Brandon Sproat Solid in Debut

Brandon Sproat made his long-awaited major league debut on Sunday. Like his rookie compatriots Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong, he provided a stabilizing outing, giving up three runs in six innings. But unlike the other two new righties in the rotation, Sproat suffered a loss in his first game.

Sproat came into the start perhaps most well-known for his high-90s fastball, but he only threw his heater 40% of the time. Of his 88 pitches in total, Sproat threw 24 sinkers and 11 four-seamers, and the results certainly varied for those two pitches.

While both average velocities of his sinker and four-seamer were rounded to 96 mph, the Reds hitters struggled much more against his sinker. His average exit velocity on that was a measly 79.5 mph. His four-seamer, on the other hand, was much difficult to control (eight of the 11 were balls) and not one of them resulted in a swing and a miss.

Brandon Sproat's 3Ks in the 3rd. pic.twitter.com/mfTExhxT7n

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 7, 2025

In fact, only his sinker and his sweeper (as well as the four times his breaking ball registered simply as a slider) resulted in average EVs of less than 90 mph.

Where Sproat thrived was in his deception. While he only induced six whiffs in total in the afternoon, he got four Reds to strike out looking of his seven K’s in total. Did we mention he was pitching a no-hitter through the first five innings? A Noelvi Marte 67 mph single was the Reds’ first hit of the day in the sixth inning.

“I thought it was really good,” Sproat said of his day overall, “Didn’t have my best stuff out there, but went out there and competed for the team.”

Unfortunately for Sproat, his biggest adversity came in the form of the opposing starting pitcher. Hunter Greene mowed down the Mets for seven innings, striking out 12 and giving up just a Brett Baty home run. The Mets put up a rally in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the 3-2 loss.

All three of the Mets’ rookie starters fans were clamoring for have now taken the mound in a big league game in 2025. McLean has been a revelation in his first four starts, but in the Tong/Sproat era, the Mets are now 1-2.

As long as these new starting pitchers can provide competent starts that have become too few and far between for a lengthy period of time, the attention turns back to the high-powered and high-priced offense.

If the bats mash the way they were supposed to heading into the season, and the way they had been for over a month heading into this weekend’s games, the Mets can beat anybody. But if they don’t, as this season has taught us, they can lose to anybody.

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