The heading is self-explanatory:
"The Lefty Pitching Prospect Stockpile is Smaller Than the Righties, Naturally."
But why, one asks?
I googled it:
About 10% to 12% of people are left-handed, though estimates vary slightly, with large studies suggesting the global average is around 10.6%, while Western countries see figures of 10-15%.
JERRY KOOSMAN - THE METS' GREATEST EVER LEFTY
So the elite-level prospect stockpile of lefty pitchers for the Mets is understandably smaller than the HUGE righty stockpile. Far fewer lefties than righties in the wonderful, whacky world we live in. OK, but…
Who do the Mets have?
A Few Good Men.
One of life’s few good men, by the way, was sentenced to hard labor in Siberia after calling a Code Red on Private Santiago:
Jack Nicholson should have stayed in Guantanamo.
No, he was not attending an early April night game in Syracuse.
Only looks that way.
When I asked him about the Mets’ lefty situation, Jack glared and said “You can’t HANDLE TJE TRUTH.”
And he added, “You WANT me criticizing that wall.”
Ain’t THAT the truth?
Back to the Mets’ few good lefty prospects:
Jonathan Santucci is superb. I am hoping he is the next Cole Hamels.
Zack Thornton? To me, we may be looking at the next Frank Viola.
Maybe one of the duo will even be (gasp!) the next Jerry Koosman.
We've had a few moderate lefty successes over the past 20 years coming out of the prospect pool:
Jon Niese, Steve Matz, David Peterson.
None have achieved stardom.
A few busts, like round 1 Anthony Kay, who’s attempting a MLB comeback.
The Mets also reacquired bullpen lefty Nate Lavender, coming off TJS. Nate is not a fireballer, but has put up fireballer-like strikeout numbers in his minor league career. So, too, did Jack Leathersich, and he never really made an impact at the MLB level.
Felipe De la Cruz is a Mets ranked prospect lefty, and we will see if he is legit in 2026. May he be so.
Maybe another lefty or two in the system, like Ryan Ammons, will make the MLB grade someday.
And/or Franklin Gomez. (His father may be named Billy Gomez.)
Who else?
Connor Ware was the only lefty drafted by the Mets in 2025, and he was a 5th rounder. He has logged zero pro innings so far, so please remain calm.
He has not yet proven he can be the next SANDY KOUFAX OR STEVE CARLTON. Or even a John Tudor. But he will - just give him time.
Not developing your own lefties is an expensive problem...
Manaea, Minter, and Raley have been collectively expensive and missed a lot of time due to injury in the last two years.
One simply cannot have enough internally developed strong lefties.
Not a lot of lefty quantity in Mets Minorsville - but I sure do love the quality of Jon Santucci and Zack Thornton. Hopefully, both will be much better than Peterson, Matz, and Niese.
Sincerely yours,
Your favorite lefty fireballing MM writer
P.S. ROSTER RECONSTRUCTION REACTIONS
I got to speak to my cousin Billy at a Christmas Eve family gathering about the Mets. He knows his stuff. He watches every game. Every inning.
He hates the moves so far, and is very tempted to protest the season.
He loved Alonso, Nimmo, Diaz, and McNeil.
He repeated that if things don’t get better, he may protest and not watch games this year.
Finally, he added that he hates David Stearns. Thinks he’s still in Milwaukee, and is smarter than everyone else while doing dumb things.
He understands that Star players in their 30s can decline, but he didn’t care. He loved the versatility of Jeff McNeil, and is ticked off at Lindor for having that blowup with McNeil. He blames Lindor. His view also is Soto is a cancer in the dugout.
He also said that he loved Alonso, thought criticisms of his fielding were wrong, and wanted him to be a Met for his whole career.
My brother Steve? Fewer words.
He always cuts to the chase.
“They better not THINK they’re done. Lots of holes.”
17 comments:
I was born left-handed
The "Mack" comes from my Northern Irish Grandmother named Katie Mackin.
I was told that left-handed Northern Irish are considered somewhere between bad luck and the children of the devil. So, my Grandmother convinced my parents to attempt to chance that.
The results?
I throw righty
I switch hit
I write lefty
I use a bow and arrow righty
I shoot lefty
I, ya know, righty
I bowl lefty
Ambidextrous, no.
Fooked up, yes
Somehow, my Irish mother in a Catholic School with nuns in midtown Manhattan in the 1930s was allowed to remain lefty. An older sister of hers was not allowed, and went on to become ambidextrous writing-wise, and was so good at it you couldn't tell the difference which hand she wrote something with.
My Mom had 3 lefties - me, fireballing Steve, and my older (deceased) brother John.
Lefties are awesome. I abortively started playing guitar lefty as a kid - maybe I will restart that. Adding machine? A whiz with my right hand.
Most importantly, I tried to teach myself to throw righty, too, when I was a kid - that was a no go. Never got past the throw like a girl stage righty. I had a classic Lidor power swing lefty, but a very level swing as a righty.
All that said, Santucci is superb.
Crazy discussion, so of course I'll jump right in.
Tom, when my mother was in grade school, they used to smack her hands with a ruler because she wrote left-handed. Typical of my mother's fireball personality she wrote left handed all threw school.
Mack, I too was all over the place. I would throw and bat right handed.
But I would eat, write, and have my way with myself left handed. I would play roller hockey left handed...go figure.
