How a Healthy Thomas Szapucki Enhances an Area of Weakness for Mets

How a now healthy Thomas Szapucki enhances an area of weakness for the Mets.

Former top pitching prospect Thomas Szapucki is finally healthy again and showing why he was rated so highly in the past. 

Through five games with Triple-A Syracuse this year, Szapucki has a 3.38 ERA through 16.0 innings pitched. Impressively, he also has 28 punch outs so far.

On Monday, May 10, Szapucki notched nine strikeouts for Syracuse and even struck out seven batters straight at one point.

The southpaw hit 96 mph on the gun, and was averaging 92 mph on his fastball in the outing as he continues to build back up after last season’s surgery.

The Mets’ starting pitching depth at the upper levels of the minor leagues is certainly thin after trading pitching prospects J.T. Ginn and Adam Oller to the Oakland Athletics during the offseason in a win-now move for Chris Bassitt. 

New York has already had to dip into their pitching depth by calling on Tylor Megill, who was projected to begin the year in Triple-A, to step into the big-league rotation after Jacob deGrom went down with an injury. 

Beyond Megill, lefty David Peterson has bounced between the big-leagues and Syracuse, filling in for Taijuan Walker, who already spent time on the I.L. this season. The Mets also have Trevor Williams, who has served as a long reliever in the major league bullpen. And Jose Butto is on the 40-man roster and could debut this season, but overall, the organization doesn't have too many starting pitching options in the upper minors.

During the 2015 MLB draft, the Mets selected Szapucki out of high school in the fifth-round. 

The lefty signed with the team for $375,000, which was slightly over slot, but the Mets wanted to persuade him to sign instead of attending the University of Florida.

Szapucki first appeared on MLB Pipeline’s Top 30 Mets prospects in 2016 at No. 19, but in 2017, rocketed to No. 4 in the system.

Unfortunately, Szapucki underwent Tommy John surgery that summer and missed all of 2018, his third injury since being drafted by the Mets.

The Florida native returned in 2019, and pitched well across Low-A and High-A, with one appearance for Double-A Binghamton mixed in.

While the COVID-19 pandemic shortened the MLB schedule to 60 games, it also canceled the minor league season entirely, which was detrimental to prospect development as they skipped an entire year of live game action. Szapucki did pitch at the alternate site set up in Brooklyn that year for players not on the active roster, but it didn’t compare to a minor league season.

Szapucki wound up debuting in 2021 with the big-league squad, but once again, underwent season ending surgery when he got ulnar transposition surgery on his left elbow.

What was concerning last season, of course, was that Szapucki, who had consistently thrown in the mid-90s throughout his career, saw his velocity hovering in the high-80s and low-90s in 2021.

Now, Szapucki isn’t anywhere to be found on the team’s top 30 prospects, but the soon-to-be 26-year-old is starting to show glimpses of hope that he might be getting back to normal. 

Even if he winds up being a bullpen piece instead of a starter, it’s important to have as many arms as you can, as the old baseball adage goes. The fact that Szapucki is being talked about in 2022 after his tumultuous minor league career, regardless, will be interesting to follow.

If Szapucki can maintain his velocity, stay on the field, and continues to build off what he has done so far this season, the former Mets top prospect could be a real welcomed surprise for the team in the future.

Read More:

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- Exploring Potential Relief Pitcher Options to Help Stabilize Mets' Bullpen

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