Photo by James Farrance

It feels like a really long time ago that Thomas Szapucki was one of the Mets top prospects and was actually featured in a Top 100 MLB list as well. The left-handed was seen as a guy that already had an electrifying two pitch mix with an exploding fastball up to 97 mph and knee-buckling breaking ball that flashed plus.

Szapucki went into the 2017 season ranked as the No. 69 prospect in baseball according to Baseball Prospectus after striking out 86 batters in 52 innings the previous year, and he started the season by posting a 2.79 in his first six full season starts for the Columbia Fireflies. Then came the bad news of needing Tommy John surgery.

The injury wiped out most of the 2017 season and all of the 2018 season. The 2015 fifth round pick was back on the mound for the Fireflies April 8, 2019 to pitch one inning. He progressed to a promotion up to St. Lucie and then finally one start in Double-A Binghamton to finish out the season. All told in 2019, Szapucki posted a 2.63 ERA with 72 strikeouts and only 49 hits allowed in 61 1/3 innings.

Then the 2020 minor league season was canceled because of COVID-19, though Szapucki was added to the Mets player pool in July, so he was getting innings in at the Brooklyn site.

Szapucki started the 2021 season in Triple-A with the Syracuse Mets and the results were mixed. He had a 4.41 ERA in eight games when the pitching-desperate Mets called the lefty up to the big leagues. Szapucki allowed six runs in 3 2/3 innings in his major league debut against the Braves on June 30 as a reliever. After two middling outings in Triple-A followed and his velo had diminished, the Mets had Szapucki evaluated. They found out he needed season-ending ulnar nerve transposition surgery.

Born in Toms River, New Jersey, the 25-year-old’s coming off a rough season on the mound and also trying to come back from another arm surgery. Szapucki was in Mets big league camp this spring as a member of the 40-man, but he never pitched in a spring game for the Mets. Instead, he pitched on the minor league side of camp as he worked his way back from surgery.

Szapucki made his 2022 season debut right away as he got the Opening Day start for Triple-A Syracuse Mets. He allowed two runs in three innings and struck out four. Two scoreless innings his next time out and three innings of one-run ball the next. He worked his way up to four innings and a season-high 71 pitches in his next outing.

The best outing of the 2022 season for Szpaucki came on May 10 when he pitched four scoreless innings with nine strikeouts. He struck out seven straight batters at one point, with most of them coming via his plus curveball. He worked up to five innings of one-run ball in his next outing, though only one strikeout. Then on last Friday the Mets had him toss only one inning as he prepped for his first major league start on Mat 25 against the Giants in San Francisco.

Szapucki’s numbers for the season are impressive: 22 IP, 20 H, 7 ER, 9 BB, 30 K, 2.86 ERA

The strikeouts are certainly a good sign for Szapucki even though the walk total is a bit high and his WHIP of 1.32 is a little high as well.

The 25-year-old has looked better in his more recent outings as he continues to gain back some of the pre-surgeries velo. In his last start, he averaged 92 mph on his fastball and topped out at 95 mph. But the important pitch for him in 2022 has been the curveball. He’s shown the ability to throw it in any count and against any hitter. In fact, one of the starts I watched he was right around 50/50 with the usage of his curveball and fastball.

That’s what Szapucki looks like to me so far this season, is mostly a fastball/curveball pitcher with an occasional changeup. Of course it’s important to remember that Szapucki is coming off surgery and has only thrown 103 innings over the last five years. His high pitch count for this season is 71 and the most innings he’s gone in a start is five, two important things to remember going into his Wednesday start.

Injuries to Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, and Tylor Megill have forced the Mets to dig a little deeper into their starting pitching depth that could be starting to show some cracks.

Szapucki’s had to take a long, winding road to his first big league start and the Mets need starters to step up as they continue to deal with mounting injuries.