WHO IS WORTHY OF A BRIEF MENTION THESE DAYS?
July is really put up or shut up time for prospects.
Maybe you struggled for a few months.
Put up some gaudy July numbers, though, and you may get to change people’s opinions, etc.
Well?
WHO GOT IT DONE, DOWN ON THE FARM, IN JULY?
I am a little loose with sticking with just July here. I wanted to stray a bit, to point out the PERFORMERS, both in July and in the near term outside of July.
AAA
Nick Morabito - on base % over .400 in July, and spanning June and July, for that matter. Steals lots of bases. Rarely caught. 10 HRs.
- waiting for a phone call.
Ronny Mauricio - hitting bombs since he returned from his reckless injury.
- waiting for a phone call.
Nate Lavender - dominant in July, almost as dominant in June.
- waiting for a phone call.
Jon Santucci - back-to-back strong months in AA. Just bumped to AAA!
- he fanned 7 in 4 innings, but walked 5 in his Saturday AAA debut.
Jefry Yan - Killing hitters with Ks. In June and July, 38 Ks v. 11 BB in 17 IP.
- waiting for a phone call.
AA
JT Schwartz - After an eternity of bad hitting in 2025 and 2026, JT hit .286/.395/.492 in 18 July games through July 28. He needs a lot more of that to change minds. But, you gotta start somewhere, and so he did. All 10 of his his HRs have come since May 19, a span of just 49 games.
- apparently, he was moved to the Development list with a wave of hot bats arriving to the shores of Binghamton.
Corey Collins - a recent promotee from Brooklyn, he hit over .300/.430/.480 in June and July. I detect a strong pulse there.
Remember, though, that almost the entire 2026 Binghamton hitting squad has been mediocre to putrid. At the same time, 5 rusty MLB Rehabbers - Robert, Taylor, Polanco, Semien, and Lindor - went 13 for 28 in AA.
Conclusion? Binghamton has had many bad hitters. But suddenly improved.
Pitching? I don’t like sushi, but I love Santucci.
Dude was fine in June and July, and deservedly just bumped to AAA.
Newly acquired Billy Amick homered in his debut Saturday, and had a fine slugging July before the trade to the Mets, coming to the Mets, along with Bruin Agbayani, for A.J. Minter.
HIGH A
Mitch Voit and Daiverson Gutierrez, and Corey Collins, all swung sweet bats for Brooklyn in June and July.
Daviel Hurtado, Bryce Jenkins, and Channing Austin have dealt masterfully from the hill. Austin has moved up to AA, and been holding his own over 9 innings.
FULL A
Elian Peña, Trey Snyder, and Randy Guzman swung potent sticks when healthy. Keep a close eye on all 3.
- Guzman was just promoted to High A, with a 7 for 17 roaring debut.
- Snyder can’t be far behind. Slow 3 for 18 High A kick-off.
Julio Zayas gets on base, drives in runs - and catches.
- 122 RBIs in his first 693 pro ABs.
Antonio Jimenez (just back up to Brooklyn) hit .300 in July thru June 28.
ROOKIE
Vladi Gomez has excelled, and has just gotten re-promoted to St Lucie.
- .322/.421/.427, 35 steals this season? OH VLADI, OH VLADA!
DSL
I will pass. Too many downright poor pitchers in the DSL to get a good read on how hitters are really doing. Seems the hitters to watch are Cleiner Ramirez, Wandy Asigen, and Jonnhan Sanchez. The first two, the Mets spent big bucks on.
ANOTHER METS ORGANIZATION PROSPECT BAFFLER
I reminded people the other day that former high-up Mets prospect Alex Ramirez hit an awful .215 in the Mets minors in 2023-25, but is hitting a resurrected .280 in AA with power this year in his new organization.
Then I mentioned ex-Mets prospect Jeremiah Jackson in a comment.
Jackson hit .205 as he repeated AA for the Mets in 2024.
Baltimore picks him up in 2025, and he immediately jumps 108 points to .313, then gets promoted.
In 384 MLB at bats in 2025 and 2026, in the town that Brooks Robinson built, he is hitting a highly respectable .260.
Considering these 2 “I-left-the-Mets-turned-success” stories, it leads me to ask:
WHO IN THE METS MINORS ARE THE METS NOW SCREWING UP?
That is, if they were to move elsewhere…as 3 examples…
WILL RONNY MAURICIO GET DEALT, OR CUT, AND BECOME A 35 HR GUY?
WILL CLIFFORD AND HOUCK BECOME IMPRESSIVE CONTACT HITTERS?
(I gladly note that Houck went 6 for 12 with just 1 K in his last 3 games thru Friday. Maybe he made a needed adjustment).
And please, remember, Jake Mangum, a speedy defender who the Mets never gave a MLB sniff to, is a friggin’ THREE HUNDRED HITTER in 680 career MLB at bats, while the similarly “unsniffed” former Mets prospect Carlos Cortes is hitting .280 in 319 career MLB at bats.
That for those two Mets discards is 1,000 combined MLB at bats at a .295 batting average pace. To put that in perspective, who hits .295 anymore?
Answer: the two discards, and a few other guys. Juan Soto? Just .283.
Boy, some talent evaluators and developers in this organization, huh?
FROM DEAD IN THE WATER TO TREADING WATER
Simon Juan was an international bonus baby ($1.9 million) Mets signing a few years back, who has never put up big offensive numbers.
This year, in St Lucie, repeating the level, he did this in April and May:
APRIL: 17 games, .175/.224/.254, with 26 Ks.
MAY: 19 games, 175/.188/.333, 27 Ks.
Man, those are “dead as a doornail” numbers. Brutal. Zero pulse. Toast.
But improvement finally came:
JUNE: 20 games, .224/.244/.364, 21 Ks.
Still weak, but gotta start somewhere, and those #s were much improved.
JULY: 16 games, .257/.379/.444, 16 Ks.
Another solid leap. If he had hit .257/.379/.444 all year, we’d feel hopeful.
2 games left in July as I write this.
I have to say like the sharp drop in his K rate (1.50 to 1.00)in June and July.
His task, should he choose to accept it, is to accelerate the upward trend.
And the righty hitter needs to learn to hit lefties.
7 for 47, 4 walks, 20 Ks this season. Brutal.
Just as brutal vs. lefties last year: 11 for 65, 28 Ks.
Suggestion: Hire lefties to pitch to him. After all:
Righties hitters need to eat lefties for lunch.
This is year 5 for the still-young, just-turned 21 year old.
Treading water is OK. Now, learn to swim.





