Tom Brennan: DeMayo's & My Mets Top 30 Prospects Compared

I saw Joe DeMayo just came out with his updated Top 30 list. 

I did mine about a month earlier, in mid-October.

Joe's list and my list were quite similar, with a few disparities explained.

I summarized his and my lists below:

JOE DEMAYO RANKING	MY RANKING	WHY I RANKED A PLAYER HIGHER OR LOWER
1. INF/OF Jett Williams	1. Brandon Sproat	Flip a coin between him and Jett
2. RHP Brandon Sproat	2. Jett Williams	See above
3. OF Drew Gilbert	3. Jonah Tong	Tong Terrific, think his ceiling is higher.
4. 1B/OF Ryan Clifford	4. Carson Benge	Benge over Clifford due to latter's K rate
5. OF Carson Benge	5. Nolan McLean	I think McLean will be terrific
6. INF Ronny Mauricio	6. Drew Gilbert	Drew is talented, bad season, now 24.
7. RHP Nolan McLean	7. Ronny Mauricio	Rust, risk of re-injury, likely to stop SBs
8. INF Jesus Baez	8. Nick Morabito	Terrific year, I do think he adds power
9. RHP Blade Tidwell	9. Boston Baro	Very good first year, solid future
10. RHP Jonah Tong	10. Luisangel Acuna	Up to # 10 on basis of his great Sept.
11. IF/OF Luisangel Acuña	11. Ryan Clifford	Ryan K’d 160 X in 129 G. Hit .228.
12. RHP Christian Scott	12. Jer. Rodriguez	Scott left off my list; already a MLB.     J Rod great performance for an 18 y/o,
13. LHP Jonathan Santucci	13. Blade Tidwell	Concerned that Tidwell got hammered at AAA. Major leaguers hit a lot better.
14. IF Jeremy Rodriguez	14. Marco Vargas	Marco hurt a lot, but he gets on base.
15. INF Marco Vargas	15. Jon Santucci	DeMayo and I are close in ranking Jon S
16. OF Nick Morabito	16. Nate Dohm	DeMayo & I are close in ranking Dohm
17. INF Boston Baro	17. Trey Snyder	DeMayo and I are close in ranking Trey.
18. RHP Dom Hamel	18. Jesus Baez	I’d have had Baez higher, if it not for meniscus injury that cost him 2 mo.
19. SS Trey Snyder	19.Daiv. Gutierrez	Gutierrez had significant improvement in 2024, so I had him ranked higher.
20. RHP Nate Dohm	20. Yov. Rodriguez	I liked that his bat was coming around at season’s end; he has a gun for an arm.
21. RHP Mike Vasil	21. AJ Ewing	I liked potential enuf to have AJ at # 21.
22. 3B Jacob Reimer	22. Mike Vasil	DeMayo and I are close in ranking Vasil.
23. INF Colin Houck	23. Jacob Reimer	DeMayo and I are close in ranking Reimer. Great eye, missed most of 2024.
24. C Daiverson Gutierrez	24. Ron Hernandez	DeMayo and I are close in ranking Ron.
25. C Yovanny Rodriguez	25. Wyatt Young	I like Wyatt. 118 games in 2024, a fine .287/.387/.358, 17/ 25 SBs. Fine fielder.
26. C Ronald Hernandez	26. Dominic Hamel	Ranked Dom lower - awful AAA year.
27. C Kevin Parada	27. Edward Lantigua	Joe DeMayo and I are close on Edward
28. OF Edward Lantigua	28. Alex Ramirez	Alex not in Joe's 30. Barely in mine due to SBs. May he wake up in 2025.
29. RHP Jack Wenninger	29. Jordan Geber	Geber as good-performing underdog
30. OF Eli Serrano III	30. Nate Lavender	Nate returns in 2025 as a high K reliever

Houck and Parada, in Joe’s Top 30 at # 23 and # 27, just fanned too darned much for me, totaling 324 Ks in 226 games in 2024, and both struggled defensively.  So I left those two Mets first round picks out of my Top 30.  Both obviously are looking to break out strongly to the upside in 2025. Hopefully, both have goals that include reducing strikeouts from 1.4 per game to one K or fewer per game.

Wenninger and Serrano, whom Joe had at 29 and 30? I had them slightly lower, and hence slightly out of my top 30.

So there you have it.  

Except for this needed footnote involving Jett, Drew and Reimer:

The injury-truncated seasons of Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert, and Jacob Reimer came to a close last week as the AFL season finished up, with the AFL season being only briefly underway when I had published my Top 30 ranking in October.

The 263 AFL plate appearances between the trio boosted their season PAs to 249 (Jett), 361 (Gilbert), and 165 (Reimer), still well below a normal full season of at bats, but helpful to each of the 3 in reducing their 2024 playing time deficits.

Overall, they hit just .211 in 633 at bats, which is clearly not good. 

(BTW, I asked my brother Steve as we ate breakfast at Buttermilk’s in Patchogue what those 3 had hit during 2024. His guess? .211. BULLS EYE. He laughed and said he was going to go out and play that number.)

But the trio’s combined OBP was a solid .353 due to a combined 116 walks.  That’s a lot of free passes.  That said:

Their batting averages have to come up a lot in 2025, regardless of the OBP.

One of the most positive stats for the trio was from the least experienced of the 3.  Jacob Reimer walked 30 times while fanning just 27 times in his 165 plate appearances.  The K rate and BB rate were both excellent.  That should bode well for Reimer in 2025.

Jett Williams walked 39 times in 249 PAs, but fanned a very high 65 times. He needs to improve there.

Drew Gilbert walked 47 times and fanned 68 times in his 361 PAs so his K rate was acceptable, and walk rate was quite solid. He did smack 14 HRs. He just had a lousy average.

The trio, in their 775 PAs, had just 26 doubles, 4 triples, and 18 HRs, with just 75 RBIs. 95 runs scored were an OK total.  

So, their offensive power and batting average output, while not terrible, need to collectively rocket upwards in 2025 after their mediocre, injury-riddled 2024. 

A combined average in 2025 boosted by at least 60 points to .270 or better, with continued high levels of walks, will bring sighs of front office relief, as will taking that ratio of an extra base hit to PA ratio of only 1 in every 16 at bats up to something more like 1 in every 10 ABs in 2025.

A disappointing offensive production year from the trio, in summary, but the high walk rates were a major positive that should not be overlooked.

Above all, I want to see 1,600+ plate appearances from this trio in 2025, up from 2024’s meager 775.  Staying healthy is the key to 1600+ plate appearances.