This is as deep a Mets system as there’s been years. Here’s how you can enjoy following it throughout the season.
Trades, improved drafts, and most importantly an overhauled development pipeline have produced the Mets’ deepest farm system in more than a decade. There are names up and down the system that are worth watching.
The landscape of the system is not uniform. Recent drafts have targeted college pitchers and prep hitters nearly exclusively, and the majority of notable IFAs are also position players as you’d expect. This makes for an upper minors rich in pitching but lacking hitting depth and a low minors chock full of intriguing, young bats. It’s a smart way to build a system, and it’s already paying dividends for the organization.
Here’s your guide on how you can enjoy that talent, with a list of guys to watch at each level. Lists are (generally) sorted by overall ranking / prospect pedigree, but don’t take them as strict ordinal rankings. This is simply a guide to let you know who the most interesting prospects are and where to find them.
* denotes players likely to receive a promotion to the next level at some point this season
Syracuse Mets (Triple-A)
- OF Drew Gilbert*
- 2B/SS Luisangel Acuña*
- RHP Christian Scott*
- RHP Mike Vasil
- RHP Jose Butto*
- RHP Dominic Hamel
- OF Matt Rudick
- LHP Nate Lavender*
- 2B Rylan Bannon
Mets’ Triple-A baseball has been a drudgery in recent years, but 2024’s iteration appears to be a legitimately compelling roster. Drew Gilbert is the headliner, a top-30 prospect who has little left to prove in the minors at this point. If he gets off to a good start and things in the Mets outfield develop as expected (read as: Starling Marte is cooked), don’t expect Gilbert to stick around for long. Lusiangel Acuña is also here, a well rounded middle infield prospect who should steal plenty of bases and seems likely to get his own shot in the big leagues at some point this season.
Gilbert is great, but the majority of the talent here is on the mound. Christian Scott broke out last year and is now a top-100 prospect, and has looked even better this spring after the addition of a sweeper. Jose Butto also massively improved his stock after finding a breaking ball late last offseason. Both of them figure to be up with the major league squad before long. Other arms, like Mike Vasil and Dominic Hamel, are also interesting and figure to be around for longer or function more as up-and-down guys that should spend significant time at Syracuse. Same goes for Nate Lavender in the bullpen, who may wind up being one of the few good, optionable arms the Mets have in relief this year and as such will likely find him self on the shuttle throughout the season.
If there’s a quibble on this roster, it’s the lack of interesting hitters beyond GIlbert. Matt Rudick is a personal cheeseball and recently returned from a nebulous injury-related absence that began last season, but he’s more bench piece than future starter. Ditto Rylan Bannon, a 27-year-old who the Mets picked up on a minor league contract but who had a decent spring and could be a fun name to keep an eye on.
Binghamton Mets (Double-A)
- 2B/CF Jett Williams*
- RHP Blade Tidwell*
- RHP Tyler Stuart*
- C Kevin Parada
- OF Stanley Consuegra
- RHP Joander Suarez
- RHP Paul Gervase*
- RHP Dylan Tebrake
- RHP Junior Santos
Watching a roster headlined by the best prospect in the system is always a good place to start, and that’s what Jett Williams should bring to Binghamton this year. You can read more about Jett here or here, but the bottom line is that he’ll be an exciting player to watch in all phases of the game. Just make sure to catch him while you can, because a midseason promotion to Triple-A – and possibly further – is most likely in the cards.
There’s a significant drop off after Williams, both in terms of entertainment factor and player quality. Blade Tidwell has at times electric stuff, but has continually studied with control. There’s also Tyler Stuart, who dominated Brooklyn last year but really stopped missing bats after reaching Double-A. We have questions about all of these guys, but there’s enough intrigue to draw your attention. The arms in particular might be at Binghamton for a good long while given how crowded the rotation is in Triple-A at the moment.
Beyond those guys, we’ve got to stretch a bit. This is a make-or-break season for Kevin Parada, who needs to make significant strides to recover his former status. A handful of players like Stanley Consuegra, Joander Suarez, Paul Gervase, Dylan Tebrake, and Junior Santos are various level of interesting as org guys or bench / bullpen pieces. Still, this is probably the most boring roster in the system this year – very odd to come to that conclusion with any roster with your #1 prospect on it, but here we are.
Brooklyn Cyclones (High-A)
- OF Ryan Clifford*
- 3B Jacob Reimer*
- RHP Brandon Sproat*
- OF Alex Ramirez
- RHP Layonel Ovalles
- 1B/RHP Nolan McLean*
- RHP Kade Morris
- LHP Zach Thornton
- RHP Saul Garcia
- RHP Raimon Gomez
- SS Junior Tillien
- 3B William Lugo
- OF Wilfredo Lara
Back on the exciting side of the ledger, Brooklyn has one of the most intriguing assemblages of talent in the system even with only one top-10 prospect on the roster. Ryan Clifford has real thunder in his bat (and real lead in his boots, unfortunately) and should be back in Brooklyn given his scuffles after joining the organization in the Justin Verlander trade. Jacob Reimer remains a staff favorite, though his ability to adequately lift the ball and play anywhere other than first remain open questions. There are a couple of less heralded bats in Junior Tillien and William Lugo to monitor, a formerly heralded one in Alex Ramirez who will look to bounce back in something of a make-or-break season, and a potential newcomer in Wilfredo Lara.
