Anthony Kay #18

Married Alyssa...Attended the University of Connecticut, where he established a program record with 263 career strikeouts and became the sixth pitcher in school history to reach 20 wins (22)...Was named the American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year and a Louisville Slugger Second Team All-American as a junior in 2016 after going 9-1 with a 2.65 ERA (35 ER/119.0 IP) in 17 starts...Graduated in 2013 from Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, N.Y. … was the recipient of the Paul Gibson Award, given annually to the best high school pitcher on Long Island … recorded a 0.00 ERA (49.0 IP) as a junior...Originally was selected by the Mets in the 29th round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft, but did not sign.

2025

Spent his second season with the Yokohama BayStars in the Japanese Central League, going 9-6 with a 1.74 ERA (30 ER/155.0 IP), one shutout, 130 strikeouts, a .201 (111-for-552) opponents average and 0.98 WHIP in 24 starts (19 quality)...Led the CL in ground ball percentage (67.8), strikeouts per 9.0 IP (7.55) and opponents average, ranked second in ERA and fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.17) and home runs per 9.0 IP (0.46)...Marks of Consistency: Posted an ERA of 1.40 or lower in four of six months, including a 1.00 mark (3 ER/27.0 IP) in April, 1.29 (4 ER/28.0 IP) in May, 1.40 (4 ER/25.2 IP) in July and 1.16 (4 ER/31.0 IP) in September … his highest monthly ERAs were in June (3.24) and August (2.95)...Made 22 of his 24 starts on six-plus days of rest, going 8-6 with a 1.85 ERA (29 ER/141.0 IP) in those outings … went 1-0 with a 0.64 ERA (1 ER/14.0 IP) and 15 strikeouts on two starts with five days of rest...Allowed an average of just 0.46 home runs per 9.0 IP (8 HR/155.0 IP) … did not give up more than one homer in any start … compiled a streak of 40 consecutive IP without yielding a homer from 5/5-6/20 and gave up just one in 38.0 IP over his final six starts...Limited right-handers to a .194/.273/.295 (50-for-258) slash line with five home runs … lefties batted .207/.248/.259 (61-for-294) with three homers, including a .162/.192/.227 (30-for-185) mark over his last 14 starts...Went 4-1 with a 1.38 ERA (12 ER/78.0 IP) and one complete game in 12 starts at home … 10 of his 12 starts were quality, including six starts of 7.0-plus scoreless IP … opened the season with a streak of 26 consecutive scoreless IP at home … threw seven scoreless IP in each of his first three starts before giving up a run in the sixth inning on 5/20 vs. Chunichi...Recorded a complete-game shutout on 9/15 vs. Yomiuri, allowing six hits with two walks and a career high 11 strikeouts … lefties batted .207/.248/.259 (61-for-294) with three homers...Made two postseason starts for Yokohama, going 1-1 with a 4.62 ERA (6 ER/11.2 IP) and 12 strikeouts.

2024

Spent his first season with Yokohama, making 24 starts (13 quality) with one complete game...Allowed an average of 0.40 home runs per 9.0 IP (six BB/136.2 IP) … went 59.2 consecutive scoreless IP with one homer allowed from 5/21-8/4...Went 4-0 with a 0.59 ERA (3 ER/46.0 IP) and a .194 (31-for-160) opponents average over a seven-start stretch from 5/21-7/14 … threw eight scoreless IP on 5/21 at Yakult and 7/14 at Yomuiri...Made three postseason starts, going 2-0 with a 0.55 ERA (one ER/16.1 IP) and a .132 (7-for-53) opponents average … threw 7.0 scoreless IP in Game 4 of the Japan Series at Fukuoka.

2023

Went 5-1 with a 3.76 ERA (17 ER/40.2 IP) and 58 strikeouts (12.8 per 9.0 IP) in 32 games (one start) with Class AAA Iowa (Cubs) and Class AAA Syracuse (New York-NL) … also made 13 appearances with the Cubs and three with the Mets...His contract was selected by the Cubs on 6/13 … made his season debut that night vs. Pittsburgh with a 1-2-3 ninth inning … posted a 1.13 ERA (1 ER/8.0 IP) over his first 10 outings...Was optioned to Iowa on 8/6, recalled on 8/9 and optioned again on 9/1 … was designated for assignment on 9/11 and claimed off waivers by the Mets on 9/14 … was recalled on 9/24 and made three appearances, allowing two runs over three IP...Was claimed off waivers by Oakland on 11/6 but elected free agency and signed with Yokohama on 1/9/24.

