In 2024, five players with the New York Mets made their major-league debuts.¹ The first was Dedniel Nunez, who debuted on April 9, 2024. At age 28, he was the oldest of the five. He had been in the minor leagues since 2017, all but one season with the Mets. He appeared in 25 games and pitched 35 innings with a 2.31 ERA and a 2-0 record. In his last five appearances (6.1 innings) he gave up just four hits, three walks, and one earned run, while striking out 12. A “strained flexor tendon in his right arm” ended his season after his August 24 outing, according to Anthony DiComo on mlb.com.

The second was Tyler Jay, who debuted on April 11, 2024. At age 30, he was the oldest of the five. In three games (4.2 innings), he had a 4.70 ERA with neither a win nor a loss. His July 1 Mets appearance was his last. He pitched twice more in 2024, both times with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Christian Scott was third on May 4. The 25-year-old pitched 47.1 innings over nine games with an 0-3 record and a 4.56 ERA. On September 18, Anthony DiComo wrote that “Scott, one of the Mets’ most promising pitching prospects of the past decade, will undergo season-ending elbow surgery next week and miss the entire 2025 campaign as well.” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza tried to be upbeat about the loss, saying this about Scott: “He took the baseball from us and gave us a chance.” Unfortunately, he won’t get another season to pitch for the Mets until 2026.

Fourth was Paul Orze, age 27, appeared in his first Mets game on July 8. In two appearances, he pitched just 1.2 innings. He notched one loss and had a 21.60 ERA. He should get another chance in 2025 as he pitched well with the Syracuse Mets. In 61.2 innings over 43 games he was 6-1 with a 2.92 ERA.

The last one was Luisangel Acuna. The youngest at age 22, his Mets career on September 14. In 39 at-bats he hit .308. After just four games in the majors, Joe Pantomo’s article about Acuna in amny.com was headlined “Mets’ Luisangel Acuna already ‘looks like he belongs in the big leagues.’” After the game, Mendoza said about Acuna 3 for 4 performance, “It’s a good sign. It tells us a lot.” The Mets manager added, “He’s calm, poised — he just looks like he belongs in the big leagues.”

Pete Alonso also praised Acuna, per the amny.com article, saying, “He’s jelled super quick. He’s been a compete pro so far and he’s been outstanding.”

1. In 2024, 255 baseball players made their major-league debut. ↩︎