The Mets’ pitching plan — something that president of baseball operations David Stearns acknowledged earlier this week has become a turn-by-turn patchwork — has started to come into focus for the immediate future.
They’re “planning” for lefty Zach Thornton, who made his MLB debut last month, to get called up and pitch Friday against the Phillies, according to The Athletic.
The move comes after David Peterson was traded to the Cubs late Wednesday night for minor-league infielder Cole Mathis, marking the first sign of a spiraling Mets team starting to change its roster just over a month before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.
Thronton — the Mets’ No. 12 overall prospect and their fifth-best pitcher in the system, according to MLB Pipeline — allowed four runs on four hits while striking out three batters and walking two across 4 ⅓ innings against the Nationals in his lone MLB start.
In 12 appearances and 11 starts for Triple-A Syracuse this season, Thornton, a fifth-round pick in 2023, has collected a 1-5 record with a 4.25 ERA.