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The 2025 DSL season ended Tuesday. Always a sad day.
I love their 11 AM starts, being a morning person. And I wish their games were at Islip Stadium in Suffolk County; if they were, I would catch a few of their games in person. Fly them up for a game or two.
I think the Mets should see if Brooklyn, Binghamton, and Syracuse could play one “home” game a year in Islip in Ducks Stadium. I’d go to them.
Anyway…
The 2 Mets DSL teams (in the 52 team DSL) were a combined 50-62. Last year, 48-60. I much prefer 62-50, but the pitching was not up to task.
A number of interesting hitters - more on them below.
Pitchers, not so much. Tremendous numbers of walks from quite a few.
The Blue scored 284 runs and the Orange 295, both in 56 games. Decent.
The Orange were 4th in dingers with 37.
The Orange allowed 338 runs, the Blue allowed an ugly 391. That is 7 runs per game….OK, 6.99 runs per game. I’m blue, just thinking about that.
But the best DSL team ERA was 3.65, the worst 7.45, and the average team ERA was around 5.50.
The current year’s Big Bonus Baby, SS Elian Peña, went 0 for his first 28 at bats, and 3 for his first 45.
The rest of the way, he just exploded. He had two 3 HR games, and surged to .292/.419/.530. He also swiped 19 bags, none of them Gucci bags, thankfully.
I expect to see him in Baseball’s Top 100 by this time next year.
2024’s Big Bonus Baby, C Yovanny Rodriguez, hit just .219 in his 2024 debut, but sizzled in 2025. He hit .331/.454/.496 and plated 25 runs.
Other hitters who showed enough promise to be aware of their names going forward, as far as 2026 stateside lower minors baseball is concerned?
SS Yorber Semprun hit .307 with 15 of 16 steals.
C Josmir Reyes had 34 BBs vs. a low 15 Ks, a .300 BA & .426 OBP.
CF Heriberto Rincon stole 34 of 40, while hitting a low-powered .314.
Justin Ramirez, CF, hit .302/.413/.503 in his 3rd DSL season.
SS Yunior Amparo hit .312/.428/.475, with 16 steals.
SS Giomar Ubiera walked 35 times in 41 games, while hitting just .212.
And LF Adolfo Miranda hit .290 with 5 HRs, 29 RBIs and 11 steals.
Cautionary note in projecting DSL hitters:
Last year, Rainer Reyes hit 6 HRs and drove in 30 runs in 48 DSL games, but wasn’t even brought back in 2025. Two years ago, Jeffry Rosa led the entire DSL in HRs, but has hit .166 in 2 years stateside.
So much for projecting players based on DSL stats, huh?
Other notes:
Six DSL non-Mets had OBPs of .497 or better, and 125 players had OBPs of .400 or better. It is a hitters’ league. Hitters’ numbers are inflated.
A few guys of note in DSL 2024…how did they do in 2025?
Edward Lantigua hit .263 with an OBP just shy of .400 in 2024.
This year, Lantigua (who is not from Antigua) did even better in the FCL. How about THAT! As in .288/.433/.399 in 49 games. Wow.
His last 4 games? 2 HRs, and 7 for 13…Wow…but his last game was July 23, the last game the FCL Mets played. In 15 July games, he hit .326/.500/.609.
- I wonder why the 18 year old torch was not promoted to St Lucie?
- Mets’ 28th ranked prospect.
Vladi Guerrero? Not like Daddy Guerrero, or Junior. Big Vladi hit a mere .195 in his 2024 debut, with no HRs. In 2025, he slightly picked it up in his sophomore year in the DSL. He ended up at .241, but just a HR and 10 RBIs in 83 at bats. Will he be back? He is NOT a top 30 prospect.
Pitchers?
Two seemed to have pretty good success in 2024 - I noted them last year; how did they do this year, one might wonder? You had to ask…
Jose Guevara was excellent, 3-2, 1.64, 0.84, and 52 Ks in 44 IP in 2024.
- Top of the Mets’ DSL pitching heap of several dozen hurlers. But in 2025, in the lower stateside minors, a 6.64 ERA. Not promising.
Anthony Crespo sported a 3.25 ERA with 53 Ks in 50 DSL IP in 2024, but logged just 10 ineffective innings in the FCL this season.
This year, only Osiris Calvo and Julio Gonzalez showed something stats-wise as DSL Mets pitchers. Will they have success stateside in 2026? Or will they be the next Guevara and Crespo?
Few Mets DSL pitchers ever seem to reach the Mets’ Mother Ship in Queens. Not many even seem to have any success at all stateside.
Why? I dunno.
Maybe their main pitch is a slow ball and not a fastball.
Or their curve balls are straighter than Twiggy’s non-curvaceous curves.
A HITTER EMERGES…
St Lucie recent addition John Bay, a 24 year old recent college grad, went 4 for 4 with 5 RBIs. He has 15 RBIs in 42 ABs.
FRANCISCO ALVAREZ BY THE NUMBERS
In 21 Mets post All Star games, Francisco was hitting .323/.408/.645 thru his slide into 2B that required an MRI. That was after an absolutely thunderous stretch in AAA in July, in which he had an .819 slug %, also in 21 games. Superstar level hitting, quite frankly.
Naturally, reckless Franky does his best reckless Juan Lagares impression, ending up on the IL YET AGAIN! Maybe cooked for the year.
He was hitting .323 post-ASB, while Soto has hit .214, so Alvarez was providing vital offense. Not any more.
Another number for Alvarez? The number of lengthy injuries in his career.
I don’t have an exact count, but the number is too high.
Smart players are not reckless. Juan Lagares never learned. Hurt repeatedly.
