Mets Prospect Profile: Pitcher Cameron Foster

This is the next post in a series intended to bring awareness to some of the lesser-known prospects in the Mets' organization  This series will post a different prospect each weekday at 11:00am EST for the benefit of our fans.

The next pitcher worth a brief look would be a 2022 draftee from McNeese State named Cameron Foster.  The big righthander stands 6'5" and weighs 230 pounds.  He served as a closer for McNeese State and the 14th rounder was selected to work out of the pen as he attempts to make it to the Mets.  

Taking a look at his numbers you can see some potential here as his strikeout totals increased with experience in college and the walks while not wonderful were not horrible either.  During his three years in college he ended with a 3.24 ERA while fanning 10.4 per 9 innings pitched while giving up 3.9 walks.  If the new Pitching Lab can get him to harness his control then he might have the ability to work his way up the ladder.  

In his one season in the minors he was working in 2023 for the Brooklyn Cyclones where they did a 180 on his career trajectory.  Instead of assigning him to work on closing, he made 18 game appearances with 16 as a starter.  The results were not too bad, showing a 4.20 ERA.  

The good news was that although his strikeout numbers dipped a bit to 9.4 per 9 innings pitched, his walk numbers dropped to 3.4 as well.  Given his relatively strong first showing in the minors it will be interesting to see if he can be assigned against stronger competition in Binghamton for the 2024 season.  

Bear in mind that his baseball career began a bit late while he started out in college at age 21 which makes him 24 already and not having been above the single A level in the organization.  Consequently he may be pushed a little faster than some other draft picks so that his window of opportunity doesn't close before taking a more gradual climb towards The Show.  

If you look at his hits allowed in college, in 122.1 innings pitched he gave up just 84 hits.  That performance suggests that opponents are not squaring up too well against Foster on the mound.  During his first minor league season it was a step backwards with 81 hits allowed in 81.1 IP.  Perhaps the transition from reliever to starter affected him as did the increased number of innings expected in each game.  

It will be interesting to watch how the Mets decide to groom Cameron Foster for future success.  Will he remain a starter where it's kind of a whole new ballgame for him, or will they experiment with him in the short inning output of a reliever who probably throws with a bit more reckless abandon when he knows the stint is at worst a 1+ inning assignment.  

Looking over his ending performance with McNeese state, it's kind of easy to conclude why the Mets felt he was a worthy pick.  He spent 2022 as a closer for his team going 4-2 with a very impressive 1.86 ERA while also earning 12 saves.  That ERA was actually found to be in the top ten nationwide for college pitchers and during his 29 game appearances he fanned 84.  Pitching like that it's reasonable to assume he could perhaps develop into a first rate minor league prospect.  

When the season ended Foster was well recognized, getting name the relief pitcher of the year for his conference, earning All American honors and was placed onto the first team for his conference All Star equivalency.