Steve Sica - 2026 Top Mets' Prospects Report

New Met #1 Prospect, Jefferson Rojas

As the MiLB season comes to a close with only Triple-A Syracuse having games this week, let's take a look at how the Mets' top prospects (per Pipeline) did in 2026. This will be a continuing series with three prospects reviewed each week through September.

1. INF Jefferson Rojas:

He didn't start the season with the Mets, and there were no indications the Mets would acquire such an elite prospect at the start of the season, as the team had pennant aspirations. Such is life, though; the Mets wound up selling at the deadline and were able to get Rojas from the Cubs, who immediately became the Mets' number one prospect.

The 21-year-old has earned that distinction early on in his Mets career by putting together an impressive month for Double-A Binghamton.

In 29 games, Rojas had an OPS of .929, nine home runs, 29 RBIs, and eight doubles. Overall, he belted a career-high 24 home runs this season in Double-A, along with 86 RBIs. The Mets are certainly glad he's in their farm system now, and to be able to put up these types of numbers as a 21-year-old in Double-A, his future is bright. The Mets can hope he follows in the footsteps of Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing as another homegrown prospect making a big impact at the plate for the big-league club.

His season will continue as he was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse on September 13th.

2. RHP Jonathan Santucci: 

It was a bit of an up-and-down season for Santucci, who, after the graduations of Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong, became the Mets' top pitching prospect.

He started the season with Double-A Binghamton, where in 90 innings of work he put up an ERA of 3.57 and had an opponent batting average of just .213. At the time of his promotion, he had 90 strikeouts, which was good enough for the Eastern League lead.

After his promotion to Triple-A Syracuse, Santucci's numbers diminished as most pitchers do in Syracuse. In seven starts, his ERA ballooned to 5.29. It's not all bad news, though, for Santucci. In his last three starts, he seems to have turned a corner, pitching to a 3.00 ERA in 15 innings with 19 strikeouts and just two walks.

Santucci has seen his prospect stock rise in 2026, and the Mets are hopeful he can follow in the footsteps of Nolan McLean and Zac Thornton in 2027.

3. SS Elian Pena:

The 18-year-old super prospect from the Dominican Republic had his first full season stateside when he started 2026 with Low-A St. Lucie.

For someone that young and completely skipping FCL ball, Pena had an impressive season with St. Lucie. In 96 Low-A games, he batted .271 with an OPS of .785. He mashed eight home runs, drove in 44 RBIs, and stole 28 bases.

This was enough to earn him a promotion to High-A Brooklyn. It was a struggle for Pena in High-A as he only put up an OPS of .484. However, 18-years-old in High-A made him one of the youngest players in the league, and while he still has a lot of adjusting to do, the fact that the Mets' brass felt confident enough to end his season in High-A speaks volumes for him.

Pena, along with Mitch Voit, who I'll get into next week, will be the most exciting Met prospects to watch in 2027.