MACK - MY Sunday Observations

 

Mets Player Development         @MetsPlayerDev

Ethan Lanthier struck out six and was up to 97 mph with his fastball yesterday

            Here’s a name not many of you have heard of…

            Lanthier is a 21-year old RHRP drafted by the Mets last season in the 12^th round. He comes to the Mets from the University of Kansas.

            6-5   230   Big guy

            In three seasons at Kansas, he was 10-2 and had 134 strikeouts in 106.1 innings pitched.

            He did pitch for the Mets last season, but only two appearances for St.Lucie. In three innings, he gave up no runs and only one hit. He also struck out five.

            He pitches 100% out of the stretch, from a ¾ arm slot. A very clean delivery has probably helped him stay injury free throughout his young career.

            The fastball is his bread-and-butter pitch. It not only comes with 95+ speed, but also 2400-2500 spin.

            There’s also a slider and change.

            What the Mets will do with Lanthier this season, and where he opens up, is still undetermined.

 

Don't sleep on these prospects at Spring Breakout -- 1 from each team

Mets: Christopher Suero, C/1B/OF

Any time you hear about a catching prospect who is fast enough to also play outfield, Daulton Varsho comparisons immediately jump to mind. Having only reached High-A to this point, Suero is years away from truly solidifying such a lofty comp, but don’t be surprised if he finds multiple ways to contribute Sunday against the Nationals. The 5-foot-11 right-handed hitter has some pullside pop, and his plus speed helped him swipe 20 bags last season. He’s listed among the Mets catchers, but he could slide to first base, left field or even center if New York needs it.

The Athletic Mailbag –

It seems like there is a pattern of Mets pitching prospects fizzling at Triple A (Mike Vasil, Dom Hamel, Blade Tidwell and Brandon Sproat come to mind). From your perspective, is this just a common rate of struggle for pitchers moving to the highest level or something else? (I’ve heard the automated ball-strike system being blamed). — Kieran C.

Will: It’s probably a combination of a few things, including what you mentioned; put simply, sometimes, a player just isn’t that good. Another reason to add to the list: The ball is different in Triple A, so pitching prospects need to get used to throwing it (and sometimes certain pitches are impacted). 

Also, under president of baseball operations David Stearns and senior vice president of player development Andy Green, the Mets have acted more aggressively with some promotions. For instance, Sproat graduated from multiple levels in 2024. They don’t want prospects wasting their time dominating at lower levels, and they prefer their prospects to face challenges ahead of arriving in the majors. They don’t want the majors to be the first place their prospects experience some level of failure.

The Athletic - Which Mets prospects are poised to break out in 2025? Meet 5 under-the-radar candidates

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6192476/2025/03/11/new-york-mets-breakout-prospects-2025/?onboarded=true   (sub needed)

Raimon Gómez, RHP

Highest level reached in 2024: N/A

The Mets signed Gómez out of Venezuela in August 2021 for just $10,000. Since then, he has tantalized with his impressive stuff but has failed to stay healthy. After a few outings with High-A Brooklyn, he needed Tommy John surgery in April 2023 and hasn’t thrown a pitch in an affiliated game since. 

Mets minor-league physical therapist Alexander Gough, rehab pitching coach Jeremy Kivel and Venezuela national scout Ismael Perez deserve credit for helping get Gómez back on track, despite his needing a lengthy recovery.

Gómez is fully healthy, as evidenced by his velocity readings. He throws as hard as 103 mph. In a recent outing, he sat at 100 mph. He also throws a slider and changeup with above-average shapes, Christie said.

Gómez expects to start the season with St. Lucie. The Mets want to see him ace the level while dominating other things such as diet and arm care.

It would not be shocking to some within the Mets if Gómez, 23, climbed to the major-league bullpen by the end of the season.

“We just have to continue to communicate to him that, hey, you have a gift that you can throw the ball like you do, but if you don’t work hard, the gift can disappear very quickly,” Christie said.

Mets looking for top prospects to complement veteran stars

https://www.mlb.com/news/new-york-mets-spring-training-prospect-report-2025?partnerID=web_article-share

Breakout candidate: Raimon Gomez

It’s likely few, if any, noticed when the Mets signed Gomez for $10,000 in August 2021. He was about to turn 20, old for an international signee, and he tossed 12 1/3 innings in the DSL after signing. He had a decent enough U.S. debut with full-season St. Lucie in 2022, striking out 10.2 per nine over 24 appearances, almost all in relief. 

