Every major leaguer remembers their first win. Mets rookie Zac Thornton won’t forget his. After six scoreless innings in Tuesday’s 4-0 shutout of the Milwaukee Brewers, Thornton described the milestone as a “lift off my shoulders.”
“I’ve always wanted to help this team contribute to winning, and I’ve made my mark now,” Thornton said.
Zac Thornton Collects First Big-League Victory
Dating back to just his second major league start against the Philadelphia Phillies, that’s now 18 consecutive scoreless frames for Thornton, including six against the best team in baseball.
“[I came] into the game with a good plan of using my pitches in every sort of count, all for strikes and balls,” Thornton said. “You gotta keep them off balance, and we did just that with the cutter getting in on the righties, getting them uncomfortable, and all of a sudden I’ll throw the sinker right off that.” “So just learning the tunneling of everything and how and where I should throw my pitches in specific spots [is all part of the] learning process.”
Through his first four games in the big leagues, Thornton has pitched to the tune of a 1.93 ERA in 23 1/3 innings. The left-hander has also held opponents to a .175 batting average. By Major League Baseball rules, Thornton is considered a rookie. But the way the 24-year-old has thrown the ball so far makes him look anything but. So what’s been the key to his early success? First pitch strikes.
“I feel like I’m on everyone’s [expletive] right away from pitch one,” Thornton quipped. “I’ve always been that way since I was a kid and I will continue to do that.”
If you happened to be scrolling through the Mets roster on Monday, you would have spotted Thornton’s first name looking different. That’s because it is different, well, not really. The difference is that Thornton dropped the “H” at the end of his previously spelt name, Zach. The Mets’ pitcher has always wanted to make the change and “never understood what the ‘H’ really did at the end of it,” he told Newsday. “My whole life I’ve always wanted Zac, and I’ve always written it down like that.”
With his wishes finally granted, Thornton, who the Mets drafted just three years ago in the fifth round of the MLB Draft out of Grand Canyon University, is expected to remain in the Mets’ rotation for the remainder of the year. Despite the small sample size, he has certainly made his case to stay in the rotation, and with New York selling in this year’s Aug. 3 MLB trade deadline, it gives them more of a reason to let Thornton run out there every fifth day.
Thornton’s emergence, along with fellow rookies Nolan McLean and Christian Scott, has given the Mets reason to be optimistic about the future of their rotation. As the season progresses, the trio could continue to establish themselves as key pieces — not only for the remainder of 2026 — but for years to come.
Main Photo Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images
