Overlooked NY Mets trade from 2024 is suddenly looking brilliant

It flew way under the radar during that magical 2024 season, but during a trade deadline in which the New York Mets made a mad dash to overhaul their bullpen in anticipation of a deep October run, they also sent an MLB reliever away: Josh Walker.

A 29-year-old southpaw with a 5.11 ERA spread across 12.1 innings that season, Walker was designated for assignment toward the end of July. Instead of losing him for nothing, the Mets sent him to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for a Dominican Summer League pitcher by the name of Nicolas Carreno.

At the time, our editor Tim Boyle gave the deal an A+, saying "Nicolas Carreno, an 18-year-old from Venezuela with a 3.74 ERA in 21.2 innings in the Dominican Summer League, was the return. Incredibly wild with 10.2 walks per 9 in his limited action, he’s the kind of low-level prospect you forget about and check in on after a few years pass by."

Well, it's been a few years, so perhaps it's time to check in on Carreno. And suffice it to say, Boyle looks rather prescient for that generous grade.

Nicolas Carreno is evolving into a legendary Mets trade win

Carreno, who turned 20 earlier this month, has made a huge leap here in 2026 after a middling campaign last year. He opened the season with Single-A St. Lucie and compiled a 1.94 ERA (3.60 FIP) across 11 appearances (six starts) which covered 41.2 innings.

That performance earned him a promotion to High-A Brooklyn, where he's delivered a pair of starts of vastly different quality. His debut was a nine-strikeout masterpiece in which he allowed just one run over six innings; his most recent appearance was a disaster, as Carreno allowed four walks, five hits, and six runs over four innings.

Despite that shaky start, his overall season pitching line remains immaculate: a 2.79 ERA, 31.2% strikeout rate, .176 batting average against, and a 1.14 WHIP across 51.2 innings. A southpaw with a pair of fastballs (four-seamer and two-seamer) and a wipeout slider, Carreno has the weapons in his arsenal necessary to climb the minor-league ladder with haste. Another pitch, like his old changeup that he's ditched since arriving in the Mets organization, would help eliminate any reliever risk in his profile, but it's hard to complain about his repertoire when his slider yielded a 44.4% whiff rate against Florida State League hitters.

And to really tie a bow on how great this trade was for the Mets: Walker never even pitched in a game for the Pirates. Talk about highway robbery.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow