PORT STREET SEA — Carlos Mendoza has heard “a lot” about Nate Lavender since he was named manager of the Mets. Nate Lavender is a young left-hander who has intrigued the club.
It took one game and three batters for Lavender to justify its buzz.
The Mets’ young relief pitcher faced three batters in Saturday’s Grapefruit League opener and struck out all of them, but he couldn’t have made a stronger first impression.
“I just want to go out there and throw strikes and see what happens,” Lavender said after a 10-5 loss to the Cardinals at Clover Park. “And it worked.”
Lavender started the game in the eighth inning and threw 14 pitches (11 strikes) to St. Louis’ Mike Antico, Moises Gomez and Nick Raposo. The trio swung seven times, fouled three pitches and whiffed four times. Two sinkers and a four-seamer caused punchouts, but none reached 93 mph.
The 24-year-old has below-average speed and above-average ball spin ability. Lavender consistently induces whiffs with his fastball in the low 90s and finds it in the strike zone, which can be difficult for hitters to spot. He relies heavily on deception.
“He’s got that fastball. Hitters seem to have a hard time picking it up,” Mendoza said.
After learning the motions in her pitching program, Lavender would mix up her pitches by raising her right knee in the air at regular intervals.
And yes, this soft-tossing southpaw from a New York ball club took inspiration from a ball club on the other side of town.
“I thought, ‘If Nestor Cortez can do it, why can’t we put something in there?'” Lavender said. “And I think that translated well into my outings. And I had some success with it.”
The Mets have been short on southpaws in recent seasons, and this year Brooks Lally and Jake Diekman are the only surefire starting left-handed relievers. Lavender, who is not on the 40-man roster, will likely make the team out of camp, but a solid springboard could speed up his debut.
Last year, in 54/3 innings between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse, Lavender posted a 2.98 ERA with 86 strikeouts. Lavender, a 14th-round pick out of the University of Illinois in 2021, represents what the club hopes will be a rare developmental success story for Mets relievers in recent years.
Perhaps Lavender can make a difference with a rather unique weapon.
“I just think there’s a will behind it,” Lavender said of his four-seam fastball, which averages 91.3 mph. “I like to say [if] If you throw a 92 with some doubt, you’ll probably get hit pretty hard. If you throw a 92 with some guts and intention, you’ll be fine. ”
