The New York Mets have been working their farm system hard lately, promoting from within to add pitchers Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong to go with this spring’s hot outfield candidate, Carson Benge. Despite this thinning of the prospect ranks, though, the Mets’ farm system is still ranked in the top ten in MLB, according to Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo and Sam Dykstra of MLB.com.
The current rankings have the Mets listed at seventh, based in large part on the strengths of the team’s pitching development program.
While McLean has gotten the lion’s share of the publicity lately, the writers added pitchers Jack Wenninger, Jonathan Santucci and Will Watson as “upper level arms” to go with Tong, and it was that depth that allowed the Mets to use starter Brandon Sproat in the trade that brought Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Freddy Peralta to New York.
The hitters group isn’t quite as strong, but there’s plenty of meat in the bone if the Mets want to go back to promoting from within to add offense. The mix of hitters who are closing in on the big leagues includes Benge, Ryan Clifford and Jacob Reimer, with Clifford expected to emerge as a major power threat.
The Mets also have some hitting prospects just outside the top 100, including Mitch Voit, Elian Pena and Wandy Asigen, with Voit getting noticed at second base and the newly-signed Asigen expected to make a splash this season at the lower levels.
The Mets are still behind farm-system titans like the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers, but the steady improvement was part of the logic in bringing in GM David Stearns from the Brewers.
Stearns has gotten a lot of publicity for all the moves he made this season, especially the Peralta trade and the clubhouse cleansing that resulted in the exit of older veterans like first baseman Pete Alonso, outfielder Brandon Nimmo and second baseman Jeff McNeil, but the improved farm system should allow the Mets to spend more wisely going forward rather than bring in overpriced veterans who underperform.
While all eyes will be on McLean and Tong at Citi Field, the players to watch are those three elite arms--Wenninger, Santucci and Watson. If they rise steadily without incurring any significant injuries, the Mets will be well-positioned to replace older starters like Kodai Senga, Clay Holmes, Sean Manaea and David Peterson at the back of the rotation.