Anthony Kay/Photo by Ed Delany

In the first round of the 2016 Draft, the New York Mets selected UConn left-handed started pitcher Anthony Kay (31st 0verall). Unfortunately, soon after he was drafted, it was discovered Kay had a torn UCL, and he required Tommy John surgery.  As a result, Kay was not ready to pitch during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

By all accounts, Kay reported to Spring Training full healthy and ready to throw his first ever professional pitch in an official game.  Today, in the fourth game of the season, Kay finally got that chance with the Low-A Columbia Firelflies.

It was quite a start with Kay striking out the first two batters he would face.  What was more impressive was these two batters were San Francisco Giants top prospects Malique Ziegler (MLB Pipeline #30) and Heliot Ramos (MLB Pipeline #1).

Kay would need 82 pitches to get through four innings.  According to John Calvagno of Notes from the Sally, Kay’s fastball was in the low to mid 90s, and he mixed that in with two seamers and the occasional change.  Overall, Kay worked all parts of the plate, and he changed eye levels.

Kay’s final line was 4.0 innings, two hits, two runs, zero earned, one walk, and four strikeouts.

Overall, Kay had a good debut, and he showed why the Mets selected him in the first round.  It will be interesting to see how he builds off of this star and how soon he will be allowed to increase his pitch count and go deeper into games.