Mets looking for top prospects to complement veteran stars
Jonathan Mayo
@JonathanMayoPORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The last time Juan Soto played in a Minor League game was back in 2018, when in the span of 39 games at age 19 he went from A ball to High-A to Double-A and then to the big leagues with the Nationals and never looked back. But just because he¡¯s about to embark on a Major League season with his fourth team -- now the owner of a 15-year, $765 million contract -- doesn¡¯t mean he isn¡¯t still having an impact down on the farm.
Call it the Mets¡¯ version of trickle down economics; there¡¯s no way something that seismic doesn¡¯t impact the players trying to join Soto in New York.
¡°I think it just raises the bar. It¡¯s something we talked about already with guys who have reported,¡± Mets director of player development Andrew Christie said. ¡°The bar to be a Major League player on the New York Mets is consistently being raised and it is going to continue to be.
¡°When you sign somebody to the biggest contract in the history of sports, the owner expects excellence; and our owners definitely do, so we have to continue to produce that. The players need to know that it¡¯s not going to take a really good season at the high Minors to make your debut. It¡¯s going to take elite production to crack the team and eventually crack the lineup.¡±
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There are several players who are on the cusp of doing just that, with six of the Mets¡¯ Top 11 having ETAs of 2025. And this spring, some of them are in camp trying to answer questions about how quickly they¡¯ll be able to do so coming off of injuries.
That conversation likely starts with Ronny Mauricio, who did, after all, spend 26 games in the big leagues in 2023 on the heels of hitting 49 homers across two seasons. But the current No. 10 prospect tore his ACL in winter ball following that 2023 campaign, had surgery in January 2024 and missed all of last year. He won¡¯t appear in games until later this month, which means he¡¯s likely not going to be ready for the start of the season, but he¡¯s moving in the right direction.
¡°If anybody watched him coming up, in his brief debut [or] watched him win the MVP in the Dominican Winter League [in 2022-23], he¡¯s got unbelievable talent -- his tools are really impressive,¡± Christie said. ¡°There¡¯s every chance that as he continues to progress that he contributes to this team this year."
¡°He feels good and healthy,¡± Christie said. ¡°He definitely has the personality that he wants to -- not necessarily prove people wrong, he wants to prove that he¡¯s just as good as advertised. He¡¯s pretty locked in right now.¡±
Gilbert missed three months with a right hamstring strain and struggled when he was on the field, both in the regular season and in the AFL. He¡¯s not only putting the injury behind him, but showing he can rediscover the bat that made him a first-rounder in 2022.
¡°He¡¯s in a really good frame of mind right now,¡± Christie said. ¡°His swing looks awesome right now. We¡¯re really excited to see what Drew can do offensively this year to put himself back on track.¡±
Camp standout: Jesus Baez
Signed for $275,000 in January 2022, Baez had made modest progress during his Dominican Summer League debut after signing and then during his United States debut in the Florida Complex League in '23. It was last year that things really started to click as a 19-year-old infielder. After hitting 10 homers and posting a .782 OPS with St. Lucie in the Florida State League, Baez was nudged up to High-A Brooklyn. He was more than holding his own when he tore his right meniscus, ending his season.
The Mets have been thrilled to see how hard Baez, the No. 8 prospect in the organization, has worked of late as he nears the end of his rehab progression, and he should be ready to go at the start of the season.
¡°He¡¯s really focused on getting stronger and he¡¯s been a standout in live BPs by barreling a lot of balls,¡± Christie said. ¡°He has a natural skill set as a hitter, he¡¯s comfortable in the box. And we think he can play short, second and third and move around the infield.¡±
Breakout candidate: Raimon Gomez
It¡¯s likely few, if any, noticed when the Mets signed Gomez for $10,000 in August 2021. He was about to turn 20, old for an international signee, and he tossed 12 1/3 innings in the DSL after signing. He had a decent enough U.S. debut with full-season St. Lucie in 2022, striking out 10.2 per nine over 24 appearances, almost all in relief. He was three games into his move up to High-A Brooklyn when he blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery. He hasn¡¯t thrown a competitive pitch since April 2023, missing all of last season. But he¡¯s healthy now, and if his early sessions on the back fields are any indication, we might be talking about a future bullpen piece in the near future.
¡°He throws 103 mph, if you like that,¡± Christie joked about Gomez, who isn¡¯t currently on the Top 30. ¡°It¡¯s a special fastball and ability to manipulate the baseball in multiple directions, with a changeup, slider and cutter. He¡¯s working on a sinker, too. It¡¯s just a special arm and he lives around the strike zone, too.¡±
What¡¯s new: Jonah Tong
Tong was an under-the-radar Canadian prepster who went down to the Georgia Premier Academy for more exposure. Mets scout Marlin McPhail did a terrific job identifying him and making sure he was followed through Tong¡¯s stint in the MLB Draft League in 2022 against much older competition. The Mets took him in the seventh round and he pitched sparingly in his first full season. But in 2024, he took off, pitching across three levels (up to Double-A) and finishing with a 3.03 ERA and an organization-leading 160 strikeouts.
Now he¡¯s doing something to get even better. Currently the No. 6 prospect in the system, Tong showed glimpses of an effective changeup, but he didn¡¯t throw it that much. Now he¡¯s tweaking how he holds and delivers the cambio -- and the early returns have been excellent.
¡°He did a really good job selling the changeup, but it didn¡¯t have much separation in terms of vertical break off the fastball,¡± Christie explained. ¡°He¡¯s worked hard with some of our guys down here to refine the grip and it¡¯s been promising so far. It¡¯s to tap into his natural bias in terms of how he releases the ball. ... He¡¯s more naturally prone to supinating the baseball, so instead of trying to turn over a changeup, we¡¯re just trying to utilize the seams to get the ball to drop and not necessarily try to over pronate and force it to go the other way.¡±
Something to prove: Kevin Parada
A year ago, Parada landed in this category as well. The club's 2022 first-round pick out of Georgia Tech had hit 11 homers in 87 games with High-A Brooklyn to earn a promotion to Double-A in '23, though he missed time with a right ankle injury. He posted just a .636 OPS in his first time with Binghamton, then a .611 OPS in 18 Arizona Fall League games, all while concerns about his defensive game grew.
There is some grace given to catching prospects in that the lift for them on both sides of the ball is heavier than for other positions. The hope was that a reset button could be hit for 2024, but that didn¡¯t happen as the backstop returned to Double-A and slashed .214/.304/.359 with a 33.7 percent strikeout rate, a big reason why he fell out of the Mets' Top 30 this year. He¡¯ll still play most of this season at age 23, but this is a big year for Parada to produce like many expected him to when he was drafted.
¡°He¡¯ll tell you that himself,¡± Christie said. ¡°He came in this year with an entirely different body, leaned out, but maintained strength. He knew he needed to swing freer. It looks awesome right now. He looks free, and mentally, he¡¯s in a better spot. He has something to prove, but he's not putting a burden on himself.¡±