For the second time in three months we are profiling Anthony Kay! (Original post here). Anthony Kay, a lefty starting pitcher from the same high school as Steven Matz is looking to build on last year where he finally got some professional action while recovering from injuries. In late 2018 we wrote:
Kay is the definition of an extreme risk. After he was drafted, his physical highlighted an elbow injury that would later lead to him getting Tommy John surgery. Coming into 2018, he had not pitched in a professional game at all (2017 he tossed Bullpen Sessions). Baseball America wrote about his plus changeup and a 90-95 mph fastball.
And Kay got his chance to pitch this year. In Columbia he went 4-4 over 13 starts and 69.1 innings with a 4.54 ERA. Then in St. Lucie he pitched in 10 games with a 3-7 record and 53.1 innings posting a 3.88 ERA. His 122.2 innings broke the ceiling that BA predicted between 90-110.
Kay makes complete sense for a non-roster invitation. After this season the Mets will need to add him to the 40 man in order to protect him from the Rule V draft and since the Cano/Diaz trade, the Mets are even thinner at starting pitching depth via promotion of young prospects.
I am curious to see how long he gets a look at major league camp. My gut right now says he’s at major league camp until the majority of starting pitchers get 2.0 innings in a game and the split squad games stop, then he’ll be sent to minors camp to get more innings.
Depending on how well he does this could be the last time we are writing a non-roster invitee profile for him (alternatively, we could also be writing a top 30 Mets prospect review article that ends with him being claimed by another team).
