Steve Sica- Unprotected, but Worth Keeping: Mets Prospects on the Bubble

The Rule 5 Draft is eight days away. The Mets opted to only protect one player, Nick Morabito, and now the rest of the 28 prospects are all fair game. These players are eligible to be picked by other MLB organizations because they’ve been with the Mets for either four or five years since they were drafted.

The Mets will have their chances too to poach other teams’ prospects that they deem are worth keeping on the 40-man roster in 2026. Not all 28 prospects will be selected, but out of them, here are three players I hope will still be in the Met organization after December 10th.

C Kevin Parada:

A first-round pick by the Mets in 2022, the road hasn’t exactly been a smooth one for Parada. He struggled through most of his four MiLB seasons since being drafted. His first full Double-A season in 2024 was a disaster as he hit just .214 and had an OPS of .663. He fell off the Mets’ top-30 prospect list by the time the 2025 season began, and many were already labeling him a bust. 

In 2025, though, Parada finally began to show some signs of why the Mets made him a first-round selection four years ago. Now at 24 years old, Parada lit Double-A on fire in June with an OPS of .977 along with four home runs and 14 RBIs. He stayed hot all summer long for Binghamton, and in August, he batted .304 with an OPS of .866. Suddenly, as the Mets began to have issues at the Major League level at catcher, there were actually fans on social media calling for the red-hot Parada to be called up to the big club.

While that never happened, he did earn a promotion in September to Triple-A Syracuse. He would regress in Syracuse, as he batted just .196 in his 16-game campaign. Was that the last the Met organization will see of Parada? I hope not. He showed a lot of promise and some flashes of greatness this season. If the Mets can survive the Rule 5 Draft with Parada still on their roster, it might be an underrated blessing, and I’d like to see Parada get one more shot at making the Big Leagues in 2026.

RHP Joel Díaz :

Díaz has been in the Mets system since 2021, when he was just 17 years old. Some prospect nerds still remember his dominant season in the DSL that year, where he pitched in 50 innings, struck out 63 batters, and had an otherworldly ERA of just 0.54.

The next levels would prove more challenging for Díaz. He was roughed up in 2022, his first full season in Single-A, with an ERA of 5.86 in 51 innings pitched. Things would get worse the following season as Díaz spent all of 2023 on the IL. 

Díaz came into 2025 at just 21 years old and received a promotion to High-A Brooklyn. Here, Díaz showed signs of his dominance back in 2021. In 106 innings pitched, Díaz was second in team ERA at 3.80 and in strikeouts with 98. He also showed improvement in his control, allowing just 25 walks all season. In the Mets' pitching-rich system, Díaz doesn’t crack into the top-30 prospect list, but he certainly has a ton of promise given his age and what we’ve seen this season from him. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if a team doesn’t take a flier out on Díaz. He’s young and coming off his best full professional season. If the Mets can keep him in the organization, he might be just another member of an impressive pitching crop rising through their farm system.

RHP Saul García:

When looking at the entire Met system in 2025, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better season than the one that Saul García put together. Across High-A and Double-A, García made 38 appearances, pitched in 47 innings, and had an ERA of just 1.70. He faced a total of 202 batters and allowed a home run to just three of them. His 1.32 ERA for Binghamton helped the team win its first Eastern League title in over a decade.

This season was a revelation for García, who, up until 2025, had struggled in the Minors since joining the Mets system in 2021. However, this year, the Mets opted to use him as a reliever instead of a starter, and the experiment couldn’t have gone better. The Mets left him unprotected in next week’s draft, and now will have to wait and see if García’s turnaround continues in their organization, or if they will have to watch his next chapter on another franchise.

Honorable Mentions:

RHP Calvin Ziegler: Injuries have unfortunately plagued the Mets’ 2021 second-round selection. Ziegler is coming into 2026 healthy, and we’ll see if any other organization wants to take a chance on the 22-year-old Canadian righty.

