Goggin he was being promoted to Binghamton. That conversation came on the heels of a long, 15-hour bus ride home from Greenville, S.C., where the Cyclones wrapped up a six-game series with the Drive – the High-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.

“It’s been crazy,” Goggin said. “A lot of travel, lot of meeting new people, new coaches, different stadiums, different ballparks, different cities. It’s been a wild four weeks.”

He said having Bundy to chat with and learn from is a bit of luxury during his pursuit of the big leagues, considering Bundy understands the college program Goggin came out of and his background. Bundy and Goggin said the two spent time together this past weekend watching and enjoying the Dukes’ softball program on TV, as they went unbeaten through the Knoxville Regional in the NCAA Tournament.

Ahead of pitching for JMU in 2018 and 2019, Goggin pitched and played shortstop for Cumberland Community College in South Jersey.

“When he showed up at the park and he came in my office, we talked about JMU right quick,” Bundy said. “And then I knew he had been a position player, a shortstop and things like that, but he’s got a good arm. He can touch 95 [mph] and I can see why the change was made as far as him going from infield to pitching, and we hope to continue to develop that good arm, so hopefully he can continue to move up and get to Citi Field one of these days.”

JMU pitching coach Jimmy Jackson said when he saw Goggin throw off a mound for the first time, the pitcher was clocking in at 87 mph to 89 mph on a cold, windy day while Goggin was with Cumberland. That was in Goggin’s first campaign as a college pitcher. He was Cumberland’s starting shortstop in his freshman year there.

“There was a little stuff delivery wise,” Jackson explained. “And not to sound too simple, but I thought if he was more athletic when he pitched, he could easily throw harder as opposed to trying to be a pitcher and thinking he had to do multiple mechanical things right.”

Jackson said that Goggin was smooth as a shortstop and even outside of baseball displayed great athleticism.

“He goes out and plays golf, looks good doing it,” Jackson said with a laugh. “He goes out and shoots a basketball, looks good doing it. When the guys were out in the outfield throwing around the football, he looked good doing it. He’s an athlete and just had to translate it to the mound.”

So that’s what Jackson said he worked on with Goggin when the pitcher was transitioning from junior college to Division I. And as Goggin improved, it became evident he’d have a shot to play pro ball eventually.

“We talked about the simplest thing ever, trying to carry his long toss over to the mound and it clicked right away,” Jackson said. “We didn’t break down film for hours or do anything crazy, but we watched film one day … and then said let’s go long toss, get on the mound after and try to duplicate it. The velocity was there, the strength was there, the arm speed and really just being more athletic on the mound made it become one of the best [deliveries] I’ve ever coached. It’d be super hard to pick apart his delivery. You’d be nitpicking to find things.”

At JMU, Goggin emerged to become part of a reliable bullpen, featuring other standout relievers Nick Robertson and Shelton Perkins who are also currently trying to work their way to the big leagues. Robertson is at Double-A Tulsa (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Perkins is in Low-A Delmarva (Baltimore Orioles). Kevin Kelly, a starter for the Dukes, has since converted to a reliever and is with High-A Lake County (Cleveland Indians).

“People ask, ‘Who do you think has the best shot?’” Jackson said. “And I don’t know. It just depends on the system and maybe the people who don’t pan out, but are above them now or injuries, God forbid, of people who are above them now. I think how much money the team has invested in them sometimes can waiver how fast they move through the system or time it takes, which can work out good or bad depending on the guy.”

For Goggin, he already knows what he has to do to keep climbing the ladder to reach the Mets. Through two appearances with Binghamton, he’s yielded four runs in 2 2/3 innings, though Tuesday’s outing against Akron went much better compared to the outing against Erie on May 27.

“You know how you’re always taught to, ‘Live away, live away, live away,’” Goggin said. “Well, you’ve got to mix in, up, down and away and everything because these hitters are too good to lay fastballs away. They’ll take it the other way. So, it’s just fastball consistency, and then really just throwing the offspeed for strikes and I think I’ll be just fine.”

Bundy said: “It’s a little bit of a different ball game with the off day once a week and six games against the same team, so everyone probably gets to see you as a reliever twice in the same week. It’s a challenge, but Gogg has a really good arm and we’re going to work on that. His first performance wasn’t the way he wanted it to be, but we talked about pitching inside a little more … but I like his arm and I think he’s going to be fine. It’s fun.”