Brett Banks is a good example of coming through the other end of a setback.

In high school, he suffered a major back injury. East Carolina pulled his baseball scholarship.

Roughly six years later, Banks is a pitcher with a sub-3.00 ERA over parts of three seasons in the Mets’ system. He recently competed with some of baseball’s top prospects in the Arizona Fall League.

“Just a lot of growing up,” Banks said, “and, I think, maturing, on and off the field.”

Working Through the College Ranks

Banks ruptured a disc in his back while attending high school in Garner, N.C. His commitment to play for East Carolina was no more.

He underwent back surgery shortly after graduating. From there, he opted to go the JUCO route.

“Just kind of trusted that whole process, getting away from home, being on my own for the first time,” Banks said.

Banks spent one season at Wake Technical Community College and another at Catawba Valley. His second year, he allowed just one earned run in 18 innings. Only one of his eight appearances was a start — but it happened to be a seven-inning perfect game.

It was enough to get his baseball career back on track.

“The whole process, from injuries and whatnot, I owe a lot of it to my parents,” Banks said. “And a ton of coaches; I’ve had so many coaches at different schools that I still stay in contact with, and a lot of them have contributed to me getting to where I am now. Just staying the course. Always staying positive. I always tried to find something positive out of the little things, and I think that’s kind of helped me mature as a baseball player.”

He transferred to another North Carolina school, Division-I UNC Wilmington, for his junior season.

Upon arrival, he struggled. Division I baseball is notoriously hitter-friendly anyway, and it was the highest level Banks had ever pitched at. He posted a 7.63 ERA in 30 2/3 innings during the 2022 season. He made 11 appearances, six of them starts. His strikeout rate was a solid 10.3 per nine, but he also walked seven hitters per nine innings.

In his second year at Wilmington, he tried throwing out of the bullpen.

“That fall, we played around with me being a reliever. And my velocity shot up a lot,” Banks said. “So we’re like, ‘Hey, if you can throw hard for two to three times per week out of the bullpen, then why not give that a try?'”

Banks’ fastball was up to 98 mph as a college senior. He made 30 appearances that spring, all out of the ‘pen. His strikeout rate remained identical, but he lowered his walk rate to 4.9. He limited batters to 31 hits in 38 1/3 innings. He dropped his ERA by more than three runs, to 4.23, which is perfectly fine in a D-I environment.

“I just kind of fell in love with pitching in the later innings, and being in those high-leverage moments and being able to close games,” Banks said. “I got really obsessed with that feeling and being able to go out there and throw hard when the game’s kind of on the line. I loved it. I liked having the pressure on me.”

Blossoming With the Mets

By the time the 2023 MLB draft rolled around, Banks knew he would be selected. It was just a question of where, what round and if he could work out a deal.

Coming off a solid year at Wilmington, Banks entered the transfer portal. He had offers from big schools like Tennessee and LSU. He ended up transferring to NC State, which was close to where he grew up. He trained at NC State’s facilities that summer.

A few MLB organizations were pretty high on him, Banks said, and they just weren’t able to come to an agreement. He turned down multiple deals on Day 2 of the draft.

He signed with the Mets on a hectic Day 3.

“The Mets just came out of nowhere and said, ‘Hey, we really want you,'” Banks said.

He was taken in the 11th round with the 336th overall pick.

Since then, Banks said, “It’s been awesome being with the Mets.”

He pitched in his first three professional games for the FCL Mets in 2023. Over the last two seasons, he’s spent most of his time with High-A Brooklyn. He owns a 2.70 ERA between two seasons at that level.

“I think it’s picking the brain of a lot of older guys,” Banks said of his success. “I think what helped me was learning from a lot of the guys who have Double-A, Triple-A experience.”

Spring training was a particularly valuable experience for Banks. Being thrown into a locker room with guys five to 10 years older than him, there was a lot of knowledge to be dispersed.

“I’d probably annoy them to death,” Banks said. “But I was trying to learn every little thing I could, just about pro ball and whatnot. … We have so many talented players in our org.”

One of the players Banks has learned from is Austin Warren, a fellow UNC Wilmington guy. Warren is about five years older than Banks, but the two share a connection having come from the same college. Banks talked to Warren in Florida at the end of this past season, while Warren was with the Mets’ taxi squad in Miami and Banks was preparing for the AFL.

As detailed in a Metsmerized article, Warren dealt with his own share of injuries and setbacks on his path to the big leagues.

“He’s a super humble guy,” Banks said. “He’s a very good ballplayer. So I picked his brain a little bit about stuff.”

In Banks’ first season with Brooklyn, he was surrounded by high draft picks like Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat and Calvin Ziegler. He said that it helped to be able to watch them in person and observe their routines firsthand.

The start to Banks’ 2025 season was delayed by a minor injury. When he returned to Brooklyn in June, the Cyclones were having a tremendous year — but the Mets had recently promoted players like Carson Benge and Jacob Reimer to Double-A Binghamton.

“When you lose two of your top hitters in the lineup, it affects you a little,” Banks said. “I’m not gonna say we got discouraged. But I think when you lose two guys like that, you’re like, ‘Okay, let’s regroup.'”

