ANGRY MIKE: 2025 PROSPECT REPORT: JACK WENNINGER

 ANGRY MIKE 

Jack Wenninger is yet another Mets SP prospect who delivered an exciting breakout performance during the 2025 season, as a part of an absolutely STACKED Binghamton rotation. After finishing strong during the 2024 season, Wenninger earned the Opening Day start for the Rumble Ponies, firing five shutout innings of two-hit ball, with seven strikeouts, which became the blueprint for the majority of his starts all year. Wenninger exhibited a significant uptick in velocity towards the  end of the 2024 season and he was able to carry that over into the 2025 season, while also flashing improved overall command, and improved secondary pitches. 

Improved arsenal and improved command, was all he needed to finish among the Double-A Eastern League leaders in ERA, wins, innings pitched, strikeouts, K-Rate, and K/9, Wenninger finished behind Tong for the second consecutive season in strikeouts.  As a member of the best rotation in the Minors, which included Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, Zach Thornton, and Jonathan Santucci at various points in the season, it’s not easy to deliver performances that help you stand out. Despite the tremendous star power taking the hill each night, Wenninger proved once again the Mets drafted an absolute bulldog in the 6th round of a stellar 2023 Draft Class. 

Check out the other members of Wenninger’s Draft Class:

Pick #1       ->     Colin Houck             (1st Rd)

Pick #2       ->     Brandon Sproat       (2nd Rd) 

Pick #3       ->     Nolan McLean          (3rd Rd)

Pick #6       ->     A.J. Ewing               (4th Rd)

Pick #8       ->     Zach Thornton         (5th Rd)

Pick #9       ->     Jack Wenninger        (6th Rd)

Pick #11     ->     Boston Baro             (7th Rd)

Pick #14     ->     Brett Banks              (11th Rd)

Pick #16     ->     Ben Simon               (13th Rd)

That is a lot of potential firepower to bring into a farm system, especially from a pitching standpoint, and that’s not even counting Kade Morris who was used in a 2024 trade. The Mets have absolutely dominated recent drafts, capitalizing on more selections throughout the draft than any other franchise. As we’ve pointed out in a previous article, the success rate the Mets had for draft selections after the sixth round in the final few years of the Wilpon regime was: an ASTONISHING: 

ZERO PERCENT 

That’s dozens of draft selections that collectively failed to produce even one significant player who developed into someone of consequence in regards to “Top Prospect status” or as a part of the MLB Roster. 

ZERO PERCENT -> DOZENS OF SELECTIONS

Wenninger is another great example of how important it is for a scouting department and a development department need to have cross-functional collaborative efficiency when identifying prospects the franchise believes has the raw talent to elevate their prospect profile. Prior to Steve Cohen investing considerable financial resources designed at overhauling the Mets administrative infrastructure, there was a severe disconnect between departments that didn’t allow the Mets have the type of success we’ve recently seen, that’s quickly transformed high end raw talent into high end upside. 

During the 2024 season Wenninger really only had 5 rough outings that accounted for an inordinate percentage of the total earned runs he allowed for the season:

2025 ->  Game Log Analysis:

5 Rough Outings  ->     25.1  IP     ||    24   ER 

20 Other Outings  ->    89.2  IP     ||    31    ER    ||   3.11  ERA 

Season Statistics Ranks:

Innings  ->  1st 

ERA  ->  2nd 

Strikeouts  ->  2nd 

WHIP  ->  3rd  (Min. 100 IP)

B.A.A.  ->  5th 

2025 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:

14  Outings of 5+ IP  &  1  ER or fewer allowed

15 Outings -> 5+ Strikeouts 

7 Outings -> 5+ IP  |  2 ER or fewer  |  5+  K

7 Quality Starts 

11 Outings  ->  7+ Strikeouts 

2026 SEASON OUTLOOK:

Wenninger has a lot of great things to take away from the 2025 season, such as improved consistency, improved command, maintained his above average K-r rate, and he had some of his best performances in August and September. 

It’s always great to see young starting pitchers exhibit the ability to perform better as the season wears on and the exceed their career high in IP for a season, Wenninger saved his best for last, tossing an 8 IP gem in a critical playoff game. Wenninger has nothing left to prove in AA, but depending on what the Mets do with other players, there might not be room for him initially in the Syracuse rotation to open the 2026 season. 

The Mets have 8 legit high upside SP prospects who deserve a chance to make starts for Syracuse, Tong, Scott, Santucci, Thornton, and Wenninger make the strongest claims to begin their seasons in AAA. Watson should headline the Binghamton rotation, and because Thornton is returning from an abdominal injury, he might spend the first month there as well, until a spot clears up for him in Syracuse. It would not be shocking to see Wenninger begin the year in the Binghamton rotation as well, in order to work on fine tuning a couple of his secondary offerings, and pitch count efficiency before being moved up to Syracuse. As good as Wenninger was, he could certainly utilize the additional time in Binghamton to become more adept at pitch deeper into games.

Wenninger’s raised his prospect profile significantly from a back-end SP, into a legit #3 SP or better if his velocity continues trending in the right direction and he is able to sharpen his curveball and slider to match the effectiveness of his splitter. He’s a hard worker, with a very dedicated, professional approach to improving himself, and he has the natural ability to continue improving his prospect profile. Even if his future is as a SP, Wenninger offers significant upside as a high-leverage RP, becuz of how effective his splits were against both RHB (0.237 BAA) and LHB (0.208 BAA).