Noah Hall‘s last two baseball seasons have been almost entirely wiped out by injuries.

He was a senior at South Carolina, having his best season to date. A back injury limited him to seven starts. He made his professional debut the following year, only to suffer a shoulder injury after five starts.

But now he’s healthy, and he’s pitching better than he ever has. The Mets’ seventh-round pick from 2023 has found a way to come out the other end in one piece.

“I just knew how much I loved playing baseball,” Hall said. “I mean, I thought about quitting… But just the love for baseball, and I had a vision that I will be a Major League Baseball player one day.”

His college baseball career started at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, just a two-hour drive from Hall’s hometown of Charlotte. He’d gone undrafted out of high school despite posting a 1.66 ERA with 103 strikeouts as a senior.

Hall put up a 1.80 ERA in 10 relief appearances as a freshman, but COVID-19 cut the season short. He went on to make 18 appearances (five starts) as a sophomore, recording a 3.99 ERA in 49 2/3 innings.

Solid, but he wanted a change.

“I just wanted to play in a better conference,” Hall said. “I knew that if I was at App State, it was gonna be a lot harder for me to get picked higher, because they’re gonna use the excuse, ‘Oh, he’s only playing in the Sun Belt Conference.'”

He found an opportunity with the University of South Carolina, which competes in the vaunted SEC.

So, in 2022, after three relief appearances, Hall worked his way into the Gamecocks’ starting rotation. He struggled in his first three starts, allowing 14 runs across 10 1/3 innings, but he settled into form as the season went on. He finished the year with a 4.34 ERA and 9.2 K/9. He struck out 10 in a game against Georgia and threw eight scoreless innings against Kentucky.

“I think with baseball, you just naturally — If you just keep working, you keep lifting, you keep eating right, you keep trying to gain weight, that just the more you play, and the more games that you get in, with experience and facing better competition, and then looking back and going, ‘Okay, what did I do wrong?’ — and just learning from every moment that you can — I think you just naturally get better over time,” Hall said.

A solid showing in the SEC was enough to get Hall a draft chance by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 20th round that summer. But he felt he had unfinished business, both individually and with his team.

The Gamecocks went just 6-24 in SEC play during Hall’s first season with them.

“I had always wanted to go to South Carolina,” Hall said. “And the fact that we had a bad season. We got swept by Clemson, who was our rival… And also, I just felt like I had another level that I could get to if I stayed another year, to just get higher picked. And on top of that, I could go back to school, and I was getting money that could help pay for things that I need. And I just wanted to create more of a legacy at South Carolina. Because I felt like, only playing there one year, it was like, all right, nobody was really gonna remember who I was.”

So he returned to South Carolina for his senior year. All was going according to plan; Hall had a 3.29 ERA through seven starts, and the team began the year 20-1. Hall was reported to have topped out at 96 mph with his fastball.

But a back injury brought his campaign to a sudden halt. After allowing three earned runs or fewer in each of his first six starts, he gave up five in 2 2/3 innings on March 31, 2023. That ended up being his last collegiate outing.

Hall had to sit on the bench while his team completed a winning season in SEC play. The Gamecocks went on to host a Regional and make a Super Regional. Their College World Series hopes were spoiled by No. 2-ranked Florida.

“During the season, it was tough. But we were also winning, so it wasn’t, like, that bad,” Hall said. “The only thing that I was really sad about is I couldn’t help our team win. I knew how valuable I was to us making it to the College World Series. So just little moments, where I would be watching the game and be like, ‘Damn. If I was in the game, I don’t think that would happen.'”

Going into the draft that summer, Hall had had meetings, but he still had no clue about where his final destination would lie.

The Mets took him with the 216th overall pick. Thirteen rounds earlier than his selection the previous year.

“I was honestly just hoping that I would get drafted, for real,” Hall said. “Because I didn’t know what was really gonna happen, with my injury and everything.”

After signing with the Mets’ organization, Hall was assigned to the FCL Mets. But he didn’t pitch in any games for them in 2023 while he worked his way back from the injury.

He finally debuted at the professional level on April 5, 2024, for the Brooklyn Cyclones. He gave up four runs in 3 2/3 innings. A week later, he surrendered six runs while failing to escape the first inning.

After two more starts, he went down with a shoulder injury. His last appearance for the Cyclones was on April 24. He had a 10.50 ERA in four starts.

He recalled that he was only reaching about 87 mph.

“I knew my shoulder was messed up, but I didn’t know, like, all the way,” Hall said. “I made some phone calls, and I was like, ‘Bruh, I don’t know what’s going on. If I’m pitching like this, I don’t want to play.’ Because I had seen how good I had gotten, and then just going down to that level, it literally felt like I went back to when I was in high school.”

