Mets Player Meter: Pitchers, August 3-16

The Mets used a lot of pitchers in 2025, so I can’t say for certain that this is a record for most new names I’ve had to add to a meter in a single week, but it very well might be. The trading deadline saw the Mets trade two members of their rotation (three if you count David Peterson weeks earlier) and four members of the bullpen. The pitching staff has been completely transformed for the final two months, including some remaining players slotting into new roles, and in most cases it has actually been for the better. With Devin Williams now on the injured list, the bullpen is now made up entirely of players who were not in it on Opening Day and many of them are pitching like they have something to prove with the results to show for it.

*Usual caveat that this meter does not include last night’s game, which will be represented in the next set of meters.*

We’ll start with Kodai Senga, who the Mets have finally fully committed to trying out in a high leverage relief role in the absence of the injured Devin Williams. And he has excelled. In the past 12 games, Senga has appeared in five of them and not allowed a run in any of those five appearances. Over those five innings of work, he has struck out seven batters, walked only two, and allowed just one hit. He has converted three saves. Senga has said that he wished he was still starting—understandably so—but admitted the results haven’t been there for him as a starter. If he can continue to thrive in this role, that is a major win for the Mets moving forward.

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With Williams on the IL and the Mets’ stalwart setup man Luke Weaver now wearing a Pirates uniform, Daniel Duarte is the other reliever who has distinguished himself from the pack and settled into a high leverage setup role. Like Senga, he is unscored upon in the past 12 games. In 6 2/3 innings over 6 appearances, Duarte has allowed just a single hit, striking out three and walking three. Duarte racked up three holds over that span and earned his second career save and his first save since 2023 in the 6-5 extra-inning victory over the Guardians in Cleveland.

Jumpin’ Jefry Yan has been every bit as electric as advertised and has pitched to a 1.80 ERA in his first five appearances in the big leagues. He has worked around traffic in a lot of his outings, primarily due to his propensity for walking too many hitters (he has issued five free passes over five innings of work), but he has limited the damage with his whiff-inducing stuff, striking out six in these five appearances. He also earned his first big league win in Saturday’s extra-inning win with 1 2/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts. So though he’s been making the Mets sweat, he’s been effective and there have been no shortage of strikeout celebrations.

Nate Lavender—another pitcher who has been on quite the journey to get to the big leagues—has also been excellent since being promoted to the big league club and is pitching himself into consideration for a roster spot in 2027. He’s been the primary lefty the Mets have turned to in big spots, having dealt southpaws Brooks Raley and A.J. Minter. Lavender has pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings in five appearances, amassing four holds in that span. He has struck out six batters and walked only two and allowed just one hit.

Jack Weisenburger is another Mets pitcher to make his big league debut in the past two weeks. He pitched the final two innings of the Mets’ 11-1 lopsided victory in Pittsburgh and allowed just one baserunner, striking out two over two scoreless innings of work. He also pitched the final inning of the Mets’ 6-3 loss in Atlanta on Wednesday.

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Weisenburger’s big league debut came in relief of Sean Manaea, who was fantastic over the first seven innings, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out a whopping eleven batters and walking none. That stellar performance earned him his fourth win of the season. The other two games he started were not quite that brilliant, but both were solid and both ended in Mets wins. Manaea pitched the series opener of the sweep in Cleveland, giving up seven hits, but limiting the damage to just two runs over six innings of work. He struck out seven and walked five in that outing and earned the win. Manaea did not factor into the decision on Saturday because the Mets came from behind to win in extra innings, but he did keep the Mets in it, giving up four runs (primarily via two long balls) in 6 1/3 innings of work.

Dedniel Núñez, finally back with the Mets, came in to relieve Manaea in the seventh on Saturday and kept it a one-run game, but he needed the help of one of Carson Benge’s brilliant outfield assists to do it. Unfortunately, Saturday was Núñez’s only clean sheet since returning to the big leagues after the trading deadline. Working back from Saturday’s game, he was smacked around for three runs in just a third of an inning in the 6-3 loss in Atlanta that Weisenburger appeared in, which put that game out of reach for the Mets. He pitched a scoreless sixth inning in the series opener in Pittsburgh, but then was sent back out for a second inning of work and immediately gave up two hits, which came around to score, charging him with two runs. Luckily, the Mets had enough cushion that this did not sink them in that game. It was Núñez who was on the mound for the seventh inning of last Wednesday’s extra-inning game in Cleveland when the Guardians took the lead. Though Núñez was tagged with a blown save, neither of the runs he gave up was earned because of a fielding error by Jared Young. Luckily for Núñez and the Mets, the Mets came back to tie the game and then win it in extras, but Núñez is pretty much the only member of this new look bullpen who has performed poorly over the past two weeks.

