Sproat rumbles his way to career-high 13 K's

Brandon Sproat has flashed the potential that made him a Day 1 2023 Draft pick all season long. Friday's start was perhaps his most dominant yet.

The Mets' No. 5 prospect struck out a career-high 13 batters -- including 11 in a row, something that's never been done in MLB history -- across five scoreless innings in Double-A Binghamton's 7-3 loss to New Hampshire at Mirabito Stadium.

The only hurlers to rack up consecutive double-digit K's during a big league game are Tom Seaver (April 22, 1970, vs. the Padres), Aaron Nola (June 25, 2021, vs. the Mets) and Corbin Burnes (Aug. 11, 2021, vs. the Cubs), though they had their streaks snapped at 10.

The 6-foot-3 right-hander gave up a double in the first and a single in the second, but that was all that the Fisher Cats could muster off of him. He K'd the final two batters of the second inning and then struck out the side in his final three frames with his signature tremendous raw stuff.

"He threw some really good offspeed pitches to set up the fastball to get them off of it," Rumble Ponies manager Reid Brignac said. "But when you're throwing upper 90s and he located the way he was doing tonight, he's pretty hard to hit."

This is just the latest in a string of high-velocity, high-strikeout starts for the former Florida Gator, whose stock has been rising all season. Currently rated as MLB's No. 94 prospect, he is expected to move up the list in MLB Pipeline's upcoming re-rank.

After not pitching in 2023 following the Mets selecting him 56th overall in the second round, Sproat quickly adapted to pro ball. He piled up 33 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings at High-A Brooklyn with a 1.07 ERA and .141 batting average against before earning a promotion to Binghamton.

The 23-year-old has been similarly commanding after making the leap to Double-A, the most challenging promotion in the Minors. It's not just that he has a 2.45 ERA and 0.87 WHIP with 77 strikeouts in 62 1/3 innings; crucially, he has drastically reduced his walks as well.

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Sproat was known for his electric stuff in college, but his control held him back from being a first-rounder. That was an issue again with Brooklyn, when he averaged 5.7 free passes per nine innings. But he's cut that by more than half at Double-A with 2.2 BB/9 after not issuing any free passes on Friday, with only one batter reaching a three-ball count -- naturally, before striking out.

"He knew that that was something that he has to get better at," Brignac said. "Something that we preach with our pitchers is strike first and R2K [race to two strikes]. You want to get the batter in the defensive counts as quickly as possible within the first three pitches. He's taken to that and has just applied it every start since he's been here. It's been really great to see. To have that type of elite stuff and to be able to command it well shows a lot of growth just in his first year."

Sproat's first season has been full of big moments. He threw the two hardest pitches during the All-Star Futures Game in a scoreless inning. He struck out 10 while surrendering just one hit in a scoreless seven-inning start -- just his fourth at Double-A. But this was the outing in which he put it all together.

And if he begins his next start with two strikeouts? That would give him 13 consecutive K's across two games, the same as the MLB record that Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada set in May.

The Mets have faith that the best is yet to come.

"His confidence is growing every outing," Brignac said. "We know how important being confident on the mound is. When all else fails, just having that belief in yourself and that ability to execute a pitch and get a big out. I've seen that growth out of him a lot since his first outing to where he's at now."