MACK - IN FOCUS - Clay Holmes, Carlos Mendoza, ABS challenge system, Adrian de la Rosa, Farm System Rank, Nolan McLean, Dylan Ross, Tom Tango, Gil Hodges

 

Pitch Profiler                                     @pitchprofiler

Clay Holmes DEMANDS October baseball in Queens

Mets Mailbag

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6653579/2025/09/23/mets-mailbag-meltdown-pete-alonso/

Is Carlos Mendoza in trouble? Two years is not a lot of time for a new manager, but would this team have shown more fight with someone else? And who is responsible for the defensive lapses? — Alex W.

Tim: Two years has been plenty of time for Mets managers lately, no? Mickey Callaway, Luis Rojas and Buck Showalter all got two years; Carlos Beltrán got two months.

That said, it would be uncharacteristic of Stearns to move on from Mendoza this quickly. Certainly, some of the shine has come off Mendoza this season, as he’s been unable to generate the same kind of turnaround he pulled off last summer.

Has Mendoza made some in-game moves I disagree with? Of course. He’s a major-league manager in 2025; they all have. But he’s not the tactical liability that Callaway was (among other things). He hasn’t lost the clubhouse the way Rojas did in 2021. I know Stearns doesn’t view him as an uneasy philosophical fit, the way he did with Showalter after 2023.

When MLB adopts ABS challenge system next season who benefits and who loses?

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6656787/2025/09/24/major-league-baseball-abs-system-reaction-impact/

No major league catcher is better at framing pitches and coaxing borderline strike calls than Patrick Bailey.

Bailey has turned pitch framing into its own art form. It’s the reason he’s viewed as a valuable major leaguer, even though the .222 hitter has been one of the least productive offensive players in the league this season.

So you might imagine what Bailey thinks of the automated ball-strike (ABS) challenge system that Major League Baseball’s competition committee approved on Tuesday for the 2026 season.

“I think it’s a bummer for catchers across the league,” Bailey said. “But I don’t think it’s going to take away the value of framing. You still have to get calls and keep strikes (as) strikes. At the end of the day, I still think it’s going to be really valuable to know the zone.”

For Bailey and other pitch-framing savants, the saving grace is that MLB isn’t going full robot. Rather than use high-speed cameras to automate all balls and strikes, which was among the systems tested at the Triple A level when ABS experimentation began in 2022, the league will implement the challenge-based system it used in selected spring training ballparks earlier this year.

Teams will receive two challenges per game. Following a pitch, a challenge can be implemented by the catcher, batter or pitcher involved in the play. They must immediately signify their intent by tapping the top of their head. Successful challenges will be replenished. For extra-inning games, teams that have exhausted their challenges will receive an extra one per inning.

Mets Prospect Group                     @bkfan09

Adrian de la Rosa (C) will sign officially with the Mets on January 15, 2026

 

Final MLB Farm System Rankings of 2025 After September Call-Ups

https://bleacherreport.com/embedded/articles/25252624-final-mlb-farm-system-rankings-2025-after-september-call-ups?_branch_match_id=1408222371212362866&utm_medium=share_sheet&_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAA8soKSkottLXTyrSSywo0MvJzMvWd3VxzXZzjIqKDE%2ByrytKTUstKsrMS49PKsovL04tsnXOKMrPTQUAiB0wJjkAAAA%3D

4. New York Mets (Preseason Rank: 14)

Top 10 Prospects

1. RHP Nolan McLean (Tier 1)

2. RHP Jonah Tong (Tier 2)

3. OF Carson Benge (Tier 2)

4. SS Jett Williams (Tier 2)

5. RHP Brandon Sproat (Tier 4)

6. OF A.J. Ewing (Tier 4)

7. 3B Jacob Reimer (Tier 4)

8. SS Elian Peña (Tier 4)

9. 1B Ryan Clifford (Tier 4)

10. RHP Jack Wenninger (Tier 5)

Right-hander Brandon Sproat was the headliner in the Mets system when the season started, with Jonah Tong (No. 8) and Nolan McLean (No. 9) slotted as Tier 4 prospects near the bottom of the top 10 list. Now that trio represents the future of the Mets starting staff.

Those three impact arms, alongside breakout performances from Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing and Jacob Reimer have vaulted this system into the top five.

 

Ernest Dove                       @ernestdove

Nolan McLean BB/9

College - 5.3/9

Minor leagues - 3.7/9

MLB - 3.0/9

Brooklyn Cyclones                           @BKCyclones

Dylan Ross began the 2025 season as a member of the Cyclones and has been called up to join the Mets today.

In just 140 days he will go from Brooklyn to the bigs.

Amazin.  Starts.  Here.

 Tangotiger                @tangotiger

Players who contribute the most on the defensive side, naturally mostly C, SS, CF...

 Jim Koenigsberger                          @Jimfrombaseball

"Gil Hodges was a gentleman. He commanded respect. He knew the game inside out. He was always three steps ahead of the other manager" Jerry Koosman

"Gil brought what we as young athletes, professional athletes, were missing, which was  the understanding of the definition of professionalism.

Gil Hodges taught me more about being a big leaguer than anyone else in my life"

Tom Seaver

"The later it got, the better a pitcher Nolan Ryan was going to be."

Gil Hodges

"The first thing my Dad did with the Mets, was teach them that it's not okay to lose"

Gil Hodges Jr.

Gil Hodges popularized the five-man rotation, which became a baseball industry standard. Hodges did so to protect and develop young pitchers such as Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Jerry Koosman, Tug McGraw, all of whom were between 21 and 25  years old when Hodges joined the Mets.

Those four pitchers threw a combined 85 seasons in the major leagues.

Hodges, Koosman, Seaver, Ryan