There was a whole lot of roster shuffling on the pitching side in the final couple of weeks and a lot of injuries that occurred with not many games left to play. That said, most of the Mets’ young pitchers ended their seasons on a high note and the return of Devin Williams plus the continued success of some of the pitchers who were given an opportunity in the bullpen in the second half provide reasons for optimism in 2027.
| Player | Last week | This week |
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| Xzavion Curry, RHP | — | /cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8556885/Poop_Emoji_2_grande.png) |
| Daniel Duarte, RHP |  |
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| Justin Hagenman, RHP |  |
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| Nate Lavender, LHP | |
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| Sean Manaea, LHP |  |
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| Nolan McLean, RHP | |
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| Tobias Myers, RHP | |
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| Dedniel Núñez, RHP | |
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| Cionel Pérez, LHP | |
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| Jonathan Pintaro, RHP | |
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| Christian Scott, RHP | |
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| Kodai Senga, RHP | |
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| Robert Stock, RHP | |
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| Zac Thonton, LHP | |
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| Jonah Tong, RHP | |
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| Austin Warren, RHP | |
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| Jack Weisenburger, RHP | |
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| Devin Williams, RHP | |
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| Jefry Yan, LHP | |
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The first major pitching injury to emerge was when Robert Stock was placed
on the injured list on September 16 with numbness in his fingers—not an encouraging sign as he made his way back from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery. Xzavion Curry was forced into last minute service and started in Stock’s place against the Orioles. Unfortunately it did not go well for him. He was knocked around for six runs on six hits—four of them home runs. It was, put simply, a clunker. Curry was immediately sent back down to Triple-A after the game and eventually designated for assignment and outrighted to the FCL Mets.
Both Jefry Yan and Jack Weisenburger lifted heavy loads in that game, pitching three innings apiece in relief in the lopsided loss. Both of them did their jobs; Yan pitched three hitless innings with three strikeouts and Weisenburger gave up a run and struck out five. Weisenburger appeared in two other games—once in the Phillies series and once in the Rangers series—and was not scored upon in either appearance. Yan was much more heavily used to mixed results. He earned the win on Beltran Day with 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Christian Scott, who made his final start of the season in that game before hitting the injured list himself with knee inflammation. Scott fell just short of being the pitcher of record, giving up three runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts. Yan allowed an RBI single to Alec Bohn in the fifth and that run was charged to Scott, but Yan stopped the bleeding there and the Mets took the lead in the bottom of the frame. Yan came right back out the next day and pitched a scoreless inning—following Weisenburger’s 1 1/3 scoreless frames—in the Mets’ 7-2 loss to the Phillies in the series finale. Yan’s final two appearances were unfortunately not as successful. He gave up a solo homer in the sixth to Corey Seager in the series finale against the Rangers and allowed two more baserunners after that, necessitating being bailed out of the jam before completing an inning. He then served as the opener in the very messy bullpen game in Washington DC and was charged with two runs on three hits in 1 2/3 innings of work.
At the same time that Stock was placed on the IL, Daniel Duarte was as well due to a hamstring strain, which unfortunately brought his 2026 season—which was a pleasant surprise—to an end. Yan was promoted in Duarte’s stead. It seemed like Yan’s season was over when he was optioned back down to the minors after being the first in line of the bullpen disaster in the series opener in DC, but he ended the season on the big league roster because Jonathan Pintaro was placed on the injured list on the season’s final day with an illness and Yan replaced him. Pintaro’s designation being changed to the red cross at the 11th hour makes the meter look a little better because he struggled in the season’s final stretch, especially in the final series against the Nationals. But perhaps the illness played a role in that poor performance. Pintaro appeared twice in the Orioles series on back-to-back days and though he had a scoreless outing in his first appearance, he took the loss in the infamous second game of that series for giving up the inside the park home run in the eleventh.
