He hails from Willow Spring, North Carolina and he attended Oklahoma State University...Nicknamed "Cowboy Ohtani" at Oklahoma State, where he starred as a two-way player...He racked up 76 strikeouts in 57.1 innings on the mound and hit 36 home runs, including 19 as a sophomore, in 146 college games...Initially entered the Mets minor league system as a two-way player...Hit nine home runs and drove in 24 runs in 68 games from 2023-24 before transitioning to pitch full-time in 2025...Was originally drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the third round of the 2022 First Year Player Draft but decided to return to school and was drafted by the Mets in the third round of the 2023 First Year Player Draft...Attended high school at Garner High School in Garner, North Carolina where he played quarterback in addition to baseball...Over three varsity football seasons, he accumulated 6,809 passing yards and threw 62 touchdown passes...He is Garner High School's all-time leading passer...Was a part of the Team USA 18U National Team and started at first base in six games for the U.S. and made three appearances on the mound during the 2019 WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup...Finished the tournament with a .263 average, with five hits, five RBI and three runs scored...Recorded four strikeouts in four innings of work on the mound...Recorded the save in an 8-5 victory over Korea that clinched the U.S.'s spot in the gold medal game.
2025
Was called up on Aug. 16 and he posted a 2.06 ERA (11 ER/48.0 IP) with a 5-1 record and 57 strikeouts through his first eight career starts…His ERA is the third-best in franchise history through a player's first eight career starts, only trailing Terry Leach's 1.68 ERA and Rick Aguilera's 1.92 ERA...His 57 strikeouts are the third-most in franchise history through a pitcher's first eight career games, only trailing Nolan Ryan's 64 and Dwight Gooden's 59...Made his Major League debut on Aug. 16 vs. Seattle...Earned his first Major League win after tossing 5.1 scoreless innings and striking out eight…He joined Matt Harvey as the only pitchers in Mets history to earn a win, strike out eight or more batters, and allow zero runs in their Major League Debut…His eight strikeouts are tied for the third-most by a Met in their Major League debut, trailing Harvey's 11 and Collin McHugh's nine (other Mets with eight: Tom Seaver, Bill Denehy and Kodai Senga)...Threw at least five innings, struck out five or more, and allowed two or fewer earned runs in each of his first seven career starts, the longest career-opening streak in MLB history (no other pitcher has had a streak longer than four starts)...Recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts on Sept. 25 at Chicago-NL...He was the first Met rookie to record at least 11 strikeouts in a game since Kodai Senga struck out 12 on Sept. 1, 2023 vs. Seattle...He only pitched in 2025, and between Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse, he made 21 appearances (18 starts) and pitched to a 2.45 ERA (31 ER/113.2 IP) with 127 strikeouts...His 127 strikeouts were the second-most among Mets Minor Leaguers and the 18th among all Minor League players at the time of his call-up...He only surrendered two or more earned runs in one of his last 14 appearances prior to being called up.
2024
Pitched for High-A Brooklyn and Double-A Binghamton...Combined to make 25 starts and he finished with a 3.78 ERA (46 ER/109.2 IP) and 116 strikeouts...He took at-bats for both clubs and finished batting .192 (25-for-130) with eight home runs and 21 RBI over 60 total games.