Chayce McDermott—acquired from the Dodgers for Ben Rortvedt at the deadline and added to the big league roster—ended up earning the win in that extra-inning victory in Cleveland for two scoreless, hitless innings of work, in which he walked one and struck out two. His other outing did not go quite as well; he gave up a two-run homer to Matt Olson in Tuesday’s loss to the Braves. But that was just insurance for Atlanta, as the Mets were shut out that day.

Because the Mets were shut out, Nolan McLean took a very tough luck loss on Tuesday despite giving up just one run—a solo homer to Ozzie Albies—in six innings of work. His other outing in the past 12 games did not go nearly as well, but he notched the win in that game because the Mets gave him boatloads of run support. And so it goes. In that outing, McLean yielded five runs on eight hits, striking out eight and walking three. (Remember, this meter does not include yesterday’s game and McLean’s very interesting outing in that game will be covered in the next meter.)

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Xzavion Curry pitched the final two innings of that blowout victory in Cleveland, giving up a meaningless run on two hits. Two days later, Curry was used in mop-up duty again—this time in a blowout loss in Pittsburgh. Curry valiantly soaked up three (scoreless) innings, striking out four and walking four.

Curry was forced into long relief due to a very poor outing by Robert Stock, who came crashing down to earth after a very strong first start of the season. Stock was knocked around for eight runs on nine hits in just three innings of work. He struck out four batters and walked five in one of the only truly awful games of this two-week hot stretch for the Mets. Stock bounced back though with a much better outing against the Nationals in the series opener on Friday, giving up just one unearned run on three hits in 4 1/3 innings of work. He struck out five batters and walked three in the outing.

Jonathan Pintaro earned the win in that game with two scoreless innings in relief of Stock after Nate Lavender helped Stock navigate through the rest of the fifth inning. Pintaro took care of the sixth and seventh innings to set things up for Duarte and Senga to polish off the victory. Pintaro gave up one hit, struck out two, and walked one in the outing. Pintaro did give up a run in his other outing in the past 12 games which came on Monday against the Braves, but the Mets got out to an early lead and held on to win that game—once again thanks to Lavender, Duarte, and Senga.

Christian Scott started that game and though he was given a big lead to work with early, he struggled through four innings, giving up four runs on seven hits, striking out six and walking one. Going deep into games has been a challenge for Scott and something Andy Green has been pushing him on, but that outing in Atlanta was luckily the shortest of Scott’s three starts in the past two weeks. Scott was the starter for the extra-inning victory in Cleveland, giving up three runs on six hits in five innings of work, striking out seven and walking two. He then earned the win on Sunday in another one-run game, giving up three runs on five hits in 6 1/3 innings, striking out seven and walking two. It seemed like Scott might finally go seven innings for the first time, as he was economical with his pitch count early and was cruising, but he ran into some trouble that escalated quickly in the seventh and he was clearly gassed. Green made the right decision by pulling Scott, who made way for Nate Lavender who protected the skinny one-run lead, which Duarte and Senga locked down to complete the victory.

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Zac Thornton has delivered two solid outings in the past couple of weeks, though he unfortunately only earned the win in one of them. That came in Pittsburgh when he shut out the Pirates for five innings in that series opener, striking out three batters and walking two. The Mets got out to an early lead and then weathered some bullpen hiccups, including the poor showing by Núñez and Devin Williams’ last shaky outing before hitting the IL, to hang on for the victory. Thornton took the loss despite a quality start in the series finale loss in Atlanta. In that outing, Thornton gave up three runs on seven hits, striking out two batters and walking one. Thornton now holds a fabulous 2.78 ERA through eight starts with the Mets.