Photo by Ed Delany/MMO

In a somewhat shocking development, New York Mets right-hander Michael Wacha baffled his teammates for five-plus (literally) innings on Thursday night at Citi Field, holding the White Team to just one baserunner, striking out four with no walks.

Oh, and he didn’t allow a hit over 69 pitches. Wacha registered four or five outs in an inning multiple times — Summer Camp, baby! The only Blue Team baserunner came on a Dominic Smith throwing error in the first inning.

Wacha, 29, signed a one-year, incentive-laden deal with New York this offseason to presumably act as a swingman of sorts (as evidenced by his appearance-based incentives), splitting time between the rotation and the bullpen.

In light of Noah Syndergaard‘s season-ending elbow surgery this spring, Wacha and fellow offseason addition Rick Porcello are now slated to carry the weight along the back end of the Metsies rotation.

Thursday night’s appearance was a giant leap in the right direction for the former first-round draft pick (2012, 19th overall, St. Louis).

A lackluster 2019 season (4.76 ERA over 29 appearances/24 starts; 126.2 IP, 104 strikeouts, 55 walks) sent Wacha out to the open market without much momentum.

His strong Spring Training (one earned run over 7.2 IP, five strikeouts, four walks) was encouraging, but what Wacha brought to the table on Thursday was — by all accounts — above and beyond what many could have expected.

Sure, this was an intrasquad exhibition — and just one, at that — but Wacha’s curveball (a weak spot in his repertoire last season; .471 BAA) looked crisp and his changeup — a strong suit (.199 BAA in 2019) — looked even sharper.

Even average levels of production out of Wacha would be all this depleted yet wholly talented Mets rotation would need to keep this train moving.

Jacob deGrom — thankfully healthy — and Marcus Stroman at the top is as exciting a 1-2 you’ll find in baseball.

Steven Matz — owner of a 3.49 ERA from August 7 through the end of the year, and that’s including 13 earned runs over two starts in September — and Rick Porcello (three runs allowed over 10.2 IP this spring) should have the three and four spots covered.

That leaves Michael Wacha as an unexpected fulcrum point for this Mets squad. Manager Luis Rojas has more options than he usually would with expanded rosters (we saw left-hander Stephen Gonsalves pitch well for the Blue Team on Thursday).

And in a 60-game season, chances are Rojas won’t/can’t wait for anyone not named deGrom or Stroman to snap out of a funk. Mets pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and assistant pitching coach Jeremy Accardo will be tasked with keeping guys focused and on the straight and narrow.

The mantra has to be something along the lines of “just get outs, baby”. With an offense like the Mets have, outs could be all they need to succeed. Michael Wacha got those outs on Thursday, in bunches. Let’s hope that trend continues.