The New York Mets took the series opener against the AL East division leading Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg Monday night, 3-2. The offense collected ten hits without drawing a walk while the bullpen navigated a bumpy seventh inning before locking things down the rest of the way. Returning to the lineup for the first time since he fractured his hand on July 9, Mark Vientos drove in two of the Mets’ three runs, an RBI groundout in the fourth and a 418-foot bomb to left-center field in the seventh.
But the night belonged to Robert Stock, who delivered the best starting performance of his big league career. The 36-year-old righty threw five 1/3 shutout innings en route to two career firsts as a starting pitcher: his first win and his first time pitching into the sixth inning. He allowed 5 hits (all singles), zero walks, struck out four, and had his most efficient start of the year needing only 72 pitches to record his 19 outs. As usual, Stock flexed his deep arsenal of pitches Monday night, throwing all six offerings, leaning heavily on his array of fastballs (4-seam, sinker, cutter) and keeping batters off-balance mixing in his off-speed pitches.
Interestingly enough, Stock’s results came despite allowing the hardest contact he has all year. Through his first five starts, Stock owned a 30% hard-hit rate and a 84.9 mph average exit velocity, marks that would rank in the 95th and 98th percentiles, respectively. Against the Rays, those numbers jumped to 41% and 90.1 mph. But unlike some of his previous outings, Stock avoided the big inning by pounding the strike zone, throwing 50 of his 72 pitches for strikes.
Coming into the night, Stock’s place in the rotation has been under much discussion among the media and fans. Following his previous start against Milwaukee, manager Andy Green was non-committal on Stock’s position in the rotation beyond his next turn. That makes sense given Stocks’s position and his mixed results so far.
This was Stock’s sixth start since being called up to fill a rotation vacancy at the trade deadline. Over 26 innings, Stock has pitched to a 5.88 ERA, 1.731 WHIP, 4.01 FIP, 4.60 xERA, and 25 punchouts.
However, it’s important to note much of the damage came in just two starts (7 total innings) where he allowed 15 runs, 19 hits, and 7 walks. His other four starts tell a different story: 19 innings, 13 hits, 6 walks, 2 earned runs, 19 strikeouts to go with a 0.95 ERA and 1.00 WHIP.
With the Mets angling for 2027, September represents their last opportunity to get an idea of what they have moving into the offseason. Stock is under team control and set to enter his first year of arbitration in 2027. He’s likely done enough to keep himself in the team’s plan as depth for the rotation and bullpen. Yet, considering manager Green’s comments it would be surprising if Stock made another start for the Mets in 2026. Jonah Tong appears to be the favorite to take his next turn in the rotation given his turnaround in Triple-A. Over Tong’s last ten starts: 51 innings, 35 hits, 25 walks, 55 strikeouts, 3.00 ERA, 1.176 WHIP.
