PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — New York Mets reliever Dedniel Núñez’s first couple of bullpen sessions attracted crowds. Club officials watched the right-hander with interest; Núñez made just one appearance over the final two months of last season because of a forearm injury. For the Mets’ bullpen, Núñez is a linchpin.
“When they were watching me throw, you could tell that they were excited by what they were seeing,” Núñez said this week. “They didn’t have any concerns about my health. Everything came out the way that I wanted it to. We’re really excited about it.”
As Mets manager Carlos Mendoza watched Núñez, he said a thought came to mind: This guy wasn’t even here last year.
In 2024, Núñez, 28, wasn’t part of the Mets’ major-league camp at spring training. He resided over at the minor-league side.
Despite that, Núñez debuted in April. In late May, he looked like someone worth paying attention to because of an impressive fastball-slider combination. By June, he emerged as a key contributor. In 35 innings last season, Núñez produced a 2.31 ERA. Among relievers with at least 30 innings, Núñez’s strikeout-minus-walk rate (29.6 percent) tied with Mets closer Edwin Díaz for fifth-best in the National League.
Núñez’s rise from anonymity to high-leverage reliever prompted Mendoza to turn to Mets vice president of pitching Eric Jagers during a recent bullpen session with another thought.
Who is the Mets’ next Núñez? Who is the little-known pitcher who will have a big impact?
“I don’t know who exactly it is,” Jagers recalled telling Mendoza, “but we’ll do our best to make sure there are options.”
Some candidates include right-handers Luis Moreno, Jonathan Pintaro and Ryan Lambert. Who?
Exactly.
Ryan Lambert pitched in the NCAA Big 12 Baseball Championship Game last May. Will he be pitching for the Mets in 2025? (Mike Janes / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)
With the Mets’ brass talking up “sustainability” as a goal over the last couple of years, they need to unearth and improve under-the-radar pitchers. Having a relative unknown pop as a contributor helps the Mets rely less on free agency and avoid continuously remaking their bullpen.
Núñez’s ascension and the idea that more like him is even a possibility marks progress for the Mets with pitching development. To get such a possible pipeline going, the Mets want to treat pitchers they sign for the $10,000 minimum in international and their non-drafted free agents with the same level of care as they do their big-bonus hurlers, Jagers said.
In pitching development, the Mets look for levers to pull to maximize health and performance. The levers vary. It might be physical, something related to what a pitcher’s body can do, or the floor of velocity that a pitcher can produce. It might be technical, something to do with a pitch from their arsenal.
“With some of the older crowd we have, they have a lot of baseball history before us,” Jagers said. “So we’re looking back at the history of that player. Have they done something in the past that maybe we want to bring back? Can we add something new? And are there examples of guys in the major leagues that are similar to them that we can learn from? Can we learn from success and find a guy who has a similar arm slot, similar fastball?”
Jagers also stresses the importance of the mental side. The Mets want to prepare pitchers for the rigors of the game and the demands of playing in New York.
In Núñez’s case, all the above, he said, contributed to him opening eyes and sticking around. Despite being older than others in the minor leagues, Núñez attended the Mets’ offseason minor-league camps in November 2023 and January 2024. He made repertoire tweaks. He dropped weight and added strength. Along the way, he convinced himself he belonged in the majors.
“For me, it was the confidence that I just had in myself, and you bring that from the low levels of the minor leagues,” Núñez said. “Whatever opportunity you get, you prove to them that you’re capable, that you have the ability. And then when you get up to the major leagues, you have to continue to show them that there’s a reason you’re here.”
Like Núñez last year, Moreno, Pintaro and Lambert don’t own lockers inside the Mets’ major-league clubhouse this spring. They’re over at the minor-league side. But they’re among the pitchers who are at least on the radar for club officials when it comes to 2025.
• Moreno, who turns 26 in May, grabbed the attention of rival scouts by becoming the Dominican Winter League’s rookie of the year. He can pitch as a starter or reliever. He’s lingered in the Mets’ organization since 2019, but he’s improved his body and pitches. Moreno, who uses hesitation and different windups to mess with batters’ timing, added a cutter and transformed his breaking mix to include an impressive sweeping slider. Over the past two years, he has pitched in Double A and Triple A.
• Pintaro, 27, joined the Mets in 2024 from independent ball after he improved his stuff while working out at Tread Athletic, a data-driven baseball facility. He quickly worked his way from High-A Brooklyn to Double-A Binghamton to Triple-A Syracuse. Across the three levels, he had a 2.68 ERA in 74 innings. He ended his year pitching in the Arizona Fall League.
• Lambert, 22, impresses evaluators with his big-time velocity. The Mets plucked Lambert from the University of Oklahoma in the eighth round of last year’s amateur draft. He could move up the Mets’ farm system quickly. In two appearances with High-A Brooklyn in 2024, Lambert hit 100 mph with his fastball a few times, throwing as hard as 100.7 mph.
By leveraging a pitching lab and increasing their development personnel with people like Jagers, whom they hired in late 2022, the Mets have put themselves in a better position to help pitchers. Still, club officials concede that some level of luck is also required. That’s why they’re playing the odds. Who is the next Núñez? It may end up being someone other than Moreno, Pintaro or Lambert. There’s no guarantee it’s anyone at all. For the Mets, it’s a sign of progress that they can even raise the question.
“We try to operate knowing that no one has a crystal ball,” Jagers said. “We want to invest in each and every single guy and invite that opportunity.”
(Photo of Dedniel Núñez: Christopher Pasatieri / Getty Images)
