Mets Announce Decision on 28-Year-Old Rookie Before White Sox Finale

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The Mets announced a decision involving a 28-year-old rookie ahead of their series finale against the Chicago White Sox.

The Mets defeated the American League Central-leading Chicago White Sox 10-5 on Saturday, giving New York a sixth win in the team’s last eight games.

A win on Sunday over Chicago gives the Mets the series win, which would be their third in a row.

Before the finale against the White Sox, the Mets announced decision with a 28-year-old rookie pitcher who just made his major league debut earlier in August.

In a move announced on the minor league transaction log, New York sent rookie right-hander Jack Weisenburger back to Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday, just two weeks after his major league debut.

The move leaves the 28-year-old bouncing between levels while a Mets club sitting fifth in the NL East at 58-70 searches for arms down the stretch.

New York optioned the right-hander to Triple-A as part of a broader roster shuffle that also included recalling right-hander Chayce McDermott and infielder Eric Wagaman from Syracuse, plus placing second baseman Jorge Polanco on the 10-day injured list with left ankle bursitis.

Weisenburger’s cameo produced three relief appearances covering 4 1/3 innings, a 2.08 ERA, four strikeouts and two walks, a respectable showing that still wasn’t enough to hold his roster spot with September call-ups still two weeks away.

Jack Weisenburger’s Long Road to New York

GettyJack Weisenburger #82 of the New York Mets.

Born John Edward Weisenburger on October 8, 1997, in Rockford, Michigan, the 6-foot-3, 220-pound right-hander grew up around Michigan athletics. His grandfather and father both played football at Michigan, with his grandfather winning a Rose Bowl as a Wolverine in 1948 and his father later playing football and baseball for the Wolverines in the mid-1970s.

The Oakland Athletics drafted Weisenburger in the 20th round, 614th overall, in 2019, and the path that followed wound through nearly every level of the organization’s farm system. He worked his way from short-season ball in Beloit through Stockton and Lansing before landing at Double-A Midland, even pitching winter ball for Naranjeros de Hermosillo in Mexico’s Pacific League along the way. None of it added up to a big league opportunity, and the Athletics released him in early 2025 after his final season with the RockHounds.

From there the path got unconventional. Weisenburger pitched for the independent Hagerstown Flying Boxcars in the Atlantic League in 2025, then opened 2026 with El Aguila de Veracruz in the Mexican League before that club released him that April. The Mets signed him to a minor league contract on May 2, assigning him first to the Brooklyn Cyclones and then, three days later, up to Syracuse.

Where Jack Weisenburger Fits in the Mets’ Rebuild

Weisenburger’s numbers at Syracuse this season were rough: a 7.22 ERA and 1.57 WHIP with a 46/27 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 14 appearances at Syracuse, 12 of them starts, over 52⅓ innings. None of that screamed imminent call-up, but injuries and roster churn have defined the Mets’ season, and New York needed length in the bullpen.

Weisenburger was selected from Syracuse on August 9, debuting that same day, and delivered exactly the kind of fresh, multi-inning relief the club was missing.

A team that entered 2026 hoping to build on recent postseason appearances instead finds itself well outside contention, buried under a season of injuries, roster churn and underperformance from players who were supposed to anchor the roster. Weisenburger represents organizational depth rather than a piece of any turnaround, but that kind of depth still matters to a pitching staff that has been picked apart by the injured list all summer.

Weisenburger is a realistic bet to return when rosters expand in September, and his effectiveness in a small sample only strengthens that case. Beyond this year, his outlook points toward a fringe bullpen role or Triple-A depth rather than a building block for whatever comes next at Citi Field. Still, for a 28-year-old who was pitching in the Mexican League five months ago, even a brief taste of the major leagues, and a real chance at a return trip, counts as a win.