The Future of Mets Starting Pitching

Mets fans are mourning the loss of their right fielder this morning, but my job is to write about the future of the Mets, not what’s going on in Cincinnati these past few games.



And in my world, things have just gotten a lot brighter.


We all know the saying that “there are only three things needed for a successful baseball team… pitching, pitching, and more pitching…:. That being said, on paper, the Mets just may have enough to take them through this decade.


First, a word of caution. No one is etched in stone when it comes to prospects. A few make it. Most don’t. Remember two words… Generation K.


That being said, the Mets now have what most top 100 prospect lists say are four starting pitchers on their list. That’s not four Mets. That’s four Mets SPs.


They are: Matt Harvey, Jenrry Mejia, Jeurys Famila, and Zack Wheeler.


Some Mets pundits have Mejia projected as a closer; however, I’m going to keep him in the rotation in this study of how the Mets minor league rotations might look next spring. Remember, this is just my opinion.


As all of us know, Mejia will not come off the DL until after the 2012 season starts (Familia comes off August 2nd) but my guess is, when he does, he’ll go back to AA-ball to get his stuff together.


We all know that the one level a pitcher must learn to master is AA. Most never do, Some, like Harvey, need to stay there to develop his secondary pitchers.


Most of the baseball experts feel that Wheeler has a sub-par changeup. Starters aren’t successful in the majors unless they have at least three plus pitches. Heat may be enough for an 8th inning guy, or closer, but it’s the mixing of three or more quality pitchers that makes or breaks a starter.


Greg Maddox and Tom Glavine proved this every outing. Dillon Gee is proving this right now.


I’m going to take the conservative approach here. I’m going to assume that Familia will be the only pitcher ready to move on to AAA on opening day. Harvey, Wheeler, and Mejia should all be able to progress there later on in the season, but this is how the opening day rotations would stack up today, if tomorrow was April 1, 2012:


Buffalo: Jeurys Familia, Robert Carson, Collin McHugh, Brandon Moore, Mark Cohoon


Binghamton: Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Jenrry Mejia, Greg Peavey, Darin Gorski


I have Chris Schwinden moving on to the Queens and Dylan Owen, Tobi Stoner, Miquel Batista, and Pat Misch have been removed.


These are ten impressive names. The four aforementioned starters could all be in the 2013 opening day rotation, while the other six could be sitting in the pen out in the CitiField outfield. In Carson and Mejia, you have two potential closers.


Folks, I’ve been doing this for quite awhile and I haven’t seen this much quality starting pitcher talent in the Mets organization that the years they had Jason Isringhausen, Bill Pulsipher, Paul Wilson, and Juan Acevedo… err… there was probably a better way to end this piece.