Banks recalled manager Gilbert Gómez holding a team meeting. Gómez’s message was straightforward: “Hey, keep your heads down. We’re gonna win this thing.”

The Cyclones went on to win the South Atlantic League championship. Banks put up a 2.49 ERA in 23 games.

“We just all kind of stuck to the original plan and goal and believed in ourselves,” Banks said. “And we had a really tight group. Everyone was very close with each other. And our whole coaching staff was awesome, too. Gilbert Gómez is awesome. He kept us all in check, and ended up getting us a championship.”

A Stint in the AFL

Banks’ 2025 campaign extended into the AFL, where he traveled out west to play alongside some premier talent.

“I’d say that’s probably the best talent of baseball players I’ve been around since being in pro ball,” Banks said. “It’s top-level prospects and hitters there. So the competition, when you’re on the mound, it’s very challenging. And I definitely think I got better from facing top-quality bats, being there.”

Some of the other Mets on his AFL team were Nick Morabito and Wander Suero, who Banks knew from Brooklyn.

Banks allowed four runs in six innings for the Scottsdale Scorpions. He amassed 13 strikeouts in that short span.

“I’m still going out there trying to challenge myself to get batters out,” Banks said. “And I still take it serious.”

A particular focus for Banks was working on a harder slider. He wanted to try putting batters away earlier instead of nibbling and wasting pitches. With Brooklyn, he had a 9.3 SO/9 and 3.9 BB/9 this year.

“When I look back at the regular season in Brooklyn, I think at times I’d have some crappy walks that should have been easy three-pitch strikeouts, or could have grounded out or popped up,” Banks said. “And I think just going right at hitters, and letting myself just do its thing, led to a lot of success with more strikeouts against better batters.”

Scorpions pitching coach Dan McKinney helped him tinker with things.

“I would definitely have to give Dan a ton of credit,” Banks said. “To myself, and I think he’s helped a lot of others in our org. He’s super in-depth with pitch grip and sequencing and pitch shape. And I think I can definitely give him a ton of credit just for that. And also kind of having a bulldog mentality. I think he pushed me to go out there and just go right after hitters. Don’t be scared to throw something in zone. Let your stuff work in zone. And I think he challenged me a lot when I was in Arizona. And that helped me mentally, as well.”

Scottsdale was led by a familiar face for Mets fans: manager René Rivera, who’s still only 42 years old. He played for the Mets in 2016, ’17, ’19 and ’20. He also had stints with each of the Mets’ last two Triple-A affiliates, the Las Vegas 51s and Syracuse Mets.

Banks said that Rivera was very talkative and outgoing, and that Rivera was able to form relationships with the players even in the short duration of the AFL.

“He was in our locker room a lot, hanging out with the guys. And it almost felt like he was a player on our team, just kind of how close he was with a lot of us,” Banks said. “So I enjoyed him a lot.”

Praise for the Mets’ Organization

Two of the stalwarts behind Banks’ success won’t be coaching him directly next year.

That’s because they’ve been hired by the big league staff.

Gómez, after managing Brooklyn to a championship, is now going to be a first base and outfield coach for the Mets. The Mets promoted McKinney to be their assistant pitching coach under first-year head pitching coach Justin Willard.

“Those are two guys that are very devoted,” Banks said of Gómez and McKinney. “They devote every ounce of time to helping players in our org. If there’s anything off the field you need, they’ll always pick up the phone. I definitely think Gilbert and Dan are going to be two great additions to the coaching staff. And I think that’s going to also help us younger guys that end up making it to the big leagues. You’re playing for two familiar faces.”

On Gómez in particular, Banks said, after spending parts of two seasons playing for him: “If there was anyone for the job, it was him. He’s an unbelievable manager… He’s an amazing, high-motor guy. Never negative. Always finding positives and everything. When I saw the hiring, it didn’t shock me at all.”

Even while spending all of his time thus far in the low minors, Banks had nothing but positive things to say about the Mets’ organization. He echoed other minor leaguers’ statements on the high quality of the way New York treats its prospects.

“I felt like since the day I signed with the Mets, I feel like I was already kind of being treated like a big leaguer,” Banks said. “They go all-out from a living and nutrition standpoint, anything that you need from a strength, weightlifting, eating, housing — I mean, they’ve been awesome. You do hear the nightmare stories, but the Mets do everything they can to shy away from that.”

On the field, Banks has essentially proved himself in Brooklyn at this point. Across three minor league levels, he owns a 2.67 ERA in 54 innings.

Still 24 years old, Banks said the keys to his continued success are getting stronger and not getting hurt.

“Just continue to get strong in the weight room. I think that’s always been one thing,” Banks said. “And I think just discussing with my coaches, and looking ahead, I think it’s just stay healthy. I think that’s always been kind of the main thing is staying healthy and being available to throw, because the results have been there when I am out there. And it’s just continuing to be able to go out there and do my job. When I am healthy, I think it’s led to a lot of success. And I think heading into this next year, just trying to build off of that and continue to learn.”

Added Banks: “A big year ahead. … Just continue to use what I’ve learned from this past season and not get too high on the highs. And learn from the mistakes I’ve made also, and just build off of that.”