It’s the mound, however, where Brooklyn shines brightest. Nolan McLean has flashed some of the most impressive stuff not just in the system but in the entire minor leagues during his brief spring training / breakout game appearances. There are many reasons to doubt – lack of track record and questionable command chief among them – but these are the early signs of a humongous breakout. And the organization still intends to let him try and develop as a hitter to boot (he cannot make contact, his future is very much on the mound).
Brandon Sproat doesn’t have quite that level of hype, but is very appealing in his own right. Whispers out of spring training have been positive, suggesting the Mets may have taken another guy with impressive arm talent from Florida (the same school that produced a very different version of Christian Scott), fixed the things he was doing wrong in college, and gotten a massive jump. Other arms like Kade Morris and Zach Thornton were drafted based on appealing pitch traits in their college data, and the Mets are good enough at this now that you have to pay attention. Similarly, there’s intrigue around Saul Garcia and Raimon Garcia, a pair of 2021 arms who may have jumped a tick last season.
Brooklyn is really the pivot point of the Mets’ system, the spot where their college pitching and young position player pipeline start to mingle. That should make Cyclones games very compelling this season.
St. Lucie Mets (Single-A) & FCL Mets (Complex)
Moving into the lower levels of the system, the Mets’ wealth of mound talent largely gives way to a pool of young position player prospects. Unfortunately, I’ve got no idea how to sort out who goes where here. Instead, we’ll break these players into some fuzzier groups based on who is likely to end up where.
- 2B Marco Vargas*
- C Ronald Hernandez*
- OF Nick Morabito*
- RHP Calvin Ziegler
- RHP Joel Diaz
- RHP Jonah Tong
First, the likely St. Lucie guys. The lineup will be headlined by Marco Vargas and Ronald Hernandez, both of whom joined the organization in the David Robertson trade. Vargas lacks power and is probably a second baseman, but has an excellent approach and high-end bat-to-ball skills that make him a compelling OBP-heavy hitter. Hernandez is a young offensive catcher, a demographic where literally anything can happen. He demonstrated an excellent approach and power potential while dominating at the complex level last year and has upside as a starting catcher down the line.
Nick Morabito should also return to St. Lucie in 2024. One of the more controversial names among Mets’ prospect writers and fans, Morabito posted an impressive line that might be the first step in proving a lot of naysayers (us included) wrong. St. Lucie will also hopefully feature two guys coming back from length injury layoffs in Calvin Ziegler and Joel Diaz, as well as Jonah Tong, a buzzy draft league name from 2022 that failed to back up the hype during very abbreviated 2023 game action.
- OF Simon Juan
- OF Anthony Baptist*
- SS Branny De Oleo
- RHP John Valle
- C Daiverson Gutierrez
On the other side of the coin, I’d expect all of Simon Juan, Anthony Baptist, and Branny De Oleo to spend most of their year in the FCL. Baptist and De Oleo are two high level DSL performers that the Mets signed in 2022. The former is the buzzier name at the moment, but both merit close attention as potential breakouts. The same goes for Simon Juan, who was signed the year prior to Baptist and De Oleo and scuffled in the complex league last season. He’s flashed interesting exit velocities in brief spring appearances, however, meaning it’s probably premature to close the book on him.
John Valle and Daiverson Gutierrez also seem ticketed for the complex. Valle, the one prep arm the Mets took in last year’s draft, is here as someone to monitor more for demographic intrigue than anything else. Gutierrez, meanwhile, was the Mets’ highest paid signing in last years IFA market who has since seen his stock tumble significantly. There’s a chance he repeats in the DSL, but I’d expect him to come stateside.
- SS Jeremy Rodriguez*
- SS Colin Houck
- SS Boston Baro
- SS A.J. Ewing
- SS Jesus Baez
And now we have the amorphous blob of shortstops. Jeremey Rodriguez is the star of this group, a coup of a return in the Tommy Pham deal who arguably already has a top-100 buzz (we ranked him way too low at 13th in the system). If you want a name on the position player side that’s most likely to go nuclear this year, this is it.
We also have the Mets’ 1st round pick from last year in Colin Houck, a name with significantly less positive pressure but a pedigree that has to be respected to some extent. Boston Baro and A.J. Ewing – two slightly older prep bats taken in the middle rounds – also appear in this group, as does Jesus Baez, a hyped up IFA breakout from last year that fizzled out a bit.
Others of note
- SS Ronny Mauricio
- RHP Matt Allan
- C Yovanny Rodriguez
In case that wasn’t comprehensive enough for you, here are a couple more names. Ronny Mauricio will miss most or all of the season while recovering from a torn ACL. If he does make it back, expect a rehab assignment in St. Lucie before he heads up to Syracuse late in in the year. Anthony DiComo wrote a nice piece on Matt Allan’s long road back from multiple elbow surgeries. He’s likely out for all of this season too, but there’s a chance he can make it back on the mound and that’d great to see just as a general story. Finally, I’ve include Yovanny Rodriguez, another highly touted Mets IFA catcher who will likely spend this year in the DSL. There’s been some buzz that he’s already surpassed his predecessor in Gutierez, so his performance is something to keep an eye out for at a minimum.