Huascar Brazobán will open Saturday’s game for the Mets against the Yankees. David Peterson should again follow at some point for bulk relief.
The Mets will use an opener ahead of Peterson for the fourth time in 2026.
The New York Mets entered the Subway Series without naming a starter for the series’ middle game. Clay Holmes pitched the series opener, and Freddy Peralta is scheduled for the finale.
The Mets’ reasons for not naming a starter have now become clear. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com reports that the team will use right-hander Huascar Brazoban as an opener ahead of left-hander David Peterson.
Huascar Brazobán will open Saturday’s game for the Mets against the Yankees. David Peterson should again follow at some point for bulk relief.
This marks the fourth time the Mets have used an opener this season. In all four cases, it has come with Peterson as the bulk arm afterward. Tobias Myers started one game, which was May 10 at Arizona, and Brazoban is set for his third such appearance.
The Mets’ usage of an opener ahead of Peterson this season is bizarre. The left-hander has pitched exclusively as a starter in 2024 and 2025, with 51 starts between both seasons.
Peterson began the year in the Mets’ rotation. He made four starts, pitching to a 6.41 ERA with 21 strikeouts and 10 walks over 19.2 innings. Since then, the club has deployed an opener ahead of him in four of the next five turns through the rotation.
Based on past usage, the Mets will use the bullpen for one turn through the batting lineup, then turn to Peterson. In all four games that the left-hander has pitched in relief, he entered no earlier than in the third inning.
It’s unclear if this strategy is a way to minimize Peterson’s exposure to opposing lineups or if they’re slowly phasing him out of the rotation. The results certainly have been better under this arrangement. As a reliever, the left-hander is holding opposing hitters to a .222/.246/.365 slash with 12 strikeouts and just one walk.
So far for the Mets, the results have been solid. And the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
In other news affection the rotation, the Mets suffered another brutal injury in the series opener against the Yankees. Holmes suffered a fractured fibula when he was struck by a Spencer Jones 111.1 MPH line drive, effectively ending his season.
Injuries are mounting up on this Mets roster, but it’s starting to affect their rotation as much as their starting lineup. Kodai Senga took the next steps in his return from a back injury, with DiComo reporting the right-hander threw a bullpen session on May 13. However, even Senga doesn’t appear to be close to a return yet.
Prospects Jonah Tong and Jack Wenninger are currently in Triple-A Syracuse’s rotation. Tong is already on the 40-man roster, with a late-season cameo at the end of 2025. Wenninger has made seven starts with Syracuse in 2026, with a 1.08 ERA and 38 strikeouts vs. 18 walks in 33.1 innings.
Based on how the two pitchers line up, Tong is better suited to fill the vacated rotation spot. His last appearance was on May 14, so when Holmes’ spot comes up again on May 20, he’d be on five days’ rest. Wenninger last pitched on May 12 and would require a 40-man roster move. The Mets already have an easy candidate to move to the 60-day injured list to free up that spot as a result of Holmes’ season ending.
Michael McDermott Michael McDermott is a writer at Heavy Sports covering the Arizona Diamondbacks and Major League Baseball. Michael has 10 years experience writing about the D-backs and their farm system for AZ Snake Pit, Burn City Sports, and Diamondbacks On SI. More about Michael McDermott
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