Surging NY Mets prospect has found his groove after a shaky start

Prospect development doesn’t always follow the clean arc people expect. Some pitchers take off from day one, others stumble through the fog before finding their footing. But if you look closely enough, there’s always a stretch that tells you something’s starting to work. The kind of stretch that doesn’t shout, but nudges. And when it comes from the left side, especially within the New York Mets system, it tends to hold your attention a little longer.

He wasn’t the first name Mets fans circled when this season began. He wasn’t the loudest arm in camp or the one drawing comparisons to anyone just yet. But things change quickly when the mechanics click, and the hitters start swinging through everything. Jonathan Santucci is still carving out who he is on the mound, but lately, he’s been hard to ignore, whether you’ve been watching or not.

The NY Mets left-hander has quietly put together one of the strongest stretches in the system after a rocky opening month.

Santucci is still early in his pro journey, a 22-year-old lefty drafted in the second round of 2024 who’s spent this season with the Single-A Brooklyn Cyclones. He relies on a mid-90s fastball to set the tone, pairing it with a slider that serves as his primary swing-and-miss pitch. A changeup rounds out his arsenal, helping keep hitters off balance as he navigates lineups. While his overall numbers look respectable, a 3.70 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and 58 strikeouts in 56 innings, the story beneath the surface tells a tale of two very different halves.

The start? One he would probably rather forget. In his first six outings, he posted an 8.14 ERA, gave up seven homers, and walked eight batters in just 21 innings. Hitters took advantage, slashing .363 against him. But starting with his May 16th outing, and over the next six starts, he allowed just four earned runs and struck out 37 in 35 innings, signaling a marked change in approach and execution. During that stretch, June was especially impressive: across four starts, he held hitters to a .171 batting average with a 1.37 ERA and 0.86 WHIP.

Control remains one of his few struggles, he’s walked 19 batters on the season, but his main improvement has been keeping the ball in the ballpark. In those seven starts since mid-May, he hasn’t allowed a single home run, a major step forward from the seven he surrendered early on.

His season hasn’t been perfect, but his recent stretch shows why the Amazins' saw something worth investing in. The raw talent is there, it’s just a matter of consistency and keeping those mistakes to a minimum. If he can continue to limit damage and sharpen his command, he could quickly move from a promising prospect to a reliable contributor in the system.