Mets Call Up Another Prospect From Triple-A To Pitch On Wednesday Against Nationals

The New York Mets are dealing with a raft of injuries, and they’ve called up left-hander Zach Thornton for Triple-A Syracuse to pitch against the Washington Nationals on Wednesday after losing starter Clay Holmes to a broken fibula over the weekend. 

The call-up is based in large part on Thornton’s ability to throw strikes, despite the fact that he’s only been at Syracuse for two weeks. Jonah Tong and Jack Wenninger were the other minor league starters who were considered, but they’ve both had control issues at Syracuse. 

That left Thornton and Tobias Myers as the only two options, and Myers isn’t stretched out, having had a number of short appearances. The Mets haven’t decided if Thornton will start or have an opener in front of him, but manager Carlos Mendoza believes in him based on what he saw back in spring training. 

“He earned it,” manager Carlos Mendoza said in an article written by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “The way he’s been throwing the ball, especially at the Triple-A level, we like [him] as a lefty against this lineup, his ability to throw strikes, his pitchability. There were a lot of names. Jonah was one of them, obviously. But in the end, we decided to go with that.”

The 24-year old Thornton doesn’t have high-end velocity, but he makes up for it with some of the best control in the minor leagues, according to DiComo. He also has a variety of breaking pitches, so hitters will see a big difference between his low-90s fastball and the rest of his arsenal. A rival scout told DiComo that Thornton “can really pitch and throw strikes, although he isn’t considered to have premium stuff, either. 

The Mets need a good outing, though, and Mendoza thinks he can give them that. He described Thornton as “a guy that’s going to move the ball around, he’s going to throw strikes” in his two spring-training starts in which Thornton threw 6-2/3 innings while giving up just one run. 

“He wasn’t afraid,” Mendoza said about those outings. “He did his part.” 

That’s what the Mets want him to do on Wednesday, and this may or may not be an audition for another start. The Nats can hit, so if he can pitch well against Washington he could get another outing or two as the Mets figure out what their rotation is going to look like without Holmes. 

“All we know is he’s coming in for the Wednesday game,” Mendoza said of Thornton, “and then we’ll go from there.”