Preceding that, Kodai Senga—in what was likely his low point in serving as a relief pitcher this year—gave up a game-tying home run to Pete Alon so in the 9th inning that also happened to be his milestone 300th career home run. Senga’s performance overall in the last two weeks of the season was uneven. The day before in the series opener, Senga pitched a scoreless ninth inning after the Mets fell behind by a run to keep them within striking distance, giving up two hits, but striking out three batters. Following the infamous Pete Alonso moment, Senga had another disastrous outing against the Phillies in which he was charged with three runs in just 1/3 of an inning, which allowed that game to get away. He did end his season on a high note, earning the save in the series opener against Texas with a 1-2-3 ninth inning complete with two strikeouts.
Dedniel Núñez immediately preceded Senga on two occasions. He took the loss in the narrow 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Orioles when he gave up a go-ahead solo homer to Gunnar Henderson in the eighth. But he didn’t give up any more hits in the four appearances that followed that one. In the 6-3 victory over the Phillies in the second game of that four-game set, Núñez earned his first save of the season with 1 1/3 scoreless innings to finish out the game. He followed that with a hold (his fourth of the season) the next day with a scoreless eighth in another Mets victory. In the aforementioned game against the Rangers that Senga saved, Núñez served as the setup man for him with a 1-2-3 eighth inning with two strikeouts, earning another hold. Núñez pitched a scoreless sixth inning in the second game of the final series in Washington DC and ended up earning the win after the Mets took the lead in the seventh and retained it.
That performance by Núñez came in relief of Jonah Tong who had one of the best starts of his young care in that penultimate game against the Nationals. Tong yielded just one run on three hits in five innings of work, striking out a career-high nine batters and walking only one. It is only a shame that the Mets waited until the later innings to start scoring so that he could not earn the victory to finish his season. Of Tong’s final three starts overall, two of them were good and one of them was not so good. Tong delivered a quality start in the series opener against the Orioles, which Núñez ultimately spoiled, but made up for it in his next appearance in relief of Tong in DC. Tong struck out six Orioles hitters over six innings of work and gave up only one run, which was unearned. Unfortunately, Tong took the loss in the series finale against the Phillies, in which he gave up four runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings, striking out five batters and walking four. The Mets were still within striking distance of that game, but things got out of hand in the eighth with Senga’s rough outing.
Austin Warren came in the game after Senga’s implosion and cleaned up the mess thanks to a double play grounder off the bat of Bryce Harper that ended the inning. Warren went on to pitch a scoreless ninth as well in what was at that point a lopsided game. Warren made five appearances in total in the final two weeks of the season and was only scored upon in one of them. Warren pitched a scoreless ninth inning in the series opener against Philadelphia in which the Mets were shut out by Aaron Nola. In the extra-inning loss to the Orioles, Warren delivered the final two outs of the sixth inning and the first out of the seventh inning while the Mets were still ahead in that game. Warren also pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in a close game in the finale against the Rangers. Warren’s season ended with allowing an insurance run to the Nationals on the final day of the season thanks to a walk and back-to-back singles.
Sean Manaea started that final game of the season and it was the worst start of his three outings in the final two weeks. He gave up five runs on seven hits, including two solo homers in six innings of work, striking out three batters and walking one. He took the loss to finalize his record at 6-8 on the season. His other two starts were better, however. He earned the win in the series opener in Texas, posting a quality start by giving up three runs—only two of them earned—on three hits in six innings of work. He struck out nine Rangers hitters and walked only two. Manaea was also the starter in the extra-inning loss to the Orioles and pitched well, but that game was ultimately blown by the bullpen. Manaea gave up two runs on four hits in 5 1/3 innings of work, striking out six batters and walking none. The two runs came on two solo homers—Manaea’s bugaboo in 2026.
