Tom Brennan: DeMayo New Top 30 Prospects List; “Noah Hall” of Fame; and MORE

HITTERS IN THE METS CURRENT TOP 30?

THEY WILL BE DOING A LOT OF THIS

As expected, the sea change caused by the massive haul of prospects at the trade deadline required a huge realignment of the Top 30 by Joe D.

Here is his list:

Joe DeMayo New Top 30

I like and essentially agree with most of it. I do however still have problems with his having Ryan Clifford as high as # 14. 

While Joe dropped Clifford from 3rd to 8th about a month ago, and further downward to # 14 now, I do not see how Clifford, brutally hitting .185 with 150 Ks in 98 AAA games, could be 14th, while new addition Billy Amick, a similar type player in AA with more HRs and fewer strikeouts is 27th.

Me? I’d make Clifford sit outside the top 30 and earn his way back in. 

His 2026 has simply been brutal. I’d rather see a Trey Snyder, who Joe left out of the top 30, inserted in the upper 20s. He is hitting nearly .300 with above average speed.

I do have a problem also having Jacob Reimer as high as #8. I’d have bumped him down to around # 12, and make him earn his way back up. He had a horrible, injury-riddled 2024, a quite solid but not spectacular 2025, and another weak, injury-riddled year this year. Injury-riddled is not a great resume highlight. Stay healthy. The competition is now fierce. I still like Reimer more than Clifford.

I want Mitch Voit higher than # 5. He started slow this year in crappy Brooklyn, surrounded by a team hitting .180, but has been flat-out sensational offensively since the start of June, is fast as heck, and great on defense,with a 60 rated arm. He does not strike out much. Oddly, he might already be ready.

Joe D has Jon Santucci at #2, Sammy Stafura at # 3, and Mitch at # 5. 

I’d go with Voit at # 2, because he just might have Clemente-like ability, with Santucci the Superb at # 3, and Stafura, who is exciting, but strikes out at a somewhat concerning rate, at # 5 (for now).

I like Jefferson Rojas @ # 1, as he is very talented, but whether he is better than Voit remains to be seen.  I’d be thrilled if he is.

I like new guy Emilien Pitre at # 13. He can really hit. Why is he lower than Reimer (.227), though? 

Pitre, you see, is raking at .313/.440/.448.  Fast, too (32 steals). Strong defensively. Solid K rate. I’d definitely want to put him above Reimer. And it frankly makes no sense to me to have him only one slot ahead of Clifford. He’s doing SO VERY MUCH BETTER.

(Maybe I will do a list of the Top 30 Mets’ SUSPECTS. Nah, I won’t do that)

I like new draftees (yet to pitch) Carson Wiggins at # 10 and Aiden Robbins @ # 12. Robbins is hitting .318 at St Lucie, and what I love is just 3 Ks in his first 25 PAs.

I also like seeing my guy, Super Duper Randy Guzman jumped all the way up to # 16 by Joe D. Randy has hit extremely well in 2025 and 2026 (61 XBH and 106 RBIs in 502 at bats) with power when healthy. 

He is, sadly, back on the IL again. He needs to watch his Ks, but his power and average #s in 2025/26 are terrific. And his first 7 Brooklyn games of the season being .393/.438/.536 were hugely impressive.

I also like Joe D slotting big bonus babies Elian Peña and Wandy Asigen at # 6 and # 7. Both look more and more like potential high impact future major leaguers (by 2029 and 2031), at this early stage. Asigen is still 16, for heaven’s sake. For another week, anyway.

I would have taken a flier, lastly, on Vladi Gomez at # 29 instead of Eli Serrano III. Serrano has hit poorly (.193) and missed a lot of games due to injury time. Vladi, though, in the FCL and St Lucie, is having a terrific season, at .338/.433/.457, with 37 steals in 182 PAs, and a low K rate.

Lastly, even though Zac Thornton is technically still a prospect, he is a locked-in major leaguer who will move past prospect status in the next 2-3 weeks. So, I would have graduated him now, and added another guy to the top 30, who would be thrilled to be included there.

Simply, the draft and especially the recent trades have turned a highly disappointing Top 30 into a terrific one. Heavily weighted towards offense.

I grade the current top offensive prospects at A overall. Terrific.

The pitchers in the Top 30?  

B- or C+. Not as many around as are the abundant hitters.

It is hard to imagine that this is not now a top 5 ranked farm system.

P.S. One guy who has been splendid of late is RHP Noah Hall.  

He was terrible early this season. 1-6, 6.29 at the end of June. 

The only one writing about Hall then would have been his Hall Monitor.

Then, the calendar turned July, and the Superman cape came out. 

He recently gave up 4 runs in 5 innings on 2 HRs to big AA Homer guys in a game he led big in. Probably just trying to get the ball over with the big lead, and got snagged a few times.

In the other 5 starts since July 1, spanning Brooklyn and Binghamton, 28 innings, 11 hits, one run, 4 walks and 40 Ks. Pretty darned incredible. “Hall” of Fame numbers.

Which you’d never realize if you only looked at his 4-6, 4.44 ERA season mark.

AS TO THE FUTURE?

I think the NY Mets can reload their pitching staff this off season.

These prospects as a core will still be a good floor for the Mets, and provide a potentially high ceiling.

These new and existing prospects will start to provide real major league help in 2027.

In 2028, the floodgates will open and many of these young talents will pour into the majors. 

It could be 1984/85 all over again? Why not? Just give Keith a glove.

We do need a first baseman.

AND…

Even though Benge appears to have dodged a bullet with his wall collision, with his MRI only showing bruising, he needs to differentiate between aggressive and reckless when it comes to fielding. We need him for 162 per.

A DSL NO HITTER

One of the Mets’ two DSL teams spun a 7 inning no hitter on Saturday.

Congrats to the two pitchers, Josbel Torres, with 4 innings, and Esteban Mejia logging the final 3 frames. 

The other DSL team also won, 3-2. A final line of 3 runs, 3 hits, and 3 errors. 

Three-mendous.

RONNY MAURICIO EXPLODES, AND MUCH MORE

A single, 2 doubles, a HR, and 5 RBIs in 4 at bats. Jumped his AAA average to .292.

Elsewhere: 

In Brooklyn, new bats Stafura 3-4, with 3 runs, and Aiden Smith was 2-4, a HR, and 3 RBIs in a 6-5 win. New arm Gabrysh gave up 3 runs in 4 innings, BUT FANNED NINE.

In Binghamton, Jefferson Rojas was 3-4, 3 RBIs, Pitre got his daily dose of 2 hits, Amick drove in 2, and already has 10 RBIs post-trade, and Voit was 2-3 and a walk, raising his AA average to .568. Ted Williams said WOW!

New arm Gabe Davis gave up 3 runs in 3 innings, fanning 3. He only has 65 pro innings to date, and is in AA, so be patient.