In the series finale against the San Francisco Giants, the New York Mets sent Thomas Szapucki to the mound. Before he threw a pitch, it was a move which made zero sense.

Szapucki was once a top prospect who has seen his stock plummet. That’s largely due to injuries. That’s why the decision to start him was extremely counter productive.

Last year, Szapucki’s season was cut short as he underwent ulnar transposition surgery. While Szapucki’s surgery was a success, and he’s fully healed, Szapucki is not all the way back. Not yet.

In seven starts in Triple-A, he reached five innings once. He had not thrown more than 71 pitches in a game. His velocity has been building but not all the way there.

This is all another way of saying this was not a pitcher ready to make his first ever big league start.

But, that’s what the Mets did. They sent an unready pitcher to the mound against a good San Francisco Giants team. The results were catastrophic.

Over 1.1 innings, he allowed nine earned (NINE!) on seven hits and three walks. That included two homers from Evan Longoria. It was the first two homers of the year from a player who entered the game batting .194.

This is what happens when you take a pitcher who is not ready and push him into a spot like this. Maybe it’s not nine runs, but bad things will happen.

Now, the counter argument is what do you expect the Mets to do? Jacob deGrom, Tylor Megill, and Max Scherzer on the IL. The obvious retort is not this. Never this.

The other retort is Trevor Williams. What makes that option all the more maddening is Williams was actually available.

After Szapucki was knocked out, Williams pitched 3.2 scoreless throwing 53 pitches. That’s really impressive and all the more so given he pitched on short rest.

Williams has had success as a starter, and there were signs this was coming. However, instead of planning on him entering the rotation and pitching every fifth day, they jumped the gun with Szapucki.

It cost the Mets this game. Who knows what the other ramifications could be. That includes Szapucki’s future. Who knows how this will effect him and his future. In the end, it was not worth it.