Nate Lavender appeared in relief of Manaea both against the Orioles and in Texas. He followed Warren by pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings to earn his tenth hold of the season and was proceeded by Senga, who coughed up the lead. Lavender earned another hold in Texas for a scoreless seventh inning in relief of Manaea with two strikeouts. Sandwiched between those two outings was the only run Lavender gave up in his final five appearances of the season, but ultimately it did not cost the Mets as they had built sufficient cushion at that point. Lavender gave up a solo homer to Derek Hill in the seventh that brought the Phillies within three, but otherwise recorded five outs without incident. Lavender also appeared twice in the Nationals series on back-to-back days. In the messy series opener, Lavender was in fact the only Mets pitcher to not be scored upon; he pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning with a strikeout. The next day, Lavender earned his twelfth and final hold of the season with a scoreless seventh inning.
Lavender was followed in the season’s penultimate game by Devin Williams, who was activated from the injured list on September 22 when Scott was placed on the IL. Williams pitched a scoreless eighth inning to protect the lead for Jonah Tong. Williams also pitched the eighth inning in the second game of the Rangers series, earning a hold for a 1-2-3 frame complete with a strikeout. Though it was only two appearances in meaningless games for the Mets, it was at least a nice demonstration that Williams is healthy heading into next season.
That appearance by Williams in Texas came in relief of Nolan McLean, who along with teammate Carson Benge was making his own case for Rookie of the Year votes. McLean earned the win in that game in Texas—his twelfth of the season. He gave up just two runs on three hits over seven innings of work, striking out five and walking one. McLean unfortunately took the loss in his other start against the Phillies, but that was through no fault of his own; the Mets were shut out that day, so him giving up one run was enough for him to be handed the unlucky L in deGromian fashion. In that outing, he did give up seven hits, but limited the damage to just the one run in six innings of work. He struck out five batters and walked three in that outing.
Tobias Myers pitched two innings in relief of McLean against the Phillies and allowed two insurance runs. Only one of those two runs was earned, but ultimately both were meaningless as the Mets failed to score at all. Myers’ return to the big leagues in the final stretch of the season has been a pleasant surprise. That outing against the Phillies was Myers’ only bump in the road in the final two weeks. He turned around and pitched a scoreless ninth inning to close out the victory against those same Phillies two days later and then finished his season with a scoreless ninth to tie a bow on the Saturday win over the Nationals.
In addition to Williams, Cionel Pérez was activated from the injured list after dealing with a forearm strain. He replaced Cameron Weston on the roster, who does not appear on the meter because he did not get into a game. Pérez earned a hold for recording two outs in the victory over the Phillies on Beltran Day in his first outing back. He then pitched a scoreless ninth inning following McLean and Williams to polish off the Mets’ 7-2 victory over the Rangers in Arlington. He then appeared in the opening game of the Nationals series and again in the final game of the season. Like pretty much everybody else, he allowed a run in the bullpen game against the Nationals, but bounced back with a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts on Sunday to finish off the season.
Justin Hagenman was the bulk guy in that ill-fated bullpen game to open the series in DC and though his line wasn’t perfect, he pitched well. He gave up just one run on five hits in four innings of work with two strikeouts. The one run came in the form of a solo homer off of the bat of Dylan Crews. Hagenman is another guy who earned a moral victory in September by proving he is now healthy and can be an option for the Mets as they evaluate their pitching staff in 2027.
Speaking of guys who have solidified themselves as an option for the 2027 Mets, Zac Thornton finished his rookie season with a strong 3.42 ERA in 84 1/3 total innings of work across 15 starts. He pitched well in his final two starts of the year, putting up a quality start against the Phillies in a Mets victory to even his record to 5-5 on the year. In that outing, he yielded two runs on five hits in six innings of work, striking out four batters and walking one. He took a tough luck loss to fall one game under .500 for the season in his final start of the year, but that was more due to lack of run support than anything else. Thornton gave up two runs on four hits in five innings of work against the Rangers, striking out four batters and walking one. A go-ahead, two-run homer to Josh Jung in the bottom of the first inning was Thornton’s one mistake and unfortunately he paid for it as the Mets were blanked from the first inning onward.
That’s a wrap on the pitchers for 2026—another record-breaking year for number of pitchers used in a season, making the meters quite a whirlwind. As always, I appreciate the community taking the time to read and engage with these fun meter posts every season!
