The New York Mets still have an above-average system (or at least above the median), even after sending two top-100 prospects to the Milwaukee Brewers for Freddy Peralta, thanks to years of positive draft results and some excellent pitcher development over the last two seasons.
(Notes: Ages are listed as of July 1, 2026. Scouting grades are on the traditional 20-80 scouting scale. EV = exit velocity.)
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 214 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 24
McLean’s path from the Oklahoma State bullpen to the Mets’ rotation is a heck of a story: He threw 25 1/3 innings as a sophomore, all in relief and rarely more than one inning per game, while starting 52 games at third base and another 10 in the outfield. The Orioles took him in the third round in 2022, then walked away without even making another offer after something came up in his medicals, instead using the money they’d allocated to him to pay 17th-rounder Carter Young, who hit .163/.230/.211 last year in Double A and is, obviously, not a prospect. McLean returned to OSU in 2023, threw 30 innings with the same stuff but worse strikeout and walk rates, and still played more in the field than on the mound, after which the Mets took him in the third round again and signed him for slot money. After turning pro, he started more games in April 2024 than he did in three years in Stillwater, making 43 starts over two years before his debut, and kept getting better with the help of the Mets’ strong pitching development team.
Primarily a two-pitch guy in college who lived off that top-rail four-seamer, McLean can show six pitches now, with the fastball still a plus pitch, a bigger-breaking sweeper than he had as an amateur and a new curveball with huge two-plane break. His changeup gets a ton of tumble to it, and he barely even had to use the pitch in the majors because everything else was so good. He’s an elite athlete, as you’d hope a former third baseman-reliever would be, and has shown an incredible capacity to make adjustments already. The command is the one facet of his game that separates him from the true No. 1-No. 2 starters, and I’m betting that will improve with more experience — McLean has thrown just 332 total innings in five years, most of that in the past two seasons — and because he’s already improved in so many other ways. He’s got a high floor as a No. 3 starter already, and could be a top of the rotation guy given another 200 or so innings of repetitions.
Height: 6-1 | Weight: 184 | Bats: L | Throws: R | Age: 23
The Mets’ 2024 first-round pick, Benge, was a two-way player at Oklahoma State who gave up pitching when he signed, a smart move all around. He really took off last year after making a small adjustment at the plate to stop rolling his front ankle. He’s an excellent athlete with very quick hands and more power than his home-run total (15) would imply, tapping into more power as the season went on, with plenty more to come if he continues to adjust. Because of the way he strides and lands and the start of his hand movement, he can end up having to make a huge move to get the barrel into the zone, flying open as a result and, especially early in 2025, rolling his front ankle because he can land too closed. The more he loosened that up — and he did improve it between April and June — the more he could get to his pull side without having to overexert, and he has easy plus power that way. He showed more advanced swing decisions last year than I expected, with excellent pitch recognition, although he gets way, way too aggressive with two strikes. He’s a center fielder now and could end up an above-average defender there, with plus defense in right field his absolute floor, as he has a cannon for an arm that used to produce mid-90s velocity in relief. I’m more of a believer now that I’ve seen him make some adjustments at the plate, even though there’s more work to do.
Jonah Tong had one of the best minor-league seasons of any pitcher in baseball last season. (Brett Davis / Imagn Images)
Height: 6-1 | Weight: 180 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 23
Tong’s MLB debut didn’t go well, to put it mildly. In his defense, it was an aggressive assignment for a player with just nine innings above Class A coming into 2025, and his season beyond that was exemplary.
Tong led all of minor-league baseball with 179 strikeouts thanks to his very high arm slot and plus extension, which gives his 94-96 mph fastball nearly 20 inches of induced vertical break and generated a 36 percent whiff rate on the pitch in the minors. He pairs it with a changeup that wouldn’t be plus on its own — it has a little arm-side fade without much tumble — but plays way up because hitters can’t distinguish between the two pitches out of his hand, and the fastball rides up much more than they expect while the changeup doesn’t. He’s very north-south, typical for over-the-top guys, using a downward-breaking curveball more in the minors, but the Mets are trying to develop a slider or sweeper he can use to get some more lateral movement and force hitters to think more in four directions rather than two.
His command and control have improved dramatically, as he walked 22 percent of batters he faced in 2023 (when he was still throwing 90-92) and cut that to 10.6 percent last year, even as his velocity kept increasing. I don’t usually rank guys with this kind of arm slot anywhere near this high, as the overwhelming majority of them end up relievers. Tong’s stuff is on another level. He can get hitters on both sides out, and he’s an elite athlete who has already shown he can make a ton of adjustments. He should be at least a mid-rotation starter and could be a No. 2 starter if he finds a suitable breaking ball to expand his movement profile.