I was also Ambidextrous as a kid. I could throw and write with my off hand and could bat from the left side as a kid.
My dad was a catcher. After teaching me to pitch -- I had a dominant curve ball in LL, so much so that I was the ace of our staff over future Major Leaguer Pete Falcone -- and then having experienced my declining performance (post LL), with his dream of producing major league talent in the balance, he turned my youngest brother into a lefty for life. My youngest brother was never drawn to baseball and was inclined as a matter of principle to resist any directive or plan our father issued ended up being a long snapper on the high school football team, but he did exhibit a strong left arm, often snapping the ball over the punter's head.
When he took up golf, he played right handed. If you had seen him play, you would agree that he should have played as a lefty. But my family believed in legacy -- which is how we characterized hand me downs. My middle brother was invariably dressed in clothes he 'inherited' from my uncle, which meant he wore suits as junior high schooler, which was bad enough. Worse, my uncle was at the time half a foot taller than my brother and forty pounds heavier. Not a good look. My youngest brother inherited my clubs, but not my game :-).
It was a sin in my family to resist a bargain. My brothers and I suffered accordingly. No children should be required to wear as many acetate shirts as we donned through our school years. We were living fire hazards. I assume it was the threat of spontaneous combustion that kept the girls away.
The only advice I have ever given my daughter was to marry the first left handed relief pitcher she could find as a way of guaranteeing lifelong financial stability. Apparently they are few and far between. Either that or she treats this rare nugget of wisdom with inadequate regard or appropriately -- depending on your point of view.
Your cousin sounds like me...disgusted and furious. I previously supported Stearns but now see him as a bald faced liar. After his winter meeting interview where he said he wanted Alonso and Diaz back, they were gone in 48 hours...and Diaz to the LAD, at a reasonable price...are you kidding me? He gutted the lineup, which hit the most HRs in Met's history, and traded the best power hitter we ever had, and most clutch RBI man. And the bullshit about defense was a joke. Any stars worth watching are now gone. And what was the real problem...HIS rotation which faded or disappeared in the 2nd half, and his trade deadline deals sending 9 players out for 3 losers. And we STILL have the same starters we had last year. The 272 RBI he off loaded can not be replaced even if he signs Ruth & Gehrig. Bellenger is useless outside of Skankee Stadium, and Bergman would be ridiculous. Like I said earlier, it's a good thing that I'm and Orioles fan in the AL, because that's who I'll be watching most...after being a Mess fan since 1962.
Correction...Pete was not traded...they clearly didn't want him back at any price or they would have made the first offer that they could live with...say 3 yrs at $100 M and then at least they could claim they we outbid, rather than insulting him with no offer after being the face of the Mess and all he had given them.
Nice.
When I eat, I am ambidextrous. I also use feet if necessary. Eating is high on my list of favorite things to do.
Does Steve Cohen not understand that Alonso and Diaz were the Mess biggest "must watch" attractions? Maybe it's too bad that he doesn't care about making money from baseball, or he would care about putting fannys in the seats.
I have recounted often that my brother Steve was quite a pitcher in High School, but throwing 300+ pitches a week in multiple leagues was contrary to healthy shoulder anatomy. Just as one Steve flashback, he faced off against Heathcliff Slocum in HS, and despite being a year younger, shut them out, and also homered off Slocum.
I was a good lefty potential reliever, good fastball, curve and control, but was hesitant to compete at it. If I saw what was going on today, with teams averaging 40 pitchers a year in the bigs, I would have not hesitated.
The Mets may still do better in 2026, though, if the arms don't fall off like last year. When you miss Montas and Manea for half a season, then they return and suck, and Montas goes down hard, and Senga, Megill, and Canning all suddenly blow up, that is catastrophic. If they sidestep starter injury catastrophe in 2026, they could be better, even if worse in the offense and pen. Last year, I envisioned a 100 win team until the pitchers started dropping like flies. I do NOT picture 100 wins in 2026...maybe 85-90, if healthy.
That is what my cousin Billy said - he watched every game the Mets played in large part due to Alonso, Nimmo, Diaz and McNeil. All now gone. He is really pissed.
Steve Cohen is NOT making changes this off-season
David Stearns is
Tell Billy they won NOTHING
I am going to miss the core 4 too,especially all the championships and titles that they won. In baseball I am not looking for good friends I want winners and championships. All those that are heartbroken over losing the core 4 can still follow them and route for them. Problem cleared up.
I think they had a bona fide chance to win in 2025, until the pitchers not named Diaz self-destructed. Not the Core 4's fault. Without the core 4 in 2025, do they even win 70 games?
Being right-handed, I’ll stay out of that conversation other than to say that my son is RH in all things but hits lefty.
I like Santucci, but I LOVE Thornton. Was up to 95 mid-season with 6 pitches that he can throw for strikes. Big kid, terrific athlete, from the couple of interviews I’ve heard he seems like he’s smart, and knows how to pitch.
It would be nice to have a deeper pipeline behind those two, but with almost 90% of humans being righties, the numbers are the numbers. Maybe if more nuns forced kids to write left-handed.
Adam, to have two potentially excellent lefty starter prospects is sensational. Most folks probably do not recall that Peterson before his 2020 call up was just 10-16, with an ERA approaching 4.40. Compare to the much better results of Santucci and Thornton.
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