Despite the loss, an encouraging beginning for Zach Thornton
The top pitching prospect made his MLB debut on Wednesday, and despite a bumpy start, showed why he belongs
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets lost to the Nationals, 8-4 on Wednesday in DC (box)
The Nationals jumped Zach Thornton - who made his MLB debut on Wednesday - for three runs in the first thanks to a three-run home run from CJ Abrams
After the Mets had gotten the game back to 6-4, thanks in part to two home runs from Juan Soto, Jared Young nailed this game shut for the Nationals with a two-run home run in the eighth against Craig Kimbrel
Mark Vientos doubled, but the Mets scattered only five singles around that and the two home runs from Soto
The Mets are back to eight games under .500 for the year, but are 11-7 in May
The club could recall Jonah Tong for a start this coming weekend in Miami (NY Post)
Roster Moves 📰
LHP Zach Thornton selected from Triple-A Syracuse
RHP Daniel Duarte optioned to Triple-A Syracuse
Play of the Game ✨
The tone was set early for the Nationals against the Mets when CJ Abrams scorched a three-run home run off Zach Thornton in the first inning. Even though the Mets were able to stay in the game until the eighth, the Nationals never looked back in this one, as they led the entire way following the Abrams homer.
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Down on the Farm 🌾
INF Christian Arroyo (AAA): 3-for-5, 2B, 3 RBI
INF JT Schwartz (AA): 1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI
RHP Channing Austin (High-A): 6.2 IP, H, BB, 8 K
BOX SCORES
Single-A SLU | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (21-28) vs. Nationals (25-25)
Where: Nationals Park - Washington, D.C.
Starters: LHP David Peterson (2-4, 5.40 ERA) vs. RHP Cade Cavalli (2-2, 4.05 ERA)
When: 4:05 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
Despite a bumpy start, Zach Thornton showed he belongs ✍🏻
As I said above in the play of the game section of today’s newsletter, the tone for the Mets was set early on in Wednesday’s game against the Nationals.
The Mets don’t have an offense capable of sustaining what they’ve done over the last week, in which all six of their recent wins were of the comeback variety. Yes, it’s really encouraging to see Juan Soto powering up these days, and we all knew it was a matter of time before he got his season going. But the rest of the unit clearly is what it is at this point - on most nights, a three-run deficit will be too much to overcome for this team, and keeping up with the Nationals offense - which is the best in the league - is unfortunately a very tall order for the Mets as currently constructed.
But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t some good that came out of this game. And with the way the Mets season is going, we have to find silver linings wherever possible.
So today I’d like to talk about Zach Thornton’s big league debut, which, outside of the Abrams home run, was very encouraging.
That home run boils down to a cement-mixing cutter to Abrams, which just spun belt high over the middle of the plate. That wasn’t an experience issue as much as it was an execution issue on the pitch. He hung one, and one of the good young big leaguers in the game today didn’t miss it.
Overall, Thornton looked very poised out there in his first start. He mostly featured a fastball/cutter combination with the occasional breaking ball over his 4.1 IP. He doesn’t throw hard by today’s standards, but the perceived velocity and his strikeability are what have allowed him to quickly ascend over the last couple of years - he has only allowed 41 walks in 170 IP during his minor league career.
His fastball has a lot of vertical movement, which is probably what helps make that pitch look deceptively fast and hard to hit. That also allows him to sprinkle his sweeper/slider rather than having to lean on it very heavily. He might ultimately need to incorporate his breaking stuff a little bit more at this level just to give opposing hitters another idea at least, but that’s a process that will evolve over time, I am sure.
After allowing another run in the second inning, Thornton really settled in and retired nine of the final ten batters he faced before Carlos Mendoza lifted him at 80 pitches in the fifth.
That move is typical for a pitcher making his big league debut, although with the way the Mets bullpen has been taxed lately, I might’ve challenged Thornton to complete the inning and get through five.
“The one thing I liked,” Mendoza explained about Thornton, “even after he got punched there in the first inning, he didn’t back down. He kept going after it. Pitch count went up, but he competed though.”
Indeed, it is certainly easy for a green pitcher to fold after getting ambushed like that in the first inning, but Thornton has been known for his competitiveness during his journey in the minor leagues, and it was very veteran of him to not get discouraged and just continue on from there.
So the question now for Thornton is, what’s next? It’s not clear if he will get another start right now, although he deserves one and the Mets sort of don’t have a whole lot of pitching certainty at the moment. He would be slotted to go against the Reds at Citi Field on Memorial Day, but with the Mets possibly asking Jonah Tong to make a start against the Marlins this weekend to offer extra rest for their broken rotation, that might impact when Thornton might pitch again for the Mets.
Perhaps that might be determined by how David Peterson pitches today in his start. The Mets have been using Huascar Brazoban in front of Peterson lately with Sean Manaea following if needed, but using Brazoban in the first on a regular basis throws the bullpen for a loop, and that Manaea hasn’t been particularly effective this season further messes with the bullpen availability.
Either way, Thornton showed he belongs.
Either way, it’s clear the youth movement is in full force with the Mets amidst this poor start for the club in 2026. And, as has been well chronicled in recent weeks, their presence has provided energy, refreshment, and hope for the future.
Around the League 🚩
Trey Yesavage out-dueled Cam Schlittler as the Jays beat the Yankees 2-1
Shohei Ohtani homered and gave the Dodgers five shutout innings as they shutdown the Padres 4-0
The Rays put up four runs in the eighth to come back on the Orioles with a 5-3 win
The Mariners staved off a late rally from the White Sox, holding on to win 5-4
Let's face it: they miss Lindor in the lineup.
Can we please DFA Kimbrell? It’s bad enough we have Manaea in the BP. Having 2 that can only be used in mop up duty doesn’t work.