Will reckless Alvarez learn? I am pessimistic.
Somebody better sit him down and talk to him about the risks of recklessness. He himself once said he’d aspire to be a future Hall of Famer. Not when you’re taking frequent “vacations”.
But Big Cal Raleigh? He almost never misses a game. He has a chance if he keeps that up.
Oh, yeah, the Mets lost 5-4, with one of the 5 runs being unearned.
Torrens, Alvarez’s replacement, made an error leading to an unearned run, went 0-4, and hit into a game-ending DP.
Nimmo has a sore neck, and I have a headache.
WE CAN ALL RELAX NOW…
Apparently 1 for 20 Jose Siri will be starting a rehab assignment soon. He will be a difference maker, huh?
21 comments:
Great stuff Tom!
I’m a big Alvy guy - but you’re 100% spot on, but trust me, he’ll sort it out, and then he’ll start cracking skulls.
Have you noticed Gary & Keith aren’t fawning over Torrens “hard-hit rate” and “expected-batting average” like they were incessantly babbling about in April, May, and June.
I guess a .165 BA since May 27th turns even your biggest groupies against you.
Tom,
Excellent DSL overview of the Mets' prospects. Baseball America has released their top 2026 top 30 DSL signing prospects. The Mets are expected to sign # 20 prospect, Cleiner Ramirez, 5-9, 175 pound, center fielder/ Inf who is described as a player with average speed, average arm strength, with good athleticism to play infield, but better suited for center field.
The Mets are expected to have a $ 5,440,000 budget that is about $3,000,000 less than the top teams due to being penalized due to their salary over spending. The team needs to get their budget lower to get out from under these spending penalties. Yeah I know that will not be easy.
Torrens has wilted, but hey, there’s always Senger. Senga and Senger are quite the duo. Senger, by the way, is still hunting for that elusive first MLB RBI.
DJ, I am becoming more convinced the Mets need to go young and cheap in 2026. The penalties are a real headwind.
I mentioned high walks in the DSL. I saw this dazzling post from 3 years ago…no idea who he pitched for: Jesus Mosquera has walked 24 batters, thrown 20 wild pitches, hit 4 batters, and balked twice in 4.1 innings in the Dominican Summer League.
Mosquera, I had to look, pitched for the Rangers. He allowed 25 runs in his 4.1 IP, AND had a 7.62 WHIP. I am not sure why, but he was released. Saberhagen walked fewer batters in a season than this fella.
Mets, per Fangraphs, have a 9% chance of winning the division and 73% chance of a Wild Card.
What do you think their outcome will be? I think 50-50 on the Wild Card.
Oh wow!
On Alvarez, I saw the injury. He hit a bullet into the right field corner and was hustling to make it a double. You can’t get mad about that. He did nothing wrong. You want to see that all out effort. It’s the nicks behind the plate that suck. Sometimes, stuff happens.
As you look around the majors, how many Alvarez-dumb injuries are there? I’d say few.
I expect them to squeak in.
Tom, I have wanted them to get under the tax for a couple of years now. The Soto signing hurt that and now I’m reading everywhere how his speed has decreased on defense, although he stole a career high 20 bases this year…. I’m confused.
Being in NYC, they can’t completely rebuild but I’d like an exercise on how the can balance competing for the playoffs and breaking in the kids. How far would you go? How many kids? Would you trade for a player like Mullins that isn’t having a good year (even though he fooled the world in July) or would you keep McNeil and Siri in the outfield? You have to keep Montas, so would you have Tong in the bullpen to get his feet wet? I’m thinking that would be fun.
Gus, I don't know if his speed really matters. He is just a poor outfielder. Everyone got on my case when I pointed this out a while ago. he only catches balls hit near him. He will never steal a homerun because he treats the wall like it has herpes...don't touch.
He doesn't race after line drives. He catches what's in his zone. He waves at the rest.
To his credit he is a good base runner, knows when to steal a base. That's why his SB record is good. He only has average speed.
No one slides feet first anymore...not even at home plate. Maybe it feels like you get there faster because your head is closer to the target, but feet first can be just as fast if done right, and much safer.
Paul, I largely agree. Most guys are skilled enough to not get hurt sliding hands first, unless it is a freaky accident (fielder accidentally spikes runners hand). But Alvarez is not a gazelle. Feet first for him. I’d rather see him nabbed at 2nd base sliding feet first than miss 6 weeks and the playoffs, a real possibility. I used to raise the same sort of criticism of Lagares, but in his case it was not to go for the spectacular play when there was a big lead or deficit. If you get hurt when a guy hits a bases empty liner with an 8 run lead, that’s dumb.
Gus, more and more, I would like to see a youth wave in 2026 and to get under the cap. I am willing to see how the rest of the season supports, or detracts from, that considered approach. The pitchers (McLean, Sproat, Tong) are ready. Williams, Benge, and perhaps Clifford are close. I’d beOK right now with all six, and Baty, Mauricio (lefty only) and Vientos surrounding Lindor and Soto.
This veteran team has been awful for 10 weeks. Try something else.
JoeP, I don’t want Soto crashing into fences. That damaged Nimmo and Lagares. We do not need Soto hurt. We do need him to hit higher than .249.
Not any more!
I'm with you. No big-bucks FAs this Winter.
Bill, thou art a wise man.
I saw Keith on TV today, as I caught a brief snippet of (shocker) another loss. He went into great detail as to why they always slid feet first, that it was just as quick, that it made easier for you to pop up and run to the next base on errant throws, and is SAFER in terms of not getting injured.
22-36 in the last 58 games, and we expect them to make the playoffs? Really?
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