RHP Trey McLoughlin: Another solid reliever in the Mets’ pipeline, he struggled in 2025 to the tune of a 4.09 ERA in Double-A Binghamton, but dominated in 2024 with a 1.89 Double-A ERA.

Steve Sica- Don't Call it a Comeback: Three Met Prospects Having a Renaissance in 2025

Minor League Baseball can be a brutal battlefield for young players with Major League aspirations. There are 30 Major League teams, 25 roster spots per squad, and hundreds of Minor League players vying for one of those coveted spots. Some are 18-year-old kids who see MiLB as a mere stepping stone on their way to the Majors. Others are grizzled veterans in their 30s—players who may have had a taste of the Big Leagues and would do anything to get back. Then there are those in between. Players still on the right side of 25 but who haven’t quite lived up to their potential. They’ve fallen off prospect rankings and are simply trying to hang on at any level in the Minors. 

One of my favorite baseball quotes comes from Moneyball:

 

 "We're all told at some point in time that we can no longer play the children's game—we just don't know when that's gonna be. Some of us are told at eighteen, some of us are told at forty, but we're all told." 

Three players in the Mets system are fighting to keep playing the children’s game—and they’re putting up numbers that are forcing fans and scouts alike to take notice. 

OF Alex Ramírez Back in 2022, Ramírez was a top-10 prospect in the Mets system. Just 19 at the time and hailing from the Dominican Republic, he’d put together a strong season across Low-A and High-A. It looked like he was destined to be a key part of the Mets’ future—a staple in their outfield for years to come. But things unraveled in 2023. In his first full High-A season, Ramírez batted just .221—a 60-point drop from the previous year. A promotion to Double-A Binghamton in 2024 brought even worse results: a .210 average and an OPS that fell below .600. By the end of that season, he hit free agency and was briefly out of the Mets organization—though only for two weeks before the Mets brought him back. Still, he was that close to the end of his Mets career. Back in Binghamton this season, Ramírez hit rock bottom on May 14 when his average dipped to .171 after a nine-game hitless streak. Since then, he’s caught fire—recording hits in ten of his last thirteen games, driving in ten runs over that stretch, and raising his average to .238. Highlights include a walk-off three-run homer against Richmond on May 20 and a three-hit performance on June 1. He’s also flashed his speed, stealing nine bases in that span. His 18 stolen bases on the season currently rank second in the Eastern League, just behind fellow Rumble Pony Nick Morabito, who has 19. Now in his fourth season in the Mets system, it’s easy to forget that Ramírez is still only 22. There’s plenty of time left for him to live up to the potential that once made him a top prospect.

RHP Jonathan Pintaro The definition of a late bloomer, Pintaro is 27 years old and still managed to crack the Mets’ top-30 prospect list, according to MLB Pipeline. He went undrafted out of college, spent two years in the MLB Draft League, and pitched all of 2023 in the Pioneer League. His break came in 2024, when the Mets signed him as a Minor League free agent. Starting the season in High-A Brooklyn, Pintaro impressed with a 2.50 ERA, 35 strikeouts, and a 1.167 WHIP over 36 innings. That earned him a midseason promotion to Double-A Binghamton, where his impeccable control continued—just 10 walks across 34 innings. At a level often seen as make-or-break for prospects, Pintaro held his own. He capped off the year by pitching in the Arizona Fall League, working as both a starter and reliever. In ten innings there, he posted a 3.48 ERA—impressive in a league notorious for being tough on pitchers due to the thin desert air. Back in Binghamton this season, Pintaro has remained a reliable starter. His strikeout pitch is working better than ever, with 40 Ks over his first eight starts. Whether his long-term future is as a starter or reliever remains to be seen, but Pintaro is yet another promising arm in the Mets' growing stable of Minor League pitching talent. 

