9-5 loss<\/a> to the Giants at Citi Field, Lavender had been the third-most valuable reliever in baseball \u2014 according to FanGraphs\u2019 version of WAR \u2014 since debuting Aug. 4, a touch behind Houston\u2019s Josh Hader and Pittsburgh\u2019s Mason Montgomery.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/new-york-mets-pitcher-nate-138836429.jpg\")
Nate Lavender delivers a pitch in the sixth inning of the Mets\u2019 loss to the Astros on Aug. 28, 2026 at Citi Field. JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK POST<\/p>\n
His numbers have been otherworldly, carrying a 0.00 ERA this season, the 12 consecutive scoreless innings to begin his career the second-longest such streak in team history. The lefty had faced 44 batters and allowed just eight to reach (five hits, three walks) while striking out 14.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No, Lavender has not come out of nowhere: He was a rising prospect with the Mets before injuries (notably 2024 internal brace surgery) struck, went to the Rays as a Rule 5 project and was returned in December because injuries (notably 2025 bone spur surgery) struck again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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But his fastball continues to seem to come out of nowhere, a weapon that has barely been touched and apparently barely been seen \u2014 all while averaging a touch over 92 mph, one of the slower four-seamers in the majors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it plays like 97 [mph],\u201d Torrens said. \u201cIt\u2019s a heavy, heavy 92.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The heaviness is a product of deception and extension, neither of which was necessarily a goal, Lavender said, but happy accidents that have helped him since he was a child whose father just wanted him to stay healthy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The pride of Hudson, Ill., had to develop a good fastball as a kid because, well, Dad said so: He didn\u2019t want his son throwing breaking balls and risking injury. If Lavender wanted to throw a different pitch, \u201cThrow a changeup\u201d was the advice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure there\u2019s remnants [in my delivery] of that kid in there that just picked up a ball,\u201d Lavender said, \u201cand that\u2019s just the way I naturally throw it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He fought one of those natural instincts as a freshman at the University of Illinois, where a pitching coach worked with him to shorten his arm path to protect against injury. Previously, he would reach back so his arm would lag behind the rest of his body, and then lift it at a bit under a 90-degree angle before releasing. It was a long whip-around, and the shorter arm path would help keep him healthy (a hope whose irony Lavender acknowledged).\u00a0<\/p>\n
A side benefit: With such a short path, there is very little time for hitters to pick up the ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/walks-off-eighth-inning-san-137749637.jpg\")
Nate Lavender walks off the mound in the eighth inning of the Mets\u2019 win over the Padrees on Aug. 17, 2026 at Citi Field. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST<\/p>\n
And so as a professional, Lavender\u2019s left hand goes from glove to behind him to delivery in remarkable speed. His body hides the ball, then his right, gloved arm serves as another blocker before his head is the final shield, the ball whipping out from behind his cap and then bearing down on the batter, a fastball that averages just 92.7 mph but holds hitters to 2-for-25 with 10 strikeouts entering play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019ve necessarily always tried to hide the ball well,\u201d the 26-year-old said, \u201cI think it\u2019s just been a byproduct of my natural delivery and then just trying to keep the body in good positions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Adding to hitters\u2019 discomfort is Lavender\u2019s 6-foot-2, long stature. His right, lead foot gets far down the mound, which makes for an elite amount of extension. By the time the ball leaves his left hand, he is an average of 7.1 feet closer to the plate, among the best in the majors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lavender is aware that his extension is a strength, but it\u2019s not one that he said he has cultivated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just part of my natural stroke to the plate,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both the natural and the learned arm path have teamed to turn a 2021 14th-round selection who leads with a fastball that hasn\u2019t touched 95 mph into one of the best relievers in the game for the past month and a surefire, real piece for the 2027 Mets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They have left opposing hitters muttering at a 92.7 mph four-seamer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thankful that that deception\u2019s in there,\u201d Lavender said, \u201cand I can use it to my advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No one at the major league level has seen more of Nate Lavender\u2019s fastball than Luis Torrens, whose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[31646,20,9,11,320,10,319],"class_list":["post-339209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-luis-torrens","tag-mlb","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-mets","tag-new-york-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}