Syracuse Mets: Anthony Kay represents well in MLB Futures Game

Syracuse Mets pitcher Anthony Kay worked a scoreless inning in Cleveland. Kay struck out one of the games biggest prospects in his Future’s Game debut.

Anthony Kay’s struggles for the Syracuse Mets have made some worried about him adjusting to a higher level but after Sunday performance for the National League side in the Futures Game might have been the reminder Mets’ fans needed to see of the young lefty.

Kay appeared in the fourth inning and faced the minimum three hitters after the National League scored their lone pair of runs in the top half of the frame. The three hitters due up against Kay were no slouches either and have earned themselves many accolades among talent evaluators.

Kay began his work against MLB.com’s number one overall prospect, Wander Franco of the Tampa Bay Rays organization.

After falling behind the 18-year-old phenom, who has crushed two levels of Single-A pitching to a slash line of .332/.403/.534, Kay found too much of the plate with his fastball and it was shot through the right side for the lead-off single. Kay, however, received help as 2018 number one overall pick catcher Joey Bart caught Franco stealing second base leaving the next two hitters all for Kay.

Those two hitters both came from the Chicago White Sox. Second basemen Nick Madrigal (#39 overall prospect via MLB.com) and outfielder Luis Robert (#5 overall prospect via MLB.com). Both have hit over .300 in the minors this year but found no success against Kay. Kay got Madrigal to ground out to second base before his most dominating performance of striking out Robert on three pitches.

It began with a strike called on the outside corner of the plate before Robert swung through a devastating breaking ball and a fastball in consecutive pitches to end Kays dominating performance against some of the best hitters in the minors.

Kay spoke to reporters over the weekend as well about his struggles at Triple-A so far and stated the adjustment period with the new baseball at the Triple-A level.

"“The balls are a little bit different also. You’ve kind of got to learn how to throw new pitches, honestly. The balls are pretty different. I wouldn’t say learn new pitches, but get used to it.” Kay said before his Futures Game performance. “The seams are definitely a little bit lower, and they obviously go a little bit farther,” Kay said of the different balls. “You kind of don’t really want to worry about it. At the end of the day, you’ve still got to make pitches, regardless of what balls you’re throwing.”"

After the All-Star break, Kay is expected to rejoin the Syracuse Mets rotation as he attempts to continue to push for a Major League promotion and build from a positive performance on a big stage.