Zac Thornton continues strong case for Mets rotation spot beyond 2026

NEW YORK — Zac Thornton learned a hard-earned lesson about major league pitching in his ninth start of his career last week against the Padres.

Fernando Tatis Jr. jumped him on the opening pitch of the game, blasting a leadoff home run into the second deck in left field. Thornton and the Mets could never recover.

"Every pitch matters from pitch one to pitch 90," Thornton said.

The remainder of the 2026 season might serve as a tutorial for the 24-year-old Thornton in his first major opportunity in the big leagues, but he has continuously proven that he's an adept learner through 10 big league starts with the Mets.

Tuesday provided another confidence-building performance for Thornton against the Brewers, who entered the day with the best record in baseball and carrying one of the most frustrating offenses for opponents in baseball. The Brewers are not the explosive type - they are last in MLB in home runs - but they wear pitching down with their ability to put the ball in play and apply additional pressure on the basepaths.

The left-hander was up to the challenge, holding the Brewers to one earned run on seven hits with no walks and four strikeouts across six innings. He settled for a no-decision after the Mets gave up the tying run in the ninth before going on to score a 3-2 victory in 10 innings in front of 28,942 fans at Citi Field.

"He is who we thought he was - a fearless competitior who doesn't care who gets in the batter's box, who might give up a home run on the first pitch of the game and the rest of the game he's going to do what he does," Mets interim manager Andy Green said. "You want guys who are unfazed. You want guys who are unaffected by tough circumstances and that's what he's been. He's been really, really good."

With a righty-heavy lineup in the Brewers, Thornton believed the key to his success was trying to find holes in their swings as his outing went on.

And he was able to produce ground balls when it mattered. He picked up two double plays after leadoff singles in the second and sixth innings. After giving up back-to-back singles to open the third, he induced a ground ball to the mound and followed it up with back-to-back outs.

One of the few pitches that Thornton would want back was an 0-2 curveball to Luis Lara with a runner on second in the fourth, which led to the Brewers' lone run off the rookie left-hander.

"I think for me, it's always just doing what I do best and that's throwing strikes," Thornton said.

With two extra days of rest, Thornton saw an uptick in velocity, with his fastball touching 95.4 mph and averaging 93.1 mph — 1.2 above his season average. For the lefty, who relies on command over firepower, he noticed that spike and is working to make it a more regular occurrence.

"It probably helped that I was on a seven-day this entire week, but yeah, just doing my best to get in the weight room in between starts and just keep my body moving through the year," Thornton said.

For a pitcher who closed the 2025 season outside the club's Top 30 prospects, Thornton is making a strong case to be included in next season's rotation.

Through 10 starts, Thornton now has a 2.88 ERA, allowing three earned runs or fewer in each of his last nine starts since a rocky debut in Washington, D.C. Tuesday was his sixth quality start in 10 outings.

Thornton will still have around half a dozen starts to prove that he belongs moving forward — as will the remainder of the team's starting rotation. The left-hander is in the mix with Nolan McLean, Sean Manaea and Christian Scott, who are all under team control for 2027.

The rotation remains an area that will realistically be upgraded in the offseason, particularly at the top.

The Mets have dealt with the struggles of Kodai Senga, who is under control for one more season and voiced his preference to be a starting pitcher, and Freddy Peralta, who was traded away. Tylor Megill could provide depth when he returns from Tommy John surgery in 2027.

Thornton is not the only Mets rookie pitcher making a strong impression in the second half.

Since the Mets offloaded four relief pitchers at the trade deadline, left-hander Nate Lavender has flourished in his first big league opportunity.

Lavender tossed his ninth scoreless appearance on Tuesday night, working perfect seventh and eighth innings in relief of Thornton. He struck out one to preserve the Mets' 2-1 advantage.

"Fearless," Green said. "Just kind of who he is as well," Green said. ".. As much as we'd use Senga back-to-back, (Daniel) Duarte's pitched a ton here recently, given where we are in the standings, it's intelligent to take care of those guys. We're very thin from a 'pen perspective, so to get six from Thornton, to get two from Lavender today, those were huge for us."

It was Lavender's first career outing of at least two innings. He's now thrown 9⅔ scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts and only one hit.

"They're gonna learn from their success and they're gonna learn from their mistakes, as well," Francisco Lindor said. "It's gonna make them better. We look forward to seeing the growth."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Zac Thornton continues strong case for Mets rotation spot beyond 2026