New York Mets pitching prospect Zach Thornton had a fine first season in professional baseball. But to be fair, the 2023 fifth-round pick didn’t really do much to separate himself from the minor league crowd.
Not enough, at least, to warrant a spot among the Mets’ top-30 prospects.
In fact, a Google search on “zach thornton mets” brings up nearly as many entries related to former minor leaguer and current University of California-Davis pitching coach Zack (with a “k”) Thornton, who played 2014-2016 with the Mets former Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas, as it does the left-handed starter at Double-A Binghamton.
But that could be changing.
Zach Thornton Named South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Month
On Tuesday, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies announced that Thornton was named the Eastern League (EL) Pitcher of the Week for the week of May 19-25. On Saturday, Thornton pitched 6.1 perfect innings with six strikeouts in a 3-2 win over the Richmond Flying Squirrels.
It was the first win in five starts at Double-A for Thornton, who opened the 2025 season with the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones. He has allowed two runs or less in four of the five starts, including seven shutout innings on May 13 against the Hartford Yard Goats, allowing three hits with no walks and six strikeouts. In 25.1 innings since he was promoted in late April, Thornton has a 2.84 ERA with 24 strikeouts and one walk.
That’s right – one walk.
In his four starts this season with Brooklyn, Thornton was 3-0 with a 0.44 ERA, with 24 strikeouts and two walks in 20.2 innings. He was named the South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Month.
“Thornton has been exquisite to start the season,” Cyclones radio broadcaster Justin Rocke said. “He’s attacked the zone and consistently induced weak contact while working quickly. It appears his fastball has picked up a few ticks in velocity and his command has been stellar to go along.”
‘Diverse Tookit’ Allows Zach Thornton to Attack Hitters With Precision, Surprise
In 2024, Thornton pitched 41 innings in 13 games, six of them starts, for Single-A St. Lucie, then finished the summer with 27 innings in seven appearances, six starts, at Brooklyn. The 23-year-old Lawrence, KS, native combined to go 5-4 with a 4.10 ERA, striking out 54 with 18 walks in 68 total innings.
Sixteen of last season’s walks came during his stretch at St. Lucie, due most likely to pro debut nerves from a pitcher who furthered his reputation as a control pitcher and raised his draft stock as an early beneficiary of the MLB Draft League. Thornton pitched in 2022 with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, and again in 2023 with the West Virginia Black Bears, sandwiched around a single season with Grand Canyon University, where he posted a 3.87 ERA in 88.1 innings, with 18 walks and 91 strikeouts in his lone taste of NCAA Division I baseball after two seasons at Barton Community College in Kansas.
Thornton doesn’t possess a truly dominant pitch, but scouts give him high marks for a “diverse toolkit” featuring a low-90s fastball along with a slider, curveball and changeup, plus a cutter he has recently developed that allows him to keep hitters off balance. Thornton’s strength is not overwhelming power, but rather his ability to go after batters with touch and surprise.
“I’m excited to see how he continues to develop as the season unfolds,” Rocke said.
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