Mets’ #9 prospect Mike Vasil made his major league spring training debut on Thursday afternoon, starting against the Atlanta Braves. The 23-year-old took the mound against the Braves A lineup rather than a collection of spring training roster depth, facing Ronald Acuña, Matt Olson, and Austin Riley to start his day. In the outing, Vasil worked three innings, and while he allowed six hits, he looked like his offerings were major league caliber and he induced three swinging strikeouts and didn’t issue a walk.

While his athletic abilities were of big-league stock, it was evident that it was his first appearance on the more senior side of the spring training complex. Vasil continually hopped off the mound after outs like it was a rivalry game, bringing intensity to an otherwise unimportant late-spring game. He thought he rang up Acuña on a high curveball to start the game and later froze after throwing a fastball away to Orlando Arcia, thinking he had strike three. Acuña ended up flying out later in his at-bat and Arcia hit a weak infield single, so Vasil didn’t turn the jets off after his near strikeouts, but ‘composure’ isn’t exactly the most representative word for his mannerisms.

Now, these body language ‘hiccups’ aren’t necessarily a negative. It’s on brand that Vasil was properly locked in against an intimidating Braves lineup in a bright spot. This was a great chance to show manager Buck Showalter what he might want to call up if Vasil has a strong first half and the Mets are in dire need of a replacement starter.

In addition, Vasil induced ugly swings in his strikeouts against Olson, Acuña, and Eddie Rosario, and commanded his pitches like a seasoned vet. He gave up three consecutive hits in his third inning, but his fast heartbeat, particularly in the third inning, indicates he may not have been sequencing and mixing his pitches as he would normally do during the season. The three consecutive hits he gave up (HR to Olson, singles to Riley and Marcel Ozuna) were all on elevated fastballs—a mistake he’s unlikely to make with a catcher he has a rapport with or in an environment he is used to. His high swing and miss rate on Thursday despite being thrown into the fire indicates he’s even closer to big league ready than the already palatable box score might indicate.

His current arsenal features a mid-90s fastball, up to 98, a cutter in the upper-80s, his sharp bread-and-butter low 80’s big curveball, and a much improved split change-up that made Olson look silly. Mixing in the cutter for weak contact as he cycles through Double-A and Triple-A lineups will be key to keeping his fastball as a swing-and-miss pitch and landing his curveball in different counts will help him get deep into games. The effectiveness of the curve was obvious on Thursday as hitters gave up on it early and allowed him to steal strikes against some of the world’s very best. Vasil’s outing was encouraging for the Mets for near-term MLB depth and should give Mike confidence that he can dominate any minor league level.