For a little while on Monday -- with the Mets and Double-A Binghamton both listing their starters as 'TBA' -- it seemed that LHP prospect Anthony Kay could be hours away from making his big league debut. That didn't happen, but it didn't stop Kay from making news anyway.
Kay, the 24-year-old who has been one of the best pitchers in all of minor league baseball this season, fired 7.0 no-hit innings for Binghamton on Monday night before being removed at just 88 pitches due to his pitch-count being managed.
During the outing, Kay walked one and struck out eight, lowering his ERA to 1.07 and WHIP to 0.77.
Over his last six outings (spanning 37.2 innings), Kay has allowed just two runs on 14 hits while walking 11 (only three over his last three starts) and striking out 40.
"It's really fun," Kay told MiLB.com about his hot streak. "It's kind of always what you want to do as a starting pitcher. You want to put together a couple good outings in a row. It's good to be able to do that. ... Regardless of a good or bad outing, you kind of want to move forward after every outing. You reflect on it, watch some video on it and then you move on."
A first-round pick in the 2016 MLB Draft, Kay missed the entire 2017 season due to Tommy John surgery before returning in 2018 and pitching for Low-A Columbia and High-A St. Lucie.
"Kay features a three-pitch mix with a fastball that sits 92-94 and touches 96 mph," SNY contributor Joe DeMayo recently wrote in his deep dive on Kay. "Kay feels some delivery changes he made as well as just feeling fully healthy has caused him to throw harder more consistently. He features two secondary pitches with the primary being his changeup in the low 80's which he uses to put away hitters. Kay recently has gotten very comfortable with a curveball that he spins in the upper 70's to low 80's."
The Mets have said over the last few weeks that Kay is on their radar as a potential answer in the rotation this season. And after his performance Monday night, it's hard to see him staying in Double-A much longer. The only question remaining is whether he'll get seasoning in Triple-A or jump straight to the majors.