Lambert -- 'an adrenaline guy' -- hoping to be next Mets bullpen gem
Anthony DiComo
@AnthonyDiComoWEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Ryan Lambert loves throwing hard. He relishes the idea of getting to two strikes and blowing hitters away.
¡°Get me in a game,¡± Lambert said, ¡°cool things will happen.¡±
In recent years, Mets officials have done well to reverse their reputation as an organization that struggles to develop relief pitchers. The recent emergences of Jos¨¦ Butt¨® and Dedniel N¨²?ez provided evidence to that end, while the Mets similarly jumpstarted the careers of relievers from outside the organization, like Reed Garrett and Danny Young.
In Lambert, they hope to take the express route toward developing another bullpen gem. During his college years, Lambert was exclusively a relief pitcher, averaging less than an inning per appearance. His fastball sat in the upper 90s at Oklahoma and ran as hot as 102 mph during a game against Wichita State. Lambert lives for that sort of thing.
More on Spring Breakout 2025
¡°I¡¯m an adrenaline guy,¡± he said before Sunday¡¯s 5-1 Spring Breakout victory over a group of Nationals prospects. ¡°I love big situations. I think that brings the best out of you when you feel really nervous. You harness that energy and you never know what can happen. So who knows what I¡¯ll touch here in the future?¡±
Lambert¡¯s actual performance in Spring Breakout showcased both his bigtime velocity -- he hit 97 mph on multiple occasions -- as well as his present-day flaws. In an admittedly small college sample size, Lambert walked 7.3 batters per nine innings. Big, hard-throwing pitchers like him can struggle to repeat their mechanics.
Since turning pro, Lambert has worked on fine-tuning his delivery, but he struggled Sunday in walking two batters, giving up three stolen bases and allowing one run.
¡°For him, it¡¯s strikes,¡± Mets senior vice president of player development Andy Green said. ¡°The heater really rides. It¡¯s a unique pitch profile. He can spin it in the zone with a slider. It¡¯s kind of a classic reliever, two-pitch mix that might turn into something a little bit more in time. But if he fills up the strike zone, his stuff is going to play.¡±
When teams draft college relievers, the first question tends to be how quickly they might arrive in the Majors. Such players tend to be older -- Lambert will turn 23 before this season ends -- and more physically mature than other draftees. They¡¯re typically experienced against advanced competition and, because relievers don¡¯t need robust pitch mixes to succeed at the highest level, they generally require less development time than starters.
Lambert checks all those boxes as a player who could reach the Majors soon -- perhaps even as soon as this season if everything goes right. Admittedly, Lambert sometimes allows his mind to wander to those places, though he understands how much work still stands between him and his debut.
¡°I¡¯d be lying if I said I wasn¡¯t thinking about that stuff, but that¡¯s where I just go one day at a time,¡± Lambert said. ¡°I trust myself, and I trust the Mets, and I believe I¡¯ll be up there sooner than later.¡±
Back to Tobacco Road
Jonathan Santucci, the organization¡¯s 13th-ranked prospect (per MLB Pipeline) and their top left-handed pitching prospect, returned to campus last autumn after the Mets selected him in the second round of the 2024 Draft. Back at Duke, Santucci was in the same documentary studies class as basketball star Cooper Flagg. He¡¯s now one class shy of having enough credits to graduate.
Many elite college prospects like Santucci, who are drafted after their junior seasons, never earn their degrees. Santucci, who is majoring in sociology with a certificate in markets and management, plans to take an online course to complete his.
¡°Growing up, academics were just as important as baseball,¡± Santucci said. ¡°I feel like I always worked just as hard in school as I did in sports, so I think that¡¯s really important to finish that off -- the icing on the cake.¡±
Santucci threw a scoreless inning in Spring Breakout.
Muscling up
Another 2024 Mets draftee, 23rd-ranked prospect Eli Serrano III, packed 15 pounds of muscle onto his 6-foot-5 frame this winter, learning nutrition and weight training techniques at a team-sponsored strength camp. He¡¯s up to around 210 pounds, which club officials believe will help him survive the grind of professional baseball.
¡°It¡¯s almost another job, I¡¯d say, just getting stronger,¡± Serrano said. ¡°You¡¯ve got to play baseball, but you¡¯ve got to be able to go out there and be able to play 140 games every year, so you¡¯ve got to be strong enough to do that.¡±
Drafted as a center fielder, Serrano is likely to end up in a corner, where his increased bulk would not be a hindrance. He started in left field in Spring Breakout.
My name is Jonah
Jonah Tong¡¯s reward for a breakout 2024 season was a Spring Breakout start. The lanky right-hander, who has drawn Tim Lincecum comps, struck out three over two scoreless innings, hitting 97 mph on the stadium radar gun.
Last year, Tong jumped multiple Minor League levels from Single-A St. Lucie to Double-A Binghamton, going from unranked on MLB Pipeline to No. 6 on this year¡¯s Mets list.
¡°Probably not how I originally imagined,¡± Tong said of his 2024 season, which included a 3.03 ERA across three levels. ¡°I spent a lot of time in a lot of different places, but I¡¯m just grateful for the opportunity.¡±
More than a feeling
The early offensive star of Spring Breakout was Boston Baro, the Mets¡¯ 14th-ranked prospect, who hit a left-on-left, opposite-field homer off Nationals starter Alex Clemmey.
Not to be outdone was fourth-ranked Ryan Clifford, who added a deep homer more than halfway up the batter¡¯s eye in straightaway center. On the social media site X, the Mets¡¯ official player development account estimated the home-run distance at 449 feet.