He was three games into his move up to High-A Brooklyn when he blew out his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery. He hasn’t thrown a competitive pitch since April 2023, missing all of last season. But he’s healthy now, and if his early sessions on the back fields are any indication, we might be talking about a future bullpen piece in the near future.

“He throws 103 mph, if you like that,” Christie joked about Gomez, who isn’t currently on the Top 30. “It’s a special fastball and ability to manipulate the baseball in multiple directions, with a changeup, slider and cutter. He’s working on a sinker, too. It’s just a special arm and he lives around the strike zone, too.”

MLB - 2025 Top 100 Prospects

https://www.prospectslive.com/2025-top-100-prospects/?s=03

46. Jett Williams, SS/2B/OF

HT: 5-8 WT: 175 H/T: R/R

Highest Level: Triple-A

ETA: 2025

OFP: 55

Risk: High

Hit: 60

Power: 40

Field: 55

Throw: 50

Run: 70

Scouting Report

Jett Williams could have been a part of the Mets' playoff push had it not been for a right wrist injury that sidelined him for a chunk of the season. Wrist injuries are notorious for sapping power, which was the case for Williams in 2024. Fortunately, power isn't his primary asset. What's particularly exciting about Williams is his transition to center field, a shift that pushes him up the defensive spectrum. 

While the Mets initially seemed to be grooming him for second base, his double-plus speed and ability to get great routes and jumps should make him a standout in the outfield. Offensively, the wrist injury affected his power output this year, but Williams doesn't profile as a thumper even at full health. His game is built around his speed and ability to slap the ball into gaps, taking advantage of his wheels to cause havoc on the basepaths. 

His swing is notably flat and linear, enabling him to effectively handle pitches throughout the zone. Williams projects as an ideal, old-school leadoff hitter, a guy who will excel in getting on base, wreaking havoc with his legs, and playing solid defense in center field. While his power might max out at 12-15 homers in his peak years, his speed, defensive versatility, and disciplined approach will more than make up for the lack of pop, making him a valuable piece for the Mets' future

Just Baseball - New York Mets Top 15 Prospects

https://www.justbaseball.com/prospects/new-york-mets-top-15-prospects/?s=03  

13. Boston Baro – UTIL – (High-A)

Height/Weight: 6’0″, 175 | Bat/Throw: L/R | 8th Round (246), 2023 (NYM) | ETA: 2027

A versatile defender who has flashed some offensive ability, the Mets gave Baro end of third round money to sign him away from his UCLA commitment. He enjoyed a solid start to his pro career, posting a 122 wRC+ at Low-A before getting a taste of High-A Brooklyn shortly after his 20th birthday.

Baro handles fastballs quite well, exemplified by his 92% zone-contact rate and high 900s OPS, but those figures drop to 73% and roughly .500 respectively against all other offerings.

It’s mostly due to mechanical issues as he will push out of his backside prematurely on softer stuff, often swinging over it. Baro has plenty of room to add strength, providing some optimism that he can grow into more than the gap-to-gap power he currently possesses.

A smooth defender with a strong arm, Baro has the actions and instincts to play a solid shortstop while being capable of moving around the infield. As he enters his age 20 season, there’s a chance Baro could make a leap given his projectable frame and decent foundation of skills, but he currently projects as an infield utility piece.

 

14. Blade Tidwell – RHP – (Triple-A)

Height/Weight: 6’3″, 195 | Bat/Throw: R/R | 2nd Round (52) – NYM (2022) | ETA: 2025

A five-pitch mix, Tidwell has no shortage of options on the mound. The challenge for him can be his overall command as well as having all of his pitches working in a given start, particularly his curveball and changeup.

The fastball averages 95 MPH, bumping up to 97 MPH, but lacks the characteristics to make it a plus pitch. His best offering is his 81-84 MPH sweeper with sharp late break that makes it particularly nasty to righties.

Tidwell’s cutter gives him a quality third offering that he will mix in as his second choice to lefties, but still goes to it nearly 20% of the time against same-handed hitters. Sitting in the upper 80s, he commands the pitch as well as any in his arsenal, avoiding hard contact.

Rounding things out is his curveball and changeup, with the former looking much more likely to be a an occasional option for Tidwell. The changeup was far too inconsistent for him in 2024, with a strike rate below 50%.

Ultimately, command will help dictate Tidwell’s outlook, but for now, he looks more like a swingman or relief option on the back of his fastball/slider combination.

