ARLINGTON -- One by one, without much fanfare, Mets starting pitchers completed their seasons this week in Texas.
First, Christian Scott went on the IL with a minor knee injury. Then Nolan McLean ended his first full Major League campaign with a win. A day later, it was Zac Thornton’s turn to fire five effective innings in a 3-1 loss to the Rangers on Thursday, putting his final stamp on a year that should set him up well to compete for a 2027 rotation spot. Of the Mets’ young rotation arms, only Jonah Tong has a start remaining.
Combined, those four pitchers have produced a 3.47 ERA over 399 2/3 innings. If that were a full-season rotation ERA, it would rank third in the Majors behind the Yankees and Dodgers.
“Young pitching is probably the most valued commodity in the game,” Mets manager Andy Green said. “Everybody is hungry to have that.”
There’s plenty of reason for the Mets to be excited about this crop of starters, who range in age from 23 to 27. McLean will end the season leading qualified National League rookies in ERA, innings, strikeouts and wins. He and Scott are among a group of 32 MLB pitchers in their age-27 season or younger who threw at least 100 innings with an ERA under 3.90. Thornton, meanwhile, ended his season tied for fifth in the NL in walk rate (min. 80 IP).
“Very encouraged by what they’ve done,” Green said.
What’s more, every Mets starter improved in one way or another over the course of the season. After a miserable May, McLean recovered to produce a 2.51 ERA over his final 20 starts. Scott walked five in his season debut and didn’t make it out of the second inning; from that point on, he struck out more than three times as many batters as he walked.
Tong, who struggled mightily down the stretch last year, then again in Spring Training and deep into this summer, recently unlocked his mechanics and earned a second chance in the big leagues. Over his last seven starts, including the Minors, he has pitched to a 2.43 ERA. (Tong has one more still to come on Saturday in Washington.)
Then there is Thornton, a preseason afterthought who wasn’t even invited to big league camp. In his MLB debut, Thornton allowed four earned runs over 4 1/3 innings, before returning to the Minors and giving up six more runs in his first start back at Triple-A. But Thornton recovered, made a successful spot start in June, earned a permanent call-up in July and added velocity along the way. Since putting his rocky debut behind him, Thornton owns a 3.15 ERA in the Majors.
“Every single one of them can pitch at least a rung further up the ladder than they’re doing right now,” Green said of the organization’s young starters. “And that’s great for us.”
When it comes to pitching, of course, there are no guarantees -- just ask anyone who lived through Generation K or the all-too-brief heydays of Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard. Situations can change quickly. Green himself often stresses the importance of depth starters and ancillary arms. To that end, veteran Sean Manaea will be back next season on the final year of a $75 million contract. The club is also highly likely to add more help from outside the organization.
Yet the Mets have the bones of something notable in place, with a group of homegrown pitchers all drafted since 2021. What’s more, it’s a group that has stitched itself tightly together. Before Thursday’s game against the Rangers, Thornton, McLean, Scott and Tong engaged in a raucous game of doubles ping-pong in the Globe Life Field visiting clubhouse. Balls were flying across the room as the four competed nearly as hard as they do on the mound.
“We love each other,” Thornton said. “It’s sad that the season’s over now, because we don’t get to spend time with each other now. Love spending time with everybody in this clubhouse, whether it’s position player or pitcher. But I think a lot of us have a lot to strive towards in the offseason. What you saw out on the field this year, just a small sample size. I think all four, five of us, we’re all going to get better.”