If nothing else, give him credit for wanting the pressure.
New York Mets v Los Angeles Angels

This past Sunday’s Spring Breakout game gave us all another opportunity to see some of the more notable New York Mets prospects with a focus on many in the Double-A level or lower. Jonah Tong started the game. Ryan Clifford hit a monstrous home run. Even Kevin Parada had a noteworthy day at the plate.

All very familiar names, one of the participants is a guy far less known yet worthy of watching develop. After all, Ryan Lambert has already made his pitch to be a future replacement for Edwin Diaz at the closer’s spot.

 

Throw hard. Welcome the pressure. Lambert is only 22 but already has the early signs of having the guts to secure the glory in the ninth inning a few more years into the future.

Pencil Mets prospect Ryan Lambert in as a future closer candidate

Lambert’s Spring Breakout performance wasn’t an excellent one, walking a pair, allowing a single, and being the only Mets pitcher to allow a run. It did come on a sacrifice fly, though. A pair of strikeouts in what turned out to be a chaotic seventh inning left a first impression for many of us on what he can become.

Lambert comes into this season as an 8th round draft pick with only 23.1 innings of experience in college. A hard-throwing player whose statistics tell very little about him, this is a guy the Mets measure purely on ability rather than results.

 

 

Although many of the 2024 pitcher draft picks didn’t debut last summer, the Mets made an exception for Lambert. He tossed 3 innings in 2 appearances for Brooklyn, allowing two hits and walking one. Four early strikeout victims got him started on what very likely is a path of closing games. He picked up his first professional save last year. Expect much many more this coming season whether he remains with Brooklyn or starts the year a level higher.

Increasing emphasis on the importance of relief pitchers has helped to make players like Lambert more than warm bodies to fill out a minor league roster for the team’s baseball card set. Once a role reserved for failed starters, grooming pitchers for the role seems to be an appropriate measure to take. This wasn’t the case for many of the league’s current best closers, including Diaz. In the same year where he made his MLB debut, Diaz was starting games in Double-A.

It’ll take more than throwing hard for Lambert to differentiate himself from the pack and climb up the ladder to the majors. Honing other pitches and continuing to embrace the high-leverage situations with a bulldog mentality are another ingredient to help get him there.