Sean Manaea’s posted his first quality start of 2026 on Saturday.

While the offense did him no favors in Saturday night’s 3-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves, Manaea was fantastic. Manaea went six innings, allowing two earned runs on four hits and striking out six. Manaea continued a fantastic stretch of pitching, allowing only nine earned runs over his last 25 2/3 innings pitched.

“That’s the guy that we’re going to need moving forward here,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza had mentioned after the game. In Manaea’s first start of the season, he showed that he can hopefully be an option moving forward as the Mets look to climb back into the playoff race. “He continues to earn that opportunity and for him to go out there and have that type of outing, I think he puts himself in a way better position,” Mendoza said when asked about using Manaea as a starting pitcher moving forward.

By far, the most encouraging sign for Manaea over the last seven starts has been the return of his fastball velocity. While Manaea was never a flamethrower, he had lived in the low 90s mph for most of his career. Throughout the early parts of the season, Manaea had been living in the upper 80s, despite claiming that he was never worried about where he was at. Recently, he has begun to find his previous velocity. Coming into Saturday night, Manaea had averaged 90.9 mph on his fastball, much closer to his career average. On Saturday night, Manaea averaged 91.2 mph and reached 93 and above twice. These are very encouraging signs moving forward. Not everyone needs to be Mason Miller or Jacob Misiorowski, but it is very hard to be successful in the current  baseball landscape without throwing over 90 mph.

Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Outside of the fastball velocity, the command of his arsenal has been fantastic. Unlike many other Mets starters, walks have not been an issue for Manaea. Over his last six outings, he has walked six batters compared to 25 strikeouts. The interesting thing is that Manaea is throwing pitches in the zone at the lowest rate he ever has, with at least 500 pitches. The key to his success has been limiting hard contact. And while you might say, “Well, that is obvious,” it never has been obvious for Manaea.

Throughout his career, he has had one single season ranking in the top half of baseball in average exit velocity. I’m sure all Mets fans can guess which season that was. In 2024, Manaea was in the 56th percentile of average exit velocity. This year, he is currently in the top-third of baseball in average exit velocity. He is throwing less strikes than ever, and while hitters aren’t chasing at a ridiculous amount, they are putting weak swings on balls and generating weak contact.

Generally, if you avoid hard contact, strike batters out, and don’t walk hitters, you are going to succeed. Manaea is currently doing just that.

If the Mets want to make the playoffs, they are going to need more stability from their starters. Too frequently the Mets have not had a chance in games due to their starting pitching. We have seen Manaea been a dominating force in the rotation. Five-and-a-half games out of a playoff spot with over 100 games to go is not an insurmountable hill.

To help climb this mountain, the Mets need someone to count on every fifth day. I think the days of wishing 2024 Sean Manaea would walk through the door are over. But, that doesn’t mean he can’t help the Mets succeed and hopefully make the playoffs. This version of Sean Manaea needs to show up every fifth day for as long as he can if the Mets want any chance of making playoffs.