2026 Mets Draft profile: Nate Isler
· Yahoo Sports
Nate Isler was born in Charlottesville, Virginia but the family settled down in Milton, Georgia and the right-hander grew up there. He attended Cambridge High School and playing against fellow 2026 Mets draftee and fellow right-handed pitcher Luke McNeillie during Milton High School versus Cambridge High School rivalry games. A three-year letterwinner, he one-upped McNeillie, winning Region Pitcher of the Year in their shared senior year. There was very little buzz about his draft status over the course of his high school career, as his stuff generally was mediocre, but even if there had been, Isler may not have gone pro out of high school. The son of a Dartmouth alumnus, and an alumnus who played for the school’s baseball team, Isler was given a scholarship to play ball at the elite New Hampshire institution, where he would be coached by Bob Whalen, the long-time team head coach who coached his father back in the mid-90s.
Isler’s freshman year was nothing to write home about. Appearing in 12 games, making 5 starts, he posted a 13.50 ERA in 20.2 innings, allowing 51 hits, walking 8, and striking out 24. Following the conclusion of the season, he supplemented his pitching load by playing with the Vermont Mountaineers of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, posting similar results in roughly the same amount of innings. His sophomore year was more of the same, though coach Whalen inserted Isler into the pitching rotation as the team’s Sunday starter. Starting 10 games, the right-hander posted a 6.67 ERA in 55.1 innings, allowing 70 hits, walking 20, and striking out 36. Once again, following the end of the Dartmouth baseball season, Isler supplemented his innings by playing in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, this time with the Upper Valley Nighthawks.
Visit grenadier.co.za for more information.
In 2026, interim head coach Blake McFadden continued using Isler as a starting pitcher, shifting him to Saturdays. The “ace” of the staff, the right-hander posted a 4.98 ERA in 65.0 innings over 11 starts, allowing 68 hits, walking 25, and striking out 80. After the season ended, Isler participated in the precious Cape Cod Baseball League, playing for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.
Isler came to the Dartmouth campus a tall, lanky 6’5”, 215-pound teenager with broad shoulders and long limbs and he filled in, growing into a 6’6”, 235-pound hurler. His fastball improved from a high-80s offering that topped out at 91 MPH to a low-90s offering that reportedly topped out at 96 MPH. More than velocity, Isler had success with the pitch thanks to a high spin rate that gives the ball some run and above-average induced vertical break. His above-average extension helps the ball bore in on hitters virtually even more, and his high release point makes the ball more difficult for batters to pick up on.
He complements his fastball with a low-to-mid-80s slider and a changeup. The slider is the better of the two, his changeup still a lot of work to go; the slider has tight, two-plane gyroscopic break with minimal horizontal break and a great deal of vertical break, magnified by his high release point. His changeup, on the other hand, has more horizontal fade than it does drop, and giving the pitch more vertical tumble will be key to its progression as a pitch, and perhaps Isler’s progression as a pitcher.
The right-hander pounds the zone and lives in the strike zone, for good or for bad. He keeps walks to a minimum, but batters in the Ivy League had no waiting on fat pitches to hit, batting .321/.384/.482 against him over the course of his three-year career there and .265/.340/.358 in 2026. The downward trajectory that all of his pitches possess has helped him run a 40.5% groundball rate for his career and a 45% rate in 2026 and limit home runs, but Isler will need to refine and improve his pitches and potentially add to his pitch mix to have success against professionals.