 

Medium - The Really Big 2025 Mets Prospects Ranking

https://medium.com/@mdonodeo8/the-really-big-2025-mets-prospects-ranking-5c0fbaaa49f0  

10) Drew Gilbert

Gilbert entered 2024 on the short list of the best prospects in the system, showing solid average tools across the board with feel to pull fly balls, acceptable center field defense, and a spark plug personality on the field. He started the year by straining his hamstring, and when he returned he looked mostly overmatched in AAA and average in the AFL, a league where he was older and more advanced than much of the competition.

The skill that carried over the most in AAA was his ability to pull the ball in the air, which isn’t all that surprising considering how much his swing is built for getting in front of the ball with fluidity and bat speed (it’s not a surprise that two of the best swings in the organization came from the Astros; improvement on the hitting side has been slower than with the arms.) 

This feel for optimized spray (or at least lift, a lot of these were popups) led to usable power — ten homers from a pulled fly ball percentage over 20. However, this power might not stick as much in a major league run environment, as many of these were hit under 100 mph and probably don’t get over the fence. Overall, he posted an EV90 just under 101, a max EV of 106.6, and a damage rate under 10%, all well below average. 

He did post an 85 mph swing in the AFL, so there’s proof of concept that the bat speed can come back, but the raw EV outputs declined from what he can do. The plate skills were a mixed bag. He posted a 68% Z-swing, mid-upper 20s chase depending on the measurement, and 35th percentile SEAGER, which doesn’t raise any red flags to me, and his 82% Z-con should be enough to play in the majors without any major losses. 

That said, he posted a near-40% whiff rate vs secondaries that will likely be exploited by major league pitching, and his results were pretty platoon-heavy.

The best case scenario for Gilbert is simply writing off 2024 as a lost year due to injury and regaining the exit velocities and contact skills he previously showed. 

However, these are significant exit velocity losses, and I think the struggles were exacerbated by a stance change — he was less upright in the box, which might’ve had the effect of steepening VBAs, putting him in a worse position to make contact with slower stuff or drive the ball with authority. Entering his age-24 season, this offseason could be make or break for him.

Scouting Grades: 40 hit, 50/30 power, 55 run, 55 field, 55 arm

Optimistic Comp: Rhys Hoskins (offensively only, also please don’t hurt me) 

11) Jeremy Rodriguez

Rodriguez was acquired in the Tommy Pham deal and has pretty consistently hit across the DSL and complex ball, making a ton of contact while rarely expanding the zone. While it’s hard to make a case before he even reaches low-A, this could be the best pure hit tool in the system. 

What he hasn’t done particularly well is hit the ball hard, and while there might not be a ton of power ever coming, he has enough projectability in his lanky frame where you can still hope for average power down the road as a decent outcome. There’s still some variance in the bat here — complex data can only get you so far, and there’s a world where the power never develops beyond a 30 — but he’s a safer bet than your average low-minors bat and there’s some upside. 

The profile is helped by a buttery smooth lefty swing that projects up levels, although rising ground ball rates in the complex will be something to watch going forward. Defensively he projects somewhere in the infield, although how the body fills out could determine if the final home is second or third base. 

There are a lot of unknowns here, some of which will be answered as we get some data in low-A, but if you squint your eyes some of those potential outcomes are very good, and the chance of him hitting in some capacity is a bit higher than your standard complex league bat.

Scouting Grades: 55 hit, 30/45 power, 50 run, 50 field, 50 arm

Optimistic Comp: Kolten Wong, if you trust OAA

 

23) Edward Lantigua

Lantigua signed for just under one million dollars as part of the 2024 class and looks like the best player in the organization from his crop of IFAs. He has an athletic, wiry frame that serves him well in center field, on the basepaths, and at the plate, where he is already posting MLB-average exit velocities with clear room to add muscle. 

The athleticism is obvious in the swing, which is capable of driving balls in the air to a tune of a 43% fly ball rate, although the high pop up rate points to a wide standard deviation of launch angles. There is a bit of a hitch in the loading phase which lengthens the swing and could cause swing and miss as he goes up levels and sees better velocity, but he seemed to have had around average plate skills for the level. 

This means there is a ton of risk in the profile (even more than some other DSL hitters, which is saying a lot), but he also has some of the most obvious upside in the system. 

If an athletic 17-year-old stateside hit a ball 110.1 mph with wood and showed a semblance of contact skills and defensive projection, they would be going in the first couple rounds of the draft with scouts throwing a 70 on the future power grade. That’s a profile to watch going forward as someone who could be much higher on this list if the contact holds.