Mets Minor League Mailbag: Will front office stay aggressive in promoting prospects?
SNY contributor Joe DeMayo answers fan questions in this edition of the Mets Minor League Mailbag...
From @stevedotmiller: What’s the draft pool looking like compared to previous years? Deep? Thin? High school or college heavy?
Ah, it is nice to get a MLB Draft question. We are getting closer to draft season, as the 2024 draft will kick off just under two months from now on Sunday, July 16 in Texas in conjunction with All-Star week.
In talking to scouts, this is considered to be a below average class when compared to recent years. There isn’t a Paul Skenes or Dylan Crews level of talent in this class. With that said, the top 10-11 players in the class have really improved their standing within the scouting community. Some names to know up high: Georgia outfielder Charlie Condon, Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana, Florida two-way player Jac Caglianone, Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz, and a couple of high-end college pitchers in Hagen Smith from Arkansas and Chase Burns from Wake Forest.
It is going to be a very college hitter-heavy first round. There is some thought that there could be the fewest number of high school prospects drafted in the first round in recent memory. Two high school bats that could go within the top 10-11 picks are outfielder Konnor Griffin from Mississippi and shortstop Bryce Rainer from California.
The Mets will be picking at No. 19 overall, as their first pick dropped 10 spots like it did in 2023 for exceeding the luxury tax threshold by going north of $40 million. While it may not be the strongest draft on paper, there is always talent to be had and that is the job of the scouts to identify them.
From @ReyAztecaNYC: Are the Mets promoting prospects too aggressively? Is this Stearns challenging guys that he didn’t acquire? Is this good for development?
This is a topic that I am monitoring as we move forward this spring and summer. Of course Christian Scott was pretty quickly moved to the big-league level. Though on the minor league front, the Mets have been more aggressive in moving prospects between levels.
They recently promoted right-handed pitcher Brandon Sproat and first baseman/outfielder Ryan Clifford from High-A Brooklyn to Double-A Binghamton. They also moved right-handed pitcher Jonah Tong and outfielder Nick Morabito from Low-A St. Lucie to High-A Brooklyn. At a lower level, they promoted outfielder Jeffry Rosa, the organization’s 2023 Dominican Complex Player of the Year from the Florida Complex League to Low-A St. Lucie.
The last few years, the player development system has had a more passive approach to promoting prospects within the minor leagues and certainly to the major leagues. Thus far under new vice president of player development Andy Green and director of player development Andrew Christie, they are showing a more aggressive approach.
My personal belief in player development is it should always be a case-by-case situation. Some prospects warrant aggressive call-ups, and others may need more at-bats or innings at a level even if they have great statistics. You do have to toe a line of being over-aggressive, because while you want to ensure you are properly challenging prospects, you don’t want to put them in situations to not succeed.
Time will tell over the next couple of months if leaning aggressive in promoting is their new general philosophy, or if these were some of the cases of players simply being too good for a level.
