Mets Minors: Embarrassment of riches in Brooklyn

A beast of a team has been assembled

The Mets have 5 stateside teams and two more in the Dominican representing their overall Farm System. This means that a Team’s Top 50 prospects should be distributed in such a way that each team has roughly 8-10 players on it. The thing is, the Mets only have four “Top Prospects” in AAA and that could be because the team has overloaded their team in Advanced A. The Mets have 14 of their Top 50 players in Advanced A right now and of those players, 13 rank in the Top 30.

Headlined by #1A/#1B Prospect: Carson Benge, the team has enough prospect hitting on it that it would need to hold an actual prospect on the bench on any given game. When fully healthy the team can send up a lineup with Eli Serrano III, A.J. Ewing, Carson Benge, Jacob Reimer, Chris Suero, Corey Collins, Jesus Baez, Ronald Hernandez and Marco Vargas, while leaving Boston Baro on the bench. While the team doesn’t have a ton of top pitching right now with Santucci struggling and Calvin Ziegler still injured, they are likely to soon see Nate Dohm join their ranks.

This will assuredly not be the case a month from now as I expect Benge, Serrano, Suero and Reimer to ascend to AA as the Mets promote players like Jett Williams and Ryan Clifford onward but it’s a rare chance, as a Met fan, to see quite this assortment of Bonafide prospects in one place and potentially in one lineup. If you have the chance, try to make it out for a game or two while you can.

AAA Syracuse Mets

Nolan McLean has earned his way up to AAA. This is a good thing for Nolan McLean, who appears to be the best rated pitcher in the Met’s system presently but it’s also a terrible thing for him as AAA is where Met pitchers seem to forget how to pitch. The Mets currently have Blade Tidwell, Brandon Sproat and Dom Hamel flailing in AAA after looking fairly good earlier in their minor league careers and the sad truth is that McLean doesn’t profile terribly differently. He throws hard but has some control problems. That has been a major Achilles Heel for top Met pitching prospects when they reach Syracuse.

Notes:

• Drew Gilbert, OF (24) - Is he hitting? Yes. Is he hitting enough? No. The Mets need Gilbert to do a little more with the bat to earn his way into the majors. He could be a natural platoon match for Tyrone Taylor but doesn’t inspire enough faith just yet.

• Brandon Sproat, RHP (24) - May 7th was a solid outing but the good outings aren’t good enough to get excited, and the bad outings are still pretty bad.

• Blade Tidwell, RHP (23) - Still not seeing enough good to think he has a future as a starter and the time to switch to relief could be approaching.

AA Binghamton Rumble Ponies

Ryan Clifford looks very good and very locked in at the AA level. The question on my mind is, “Why is he still in AA?” He played over 90 games there last season and through 30 games in 2025 appears to have the level locked in. Add that the Mets have little offensive talent in AAA and an overload in Advanced A, I just don’t understand what is taking them so long to advance their top power hitter in the minors.

Notes:

• Ryan Lambert, RHP (22) - Overall still successful since promotion but 5 walks and a hit batter in 6.0 innings is troubling.

• Douglas Orellana, RHP (23) - This reliever is hardly a household name but he’s boasting a 0.68 ERA and a 0.53 WHIP.

• Zach Thornton, LHP (23) - This 5th round pick from 2023 didn’t register on my radar after a ho-hum 2024 but he was very good in Advanced A this year and earned his way to AA where he has stumbled out of the gate. Worthy to keep tabs on.

• Jonah Tong, RHP (21) - With McLean promoted to AAA, Tong is now the top pitching prospect in AA and he’s looking quite good at the level pitching 6.2 innings and striking out 13 in his last outing.

• Kevin Parada, C (23) - Danger of falling from the Top 50 list is very real at this point.

• Ronny Mauricio, Util (24) - He was advanced in rehab to AA and he’s not yet hitting yet but it’s good to see him on the field.