2022

Anthony opened the 2022 season with Triple-A Buffalo, then made one relief appearance with Toronto before being optioned back to Buffalo and landing on the injured list for the majority of the rest of the season... In eight games with Triple-A Buffalo, he went 1-3 with a 8.36 ERA (13 ER/14.0 IP), allowing 18 hits, 11 walks and striking out 15. 

2021

Held a 4.43 ERA (10 ER/20.1 IP) in five starts...Posted a 7.43 ERA (11 ER/13.1 IP) in six relief appearances... Made eight starts for Triple-A Buffalo... Recalled April 15 to make the start at KC and took his first career loss (3.1 IP, 5R/4ER)...Was his first start since Sept. 13, 2019, vs. NYY... On the injured list with a left fourth digit blister from May 22-June 3... Earned his first win of the season June 24 vs. BAL, tossing 5.0 scoreless innings, giving up five hits and two walks while tying a career-high with eight punchouts...Became the first player in franchise history to register each of the first seven outs of a game via the strikeout... Threw 4.0 scoreless innings in relief June 30 vs. SEA, surrendering a hit and a walk with five strikeouts, the longest scoreless relief outing of his career.

2020

Kept right-handed hitters to a .195 AVG (8-for-41) while lefties batted .341 (14-for-41)....12 of his 13 outings were 1.0+ innings pitched, seven of which were scoreless for a 3.10 ERA in those 12 games (7 ER/19.1 IP)...Allowed five earned runs over his first 11 games (18.1 IP) for a 2.45 ERA, but gave up seven in his last two appearances (2.2 IP) to finish the campaign with a 5.14 ERA...Earned his 1st win of 2020 (2nd career) with 3.1 scoreless innings of relief on Aug. 8 at BOS (2H, 3K).

2019

Started his campaign with 12 starts for Binghamton, his first action at Double-A...Did not allow an earned run in his first two starts there (8.1 IP)...Went 1-3 for the Rumble Ponies while posting a 1.49 ERA (11 ER/66.1 IP) and a .165 opponents’ average (38H, 2HR, 23BB, 70K)...Tossed a 7.0 IP complete-game shutout on May 14 vs. Altoona, allowing three hits with eight strikeouts...Tossed a 7.0 IP complete-game shutout on May 14 vs. Altoona, allowing three hits with eight strikeouts...Promoted to Triple-A Syracuse in June and went 1-3 in seven starts there...Selected to the 2019 MLB Futures Game as part of All-Star Week in Cleveland...Threw one inning with one hit allowed and a strikeout. ..Traded to the Blue Jays along with RHP Simeon Woods Richardson in exchange for RHP Marcus Stroman and cash considerations on July 28...Finished his Minor League campaign with seven starts for Triple-A Buffalo, where he posted a 2-2 record and a 2.50 ERA (10 ER/36.0 IP)...Allowed no earned runs in three of his last five starts...Did not allow more than three earned runs in any of his starts as a Bison...Had his contract selected from Buffalo on Sept. 7 and made his MLB debut that night in Tampa Bay...Lasted 5.2 innings, allowing both of his runs in the 4th inning before leaving the game with a 3-2 lead...Gave up four hits and three walks while recording eight strikeouts, which tied Trent Thornton (8 SO on March 31, 2019 vs. DET) for a team record in an MLB debut...Was Toronto’s 38th pitcher during the season to extend a franchise high (36 in 2018) and their 19th different starter (14 in 2017 and 2018)...Also became the 47th player in team history to make his MLB debut as a starting pitcher...Allowed five runs on seven hits over 4.1 innings in his 2nd start, on Sept. 13 vs. NYY (1BB, 2K)....Earned his 1st MLB win as he pitched in relief for the 1st time on Sept. 19 at BAL...Allowed a pair of runs on four hits over 4.0 frames (1BB, 3K)...Over his three big-league outings, kept left-handed hitters to a .182 AVG (2-for-11) while righties went 13-for-46 (.283).

2018

Made his professional debut, Ranked by MLB as Toronto's 4th-best prospect heading into 2020...Ranked 9th by Baseball America...Recorded a season-high 11 strikeouts in 6.2 innings on June 28 vs. Asheville, his final start with Columbia...Was promoted to St. Lucie on July 3...Worked 6.0+ innings in six of his 10 starts with St. Lucie, including a season-high 7.1 innings on July 4 vs. Bradenton...Allowed three runs or fewer in 15 of his 23 total starts...Ranked by Baseball America as the Mets' 5th-best prospect after the 2018 season.