SS Colin Houck: Drafted by the Mets in the first round in 2023 out of high school. Houck is a Georgia native who grew up rooting for the Braves. After a brief stint in the Florida Complex League, Houck began his first full professional season with St. Lucie in 2024. He would struggle to the tune of a .206 average, an OPS of .610 and 171 strikeouts. His stock would plummet as when 2025 began he was barely on most experts' top Met prospect lists. He’s back in St. Lucie this season, and starting to find himself. His .228 average is still below league standards, but his OPS of .765 is over 150 points better than where it was at the end of last season. He’s found his power as well, already at six home runs in 46 games. He hit just five in 112 games in 2024. His 28 RBIs rank eighth in the FSL and four triples have him second in the league. After a grim 2024, many might’ve been willing to throw in the towel on Houck, but now it seems like he’s living up to his first round potential.

Steve Sica - It Feels a Little Like 2013

The "Five Aces" would only pitch together briefly in 2018

The early 2010s are widely regarded as one of the worst eras in Mets baseball. The team was coming off two straight collapses and a disastrous 2009 season. With an aging roster and minimal talent in the minor leagues, the Mets began the decade in baseball purgatory.

Then came the rebuilding process. The Mets traded stars like Carlos Beltran for Zack Wheeler and turned that miserable 2009 season into the seventh overall pick in the MLB Draft, which they used to select Matt Harvey. A couple of years later, they acquired Noah Syndergaard, and 2009 draftee Steven Matz was beginning to develop nicely in the minors. Meanwhile, a little-known prospect named Jacob deGrom was also starting to turn heads.

By 2013, while the Major League product was still non-competitive, there was reason for hope. Harvey had burst onto the scene the year before, and in 2013, he truly came into his own. “Harvey Day” was born, and for the first time in years, fans had a reason to pack Citi Field and get excited. Wheeler made his debut later that season, while Syndergaard and Matz continued to rocket up the prospect rankings. The Mets had a wealth of young pitching that seemed poised to carry them through the rest of the decade.

We don’t need to revisit what happened next or where those pitchers are today. This is about what’s happening in the Mets system now. Across all levels, the Mets are developing a new wave of pitchers who are putting up impressive numbers in the minors.

Brandon Sproat, Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong, and Jack Wenninger headline this new generation of Mets pitching. Sproat, while struggling at times in Triple-A, clearly possesses talent and potential. It's worth remembering that Triple-A wasn't kind to deGrom or Wheeler at first, either. McLean, a former two-way player turned full-time pitcher last season, has transitioned to Triple-A nicely after dominating Double-A early in the year with a sub-two ERA. In three starts with Syracuse, McLean has posted a 2.00 ERA with 17 strikeouts and a .219 opponent batting average.

In Binghamton, two more arms are making waves. Tong, who recently broke into MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 prospects, is arguably the best pitcher in the Mets system. On May 17th against Hartford, he came within one out of a perfect game before being pulled due to pitch count limitations. Tong ranks second in the Eastern League with a 2.37 ERA and leads the league with 65 strikeouts.

Right behind him in strikeouts is Wenninger, with 53. A sixth-round pick in 2023, Wenninger struggled last season with a 4.30 ERA across High-A and Double-A. This year, however, he has emerged as one of the most reliable arms in the system. Through 46 innings with Binghamton, he’s recorded a 2.70 ERA and demonstrated excellent control, issuing just 11 walks.

The Mets wealth of pitching doesn’t just stop with these four pitchers. Zach Thornton is opening eyes this season in Double-A as he threw six perfect innings for Binghamton in his last start. Nate Dohm, the Mets 3rd round pick in 2024, impressed enough in St. Lucie to earn a promotion to High-A Brooklyn earlier this month.

While these pitchers may not carry the same hype and fanfare as the "Five Aces" did over a decade ago, their potential could match—or even exceed—their predecessors. For a team that has struggled to develop homegrown pitching talent over the last ten years, it's refreshing to see so many young arms who could make their way to Queens in the near future. 

This resurgence underscores Steve Cohen’s mission when he bought the Mets: sign free agents to improve the Major League roster, but also invest in the farm system and develop talent from within.

While the future is never guaranteed, Mets fans can afford to get excited about what the team is developing in the Minors, and dare to dream about long-term success, something that has eluded the Mets for most of their existence.