Wednesday catch-all thread (5/27/26)
Please use this thread all week to discuss any Mets-specific topic you wish.
Things are pretty bleak in Mets-land right now. Usually when that happens, my goal is to post something positive that’s been overlooked. Unfortunately, that seems beyond my grasp today. Instead, let’s look at something negative that hasn’t been beaten to death. Here’s how some recent Mets players/prospects were ranked as Top 100 minor leaguers and what they’ve done in the majors to date:
66 (MLB.com) - Luisangel Acuna - 62 OPS+ in 336 PA
3 (MLB.com) - Francisco Alvarez - 104 OPS+ in 1,184 PA
13 (BP) - Brett Baty - 87 OPS+ in 1,218 PA
10 (BP) - Carson Benge - 83 OPS+ in 188 PA
16 (MLB.com) - Pete Crow-Armstrong - 103 OPS+ in 1,300 PA
38 (BP) - A.J. Ewing - 117 OPS+ in 58 PA
29 (BP) - Drew Gilbert - 73 OPS+ in 220 PA
30 (BA) - Andres Gimenez - 94 OPS+ in 2,707 PA
4 (BA) - Jarred Kelenic - 84 OPS+ in 1.587 PA
42 (BP) - Ronny Mauricio - 80 OPS+ in 324 PA
4 (BP) - Nolan McLean - 119 ERA+ in 109.1 IP
39(BP) - Brandon Sproat - 74 ERA+ in 65.1 IP
23 (BP) - Jonah Tong - 63 ERA+ in 21.2 IP
That’s 13 players ranked in the top 66, including four in the top 10, and there’s been 2-4 hits, with the two solid hits - Ewing and McLean - having a small sample in the majors. And this list doesn’t include Mark Vientos, who did not have a top-100 ranking on any of the three lists tracked by Baseball-Reference but who has a 101 OPS+ in 1,367 PA in the majors.
Maybe Jett Williams, ranked as high as 23 by BP, will come up and produce in the majors. He got off to a terrible start in the minors this year but has an .890 OPS in 96 PA here in May and was 9-27 with a 2B and 2 HR in his last seven games in April, too.
I’m not sure what the success rate should be with highly ranked prospects. Maybe two above-average MLB players and two average MLB players is what we should expect from 13 Top-100 prospects. Yet without knowing the proper context - it feels light.
Maybe that’s just me being spoiled by the Mets promoting Pete Alonso, Michael Conforto, Jacob deGrom, Jeurys Familia, Matt Harvey, Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo, Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler in the 2010s.
The back half of the 2020s is going to have a ton of work to do if the Mets prospects called up in this decade are to match what their 2010s brethren did.
Highly, highly recommend viewing SNY’s Mets Mailbag with Michelle Margot and her guest Chelsea James that was uploaded Thursday, May 28th. Chelsea James is such an enjoyable listen and obviously a very bright reporter. The episode was 27 minutes and never dragged at all, she was realistic and optimistic at the same time, gave different options depending on circumstances as her answers… just a great listen.
As long as its an open column, I still believe it is time to send Carlos Mendoza packing. This team needs a fire lit underneath them. They mostly play without energy. What is not under Mendoza's control is the collection of some of the players on the roster that reminds me of the mish mosh of players they put out there after the fire sale of Verlander and Scherzer. When he answered the questions the other day of why he was batting Semien cleanup, Mendoza responded, "who else do I have to bat there."
While I have come to terms with the disposal of my favorites Mets and no longer feel that that their departure was an awful move, I would like to note that Brandon Nimmo has a .775 OPS, a .267 BA, to go with six HR and 18 RBI and 23 runs scored. Pete Alonso has an OS of .753, a .232 BA, to go with 1o HR and33 RBI and 30 runs scored. Lastly, Jeff McNeil has a substandard .688 OPS, a .263 BA, to go with two HR and 15 RBI and 15 runs scored.
And while it is childish to say this, Edwin Diaz had surgery and will be out for another few months. Too damn bad! Couldn't have happened to a better turncoat.