1 Mets player fans are beginning to believe in

The New York Mets have had a couple of pleasant surprises on the major league roster in the early part of the 2023 season and one of those surprises has been left-handed pitcher Joey Lucchesi. Lucchesi made his long-awaited return to an MLB mound last Friday and spun 7 innings of shutout ball with 9 strikeouts against the San Francisco Giants.

With David Peterson's struggles this season, Lucchesi has a real chance to stick with the big league club if he continues to pitch the way he did in San Francisco last week. While it had been almost two years since Lucchesi made a start (Tommy John surgery), it may be hard for many fans with short-term memory to remember that he seemed to be hitting his stride before tearing his UCL in 2021.

Joey Lucchesi has made quite the impression on the Mets fanbase after his 2023 debut last week

Over his final five appearances during the 2021 season, Lucchesi had only allowed 3 earned runs over 21.2 innings with a 24/6 strikeout-to-walk ratio. It seemed as if the ingredients were there for Lucchesi to break out before injury struck, and now it seems like Lucchesi is wasting no time in picking up right where he left off.

Mets fans, including myself, have been excited at the prospect of watching Lucchesi start tapping back into his potential as a legitimate Major League starter since his 2023 debut in San Francisco. Right now, he provides the team with the ability to have a reliable back-end rotation option, and he has the potential to stick as a swingman out of the bullpen when the starting rotation is eventually back to full strength.

Something you won't see in the box score from his last start was the way Lucchesi was also able to hide the ball in his delivery which threw many of the San Francisco Giants hitters' timing off. Any Mets fan has to be excited for the organization to have a southpaw with the potential to produce the results he has thus far at the big league level. It seems as if the fans are already behind seeing Lucchesi make more appearances for the Mets this season and I can't disagree one bit.