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Much has been made about who exactly will go in the Mets’ trade deadline sell-off.
Two players currently on expiring contracts the club seems more than likely to move on from ahead of Aug. 3 are veteran left-handers A.J. Minter and Brooks Raley.
That’d create two big openings from the left-side in the Mets’ bullpen.
While they could look externally to bring in a potential replacement, one in-house option likely to get a shot in the majors is Nate Lavender.
The 26-year-old has been enjoying a strong return to the mound.
Lavender, of course, generated a ton of buzz after pitching to a 2.98 ERA and 1.19 WHIP while striking out 89 batters across two levels of the system in 2023.
He was forced to the sidelines just five appearances into the next season, though, with an elbow injury that required an internal brace procedure.
The Mets opted to leave him exposed to the Rule 5 Draft, where the Rays picked him up, but he ended up returning to the organization after not appearing in a game in 2025.
Lavender continued building up back with the Mets in spring training, and after making a few rehab appearances in the lower-levels, has found his footing back with Syracuse.
With two more strikeouts in a scoreless appearance on Friday night, the southpaw has now punched out a whopping 43 batters in just 25.2 Triple-A innings.
That’s good enough for the third-highest K-rate in the International League (41.0).
Lavender’s also thrown multiple innings in five of his last seven appearances, including one earlier this week when he struck out six of the seven batters he faced.
He’s allowed just two runs over that span, lowering his ERA to 3.51 at the level.
While Lavender doesn’t throw hard the ingredients are certainly there, as he’s a funky lefty who keeps the ball on the ground and generates a ton of swing-and-miss.
The Mets likely won’t have much to play for down the stretch this year, but his highly-anticipated debut figures to be an interesting storyline to keep an eye on.
Continue reading...
Two players currently on expiring contracts the club seems more than likely to move on from ahead of Aug. 3 are veteran left-handers A.J. Minter and Brooks Raley.
That’d create two big openings from the left-side in the Mets’ bullpen.
While they could look externally to bring in a potential replacement, one in-house option likely to get a shot in the majors is Nate Lavender.
The 26-year-old has been enjoying a strong return to the mound.
Lavender, of course, generated a ton of buzz after pitching to a 2.98 ERA and 1.19 WHIP while striking out 89 batters across two levels of the system in 2023.
He was forced to the sidelines just five appearances into the next season, though, with an elbow injury that required an internal brace procedure.
The Mets opted to leave him exposed to the Rule 5 Draft, where the Rays picked him up, but he ended up returning to the organization after not appearing in a game in 2025.
Lavender continued building up back with the Mets in spring training, and after making a few rehab appearances in the lower-levels, has found his footing back with Syracuse.
With two more strikeouts in a scoreless appearance on Friday night, the southpaw has now punched out a whopping 43 batters in just 25.2 Triple-A innings.
That’s good enough for the third-highest K-rate in the International League (41.0).
Lavender’s also thrown multiple innings in five of his last seven appearances, including one earlier this week when he struck out six of the seven batters he faced.
He’s allowed just two runs over that span, lowering his ERA to 3.51 at the level.
While Lavender doesn’t throw hard the ingredients are certainly there, as he’s a funky lefty who keeps the ball on the ground and generates a ton of swing-and-miss.
The Mets likely won’t have much to play for down the stretch this year, but his highly-anticipated debut figures to be an interesting storyline to keep an eye on.
Continue reading...
