Reese Kaplan -- Lefty Starting Pitchers Finally Looking Lively

Just as Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and other professional pitchers are delivering the quality of mound domination that was envisioned when they were first acquired, the substitute hurlers who failed in their time in the big leagues also seemed to be getting back on track themselves.

David Peterson has been something of an enigma ever since he arrived parts of each of the past few seasons on the Mets.  He had times when he appeared to be a top quality starting pitcher who could slot into the rotation regularly in the future, but there were other times that he looked more like a batting practice pitcher.  

When he was last sent back to Syracuse he had started 8 games for the New York Mets and earned a 1-6 record with an 8.08 ERA.  That ERA was the categorical worst in all of baseball.

Now he hasn't always been slow-pitch machine for Little Leaguers.  In his age 24 and age 26 seasons he kept the ERA under 4.00 which would make him a quality starting pitcher in the offense-crazy era now in which we live.  In the 2021 season, however, he was well north of 5.00 and was having some issues with keeping men off base.  Even now he walks more than would be expected.  Even with better than a strikeout per inning pitched those extra baserunners can lead to ERA inflation woes.  

Just recently Peterson threw a stunning game for Syracuse which makes people think he may have rediscovered whatever was working for him in the past.  That single game won't earn him an immediate promotion via the Syracuse Uber, but it is encouraging should someone get hurt or have pitching difficulty.

Fellow lefty Joey Lucchesi also has thrown some high quality innings lately.  Although he was a veteran in the majors for San Diego, his health problems and surgery recovery have left him out of the Mets plans after acquiring him to be a part of the rotation or pen.  His five years in major league baseball have yielded a 4.25 ERA.  Unfortunately he was left injured in 2021 and surgery kept him out of the game for all of 2022.  

This season he was not great in the majors but considerably better than Peterson.  

He made 5 starts and earned a 1-0 record with a 4.43 ERA.  He was not striking out a lot of people and like Peterson was walking a few too many, but those kinds of numbers wouldn't hurt too badly if he had to assume a 5th starter role for several turns in the rotation.  

For Syracuse he's started 4 and earned a 3-0 record with 1.66 ERA.  His control has been better and the strikeouts up a little as well.

For a club trying to work its way back into contention, the fact that two southpaws in the starting rotation in AAA who seem to be preparing to be of quality service to the big club when duty calls.  For all of the publicity the minor league hitters have been getting, it's nice to see pitchers earning their keep as well.