But his determination to develop into a quality baseball player shone through. He was also driven by what playing Major League Baseball could provide him, and how the money could help him take care of his family.

“It’s not really about me,” Hall said. “I mean, people get hurt all the time.”

So he worked at his recovery over the next several months. It wasn’t on the level of, say, Tommy John surgery, but the injury still required him to miss most of the season.

He returned to health just before the season ended. He made one outing for Single-A St. Lucie on Sept. 7, in which he threw a scoreless inning.

But the minor league season ended abruptly. The Arizona Fall League turned out to be an important aid for Hall, giving him a chance to get a few more innings in and return to full comfort on the mound. He played for the Scottsdale Scorpions.

“The Fall League really helped, just getting those first-game jitters out,” Hall said. “When you’re coming back from an injury, obviously you’re confident in the work that you did, but it’s different when you actually get up to speed and somebody’s in the box.”

Hall got the chance to interact with players across different organizations, and compare what he was doing to what other pitchers were doing. It was an enjoyable experience overall for him, he said, with a “beautiful” setting and a relatively relaxing atmosphere.

“The Fall League counts, but it doesn’t really count,” Hall said. “So it was just a good prep for me to be able to be prepared and go into spring training and not have to deal with the mental side of coming back from an injury.”

He pitched 6 2/3 innings in the Fall League, allowing five runs (four earned). He maintained his health through the offseason — all leading up to this year, where he’s broken out in a big way while back with High-A Brooklyn.

“Getting healthy — that was just the main thing,” Hall said. “I always knew I had the ability to go out there and pitch, and do good and compete and just give good, quality starts. I was dealing with injuries, and I needed to figure out what in the weight room works best for my body, where I need to be at, physically, while I’m in shape, and making sure that my mobility and flexibility is good so I don’t be having those nagging injuries anymore.”

The results over Hall’s biggest professional sample yet have been pristine. He owns a 1.82 ERA through eight starts, with 42 strikeouts in 39 2/3 innings. He’s allowed only 26 hits — good for an opponent batting average of .183. He’s permitted three earned runs or fewer in all eight of his starts, and one earned run or fewer in all but one of his outings.

A big part of what’s made Hall successful is his high-spin changeup. It was the first pitch he said he learned as a kid besides his fastball.

“So I always kind of had that natural feel,” Hall said. “And when I was at App State, I would just back up to like 120 feet and rip it… What also helped me is I played basketball growing up, too. So having that feel with the basketball and being able to spin it and stuff, helped me carry it onto playing baseball.”

It helps too, he said, that he and all of the players are treated well by the Mets. It’s something fellow Cyclones pitcher R.J. Gordon also praised earlier this season. The players stay in the nicest apartments in Brooklyn, right by the beach. They’re fed well and given everything they need to succeed on the field.

“It also helps you to just have a clear mental mind, when you’re not having to worry about the food and everything, which the Mets take care of,” Hall said. “It may not be the quality of the major leagues, but it’s still the same treatment and respect that they give us, too, as minor league players. They really do see us as like, ‘Hey, these kids could be the next Brandon Nimmo,’ or any other guy that’s very big and could help them win ballgames for the Mets. They really view us as an investment, and they treat us like that.”

When Hall takes the mound at Maimonides Park, right by the Coney Island shore, it’s almost a simulation of what being in the major leagues will feel like.

“I say this a lot of the time: When I’m sitting in the dugout, I really do think that, for a minor league ballpark and experience, I can’t see any other place really being better than that,” Hall said. “So it’s really just been a blessing to be a part of that.”

The team, loaded with some of the Mets’ recent high draft picks, has fun around each other. They’re all united by their love of baseball. They feed off each other, only making one another better when it’s time to step on the field. The team is off to a 26-13 start.

Hall recalled sitting around with Anthony Nunez and Jonathan Santucci in Asheville. They argued for about 45 minutes on fastball quality and where a good fastball plays.

“We all kind of just bounce ideas off of each other, and we all watch each other’s bullpens,” Hall said. “It really does help us all get better, and also help us pitch better, too, because we have that connection.”

For now, Hall will look to build off his current streak of success. Each of the guys on this Brooklyn team will go on his own path, but with a standard of success around the club, he’s in a good spot to keep producing.

“I just want to finish the rest of the season, make every start that I can and stay healthy,” Hall said. “I feel like, as long as I do that and continue to get better, I feel like real soon I’ll be able to make my debut. Whenever that time comes, and whenever I feel like I’m ready and the Mets are ready — I’ve just gotta keep working and stay healthy.”