inside the mets Jonathan Santucci puts himself on radar as option for next phase of spiraling Mets season: ‘Pitching against Little Leaguers’ By Mark W. Sanchez Published June 26, 2026, 4:00 p.m. ET Mets left-hander Jonathan Santucci pitches during the Spring Breakout game in 2025. Diamond Images/Getty Images There are worlds in which this miserable Mets season — punctuated Friday morning by the firing of manager Carlos Mendoza — completes its journey into the drain, and the front office responds with a trade-deadline fire sale that clears some money, some talent and some big-league roster spots.
There are other worlds in which the Mets, who have ledger of issues the length of a CVS receipt but whose largest problem is the rotation, further tap into their minor league system to find starting pitchers as a last-ditch effort to keep the season alive — which they’re doing, to a degree, by summoning Zach Thornton to take the ball Friday.
In both of those worlds, Jonathan Santucci would be increasingly relevant.
During a season in which the big-league rotation has been a disaster — Clay Holmes is hurt; David Peterson offered nothing before this week’s trade; Kodai Senga is now a reliever; Sean Manaea was a reliever until the ineffectiveness around him changed his role; Freddy Peralta has disappointed and Nolan McLean, to a lesser extent, has, too — and the only top prospect pitching to at least expectation is Christian Scott because Jonah Tong and Jack Wenninger have struggled at Triple-A Syracuse — there is an avenue, albeit narrow, toward Santucci forcing his way to Queens either for a team that is trying anything and anyone or simply hosting tryouts for the future.
