Steve Sica - How are the Mets' Pitching Prospects doing in the AFL?

Three of the Mets' pitching core watch from the dugout

The Mets sent five pitchers to the desert for this year's edition of the Arizona Fall League. The results have been mixed across the board. Let's take a deeper dive into the numbers.

Irving Cota has been the most impressive of the bunch thus far. 

His 12 strikeouts are second on the AFL leaderboard. On Saturday night, he threw three perfect innings while putting up five strikeouts. In 7 and 2/3 innings this season, he has a 2.35 ERA and a WHIP of 0.52. This is similar to the numbers he was putting up with High-A Brooklyn earlier this year, where he had a 0.73 ERA in 24 innings of work.

Peyton Prescott was selected in the 5th round in the 2025 MLB draft by the Mets. 

Injuries limited him to just one professional inning in those last two seasons. The AFL has shown us our first true taste of what he can do. His first two starts were a struggle, but in his latest start, he put together the best start in his brief professional career. He pitched two shutout innings, throwing 25 pitches, 17 for strikes, allowing just one hit, no walks, and striking out two, in what was an eventual win.

Ryan Lambert, a reliever with a lot of potential, has been near-perfect in his three outings.

 In three innings pitched, he has yet to allow a run or a hit. He's given up just one walk and struck out five. The Mets hope he can return to his 2025 form, where he put up a 1.62 ERA in 50 innings of work between High-A and Double-A.

Brendan Girton also has a perfect 0.00 ERA in his three AFL outings. 

A starter turned reliever on the AFL team, Girton has three strikeouts while allowing two hits and one walk in 2 and 1/3 innings of work in the desert.

Calvin Ziegler, once heralded as a top pitching prospect after the Mets drafted him with their second-round pick in 2021, has fallen on hard times with injuries. 

It hasn't been an easy AFL season for him to date either. In just over two innings of work, he has an ERA of 19.29, allowing four walks to three strikeouts. The Mets were hoping to see a bit more out of him, but after seeing very limited playing time over the last two seasons, this could just be him shaking off the rust.

Overall, Cota and Lambert have had their best AFL seasons to date. This is great news for the Mets, especially regarding Lambert, who could be in the bullpen mix for the Mets by next season.