• Jett Williams, SS (21) - If the Mets have no ability to play Williams at shortstop in the majors, why is he playing so few games in the outfield for the minors? Offensively, he could join Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford in AAA today.

A+ Brooklyn Cyclones

A poor pitching outing yesterday aside, Joel Diaz has been the “Ace” of the Brooklyn Cyclones. The 21-year-old pitcher first joined the team in 2021 where he shined in the almost meaningless DSL. He then proceeded to have three forgettable years stateside before 2025. Thanks to signing so young he’s only 21 years old and it seems the Mets’ patience is paying off. Diaz has earned his way into the Top 20 prospects and is currently looking primed for a mid-season promotion to AA.

Notes:

• Noah Hall, RHP (24) - At 24 he’s too old for the level but he’s certainly pitched well enough to earn his way to AA.

• Anthony, Nunez, RHP (23) - Another reliever you probably don’t know who is off to a fantastic start. He has a 0.63 ERA and a 0.56 WHIP.

• Jonathan Santucci, LHP (22) - After two strong starts, Santucci has looked bad for his last few starts.

• Ronald Hernandez, C (21) - There hasn’t been a ton of “Wow!” to his numbers but he’s been consistently okay.

• Jacob Reimer, 3B (21) - Another player who probably doesn’t need to do much more for the Mets to earn promotion has been the offensive powerhouse for the team, Reimer. He’s been very good and may be in line to crack the Top 10.

• Carson Benge, OF (22) - He and Jett Williams are jousting back and forth for that “Top Prospect” moniker and it’s hard to say who deserves it more right now.

• Chris Suero, C (21) - The slugging percentage has fallen off significantly, but it still feels like he should be moved along to AA.

• Jesus Baez, SS (20) - A prospect I ranked in the Top 10 has struggled in Advanced A despite a lot of lineup support. I hope he turns it around.

• A.J. Ewing, Util (20) - One player whose promotion has not slowed down is Ewing who continues to ride a tremendous wave of success.

• Eli Serrano III, OF (21) - Serrano has not really fallen off from his early season success and continues to look like a diamond in the rough.

• Marco Vargas, IF (19) - Nothing “Bad” since his promotion but it looks like Vargas is at the right level for the moment.

• Corey Collins, 1B (23) - Collins is in rehab for Low-A but could be joining Brooklyn soon.

A Port St. Lucie Mets

What to make of the 104 MPH Raimon Gomez? It’s hard to say. It’s certainly not a ringing endorsement that he’s pitching in Port St. Lucie at the age of 23 but injury is definitely a part of that. He only threw 7.0 innings in 2024 and beginning him in Low A makes some sense. That being said, it’s odd to see a player with that level of heat at that low of a level not striking out more. I love having a prospect with buzz and a 104 MPH fastball is plenty to be buzzed about but I would temper your expectations.

Notes:

• Nate Dohm, RHP (22) - Overall there’s little to complain about but at 22 years old I think he’s pitching at the wrong level.

• Matt Allan, RHP (24) - Early season buzz has died away as Matt Allan needs some time to rediscover himself.

• Colin Houck, SS (20) - I am cautiously optimistic that Houck has turned a corner. His strikeouts are finally down and he’s hitting with far more regularity.

• Jeremy Rodriguez, SS (18) - He’s not playing poorly but the Mets are hoping for more “Wow Factor” from this prospect than they are getting.

• Simon Juan, OF (19) - The numbers in April were not great but he’s hitting .294 in May with some pop. The problem is, he has not taken a single walk this month.

R FCL Mets

Games have only just started at the rookie level but there is one performance I want to highlight while we’re talking about prospects. Daviel Hurtado, who some will remember from a talented crop of international signees started for the FCL Mets on Thursday and threw 3.0 gorgeous innings of 1 hit 0 walk baseball while striking out 6. The 20-year-old lefty showed some glimpses of this in 2024 and it’s very good to see him get off to a good start.