Height: 5-11 | Weight: 160 | Bats: L | Throws: R | Age: 21
The Mets took Ewing in the fourth round in 2023, signing him for a small amount over slot, and his full-season debut in 2024 was not promising, although I noted in last year’s rankings that he probably needed the defunct short-season level and was still young enough to turn it around. He showed up stronger in 2025 and continued to improve his defense in center, ending 2025 in Double A with a composite line of .315/.401/.429 across three levels with 70 steals in 81 attempts. It’s a contact-oriented approach, but he has more bat speed and pure strength than the stat line implies, lacking the loft in the swing to put many balls over the fence. That’s a small adjustment that he could make at some point in the future. For now, he’s a four-tool player who projects to hit, play plus defense in center and add value on the bases. He’s similar to Jett Williams, who was ahead of him in the Mets’ system before the Freddy Peralta trade, although Williams is a better infielder and has more power. I’m sure Ewing’s emergence made it easier for New York to include Williams in the deal. Even if Ewing never gets to more than eight to 10 homers a year, he’s a regular in center and will still be able to fill in at second or third if needed. There’s a non-zero chance he becomes a star if he lifts the ball a little more to get to more home-run power.
5. Elian Peña, OF
Height: 5-10 | Weight: 180 | Bats: L | Throws: R | Age: 18
As the Mets’ big international signing last January, Peña probably gave them all angina when he started his pro career 0 for 26 with seven strikeouts. He got his first hit in his 10th professional game, and from that day through the end of the Dominican Summer League season, he hit .342/.460/.618, tying for third in the league in homers despite the massive goose egg to begin his season. He swings hard, with present 55-60 power, lacking much projection on his 5-foot-10 frame because he’s already so filled out. He split time between shortstop and second base, with a second baseman’s build and a chance to be an above-average defender there. His DSL line was fantastic, and he does seem to have an advanced feel to hit, but I’m not ready to buy into him as a star based on that summer.
6. Mitch Voit, 2B
Height: 6-0 | Weight: 201 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 21
The Mets’ first pick in 2025, Voit was a second baseman for Michigan, where he posted very high contact rates while walking more than he struck out in his draft year. He’s a plus runner with average power that he gets from excellent bat speed. The Mets moved him around the infield in his pro debut, with second base his best position; he could be a plus defender there, which might obviate plans to move him to center field. He was also a pitcher and third baseman until blowing out his elbow in 2024. He projects as an average regular at second, with the ceiling of an above-average one if his defense turns out to be plus or better.
7. Zach Thornton, LHP
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 170 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 24
Thornton has outstanding command of a six-pitch arsenal, with good feel to spin the ball, while his fastball is a little light at 92-93. He was limited to 72 2/3 innings last year by an oblique strain, walking just 11 batters (4.0 percent) in that span and wiping out the platoon split that had him in the future-reliever bucket a year earlier. He comes from a high three-quarters slot and is pretty north-south with everything, using the cutter as his best option to get something in on a right-handed hitter’s hands. His changeup is his weakest pitch, possibly because it’s hard for him to turn over a traditional changeup from that arm slot. With his present velocity, he’s probably more of a fourth or fifth starter, but he has the command and competitiveness to pitch above his stuff.
8. Ryan Clifford, OF/1B
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 200 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 22
Clifford hit 29 homers last year between Double A and Triple A, mostly off right-handed pitchers, and he should be the strong side of a platoon in an outfield corner or at first base for some MLB team by at least 2027. He took a big step forward in the outfield last year to the point where he could play right or left in the majors, which probably wasn’t the case a year ago. He has power to all fields, but it’s a very pull-oriented swing and approach, which may cost him some contact. He hit .247/.379/.497 off righties last year, drawing 75 walks in 451 PA, which will definitely play, but .204/.273/.381 off lefties with a 29 percent strikeout rate, consistent with his entire career. Give him a right-handed caddy, and you might get 30+ homers and 80+ walks out of the two-headed monster.
9. Jacob Reimer, 3B
Height: 6-0 | Weight: 205 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 22
Reimer makes a lot of hard contact and is just generally a hitter first with everything else secondary, including his position. He’s mostly a third baseman now, but he is maybe a 45 there, with first base a better spot for him defensively. He hits with no hand load at all, making his 17 homers in 122 games last year even more impressive, although it’s hard to imagine him doing that or more in the majors with his current mechanics. He’s an excellent fastball hitter who hit right-handers surprisingly well last year, despite his difficulty picking up sliders from righties, with almost no platoon split. The 2025 season was his first full, healthy year in pro ball since the Mets took him in the fourth round in 2022, and he produced at High A and Double A, with a composite line of .282/.379/.491 and minimal dropoff anywhere after the promotion. He did have some hamstring issues in 2025, which seemed to flare up any time I was scheduled to see his team play. He could be a solid regular at first or a slightly better one at third, although I have concerns about the in-game power going forward and his ability to keep hitting better righties as he moves up.
10. Nick Morabito, OF
Height: 5-10 | Weight: 185 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 23
Morabito is the classic “plays like his hair’s on fire” guy. At some point, he should maybe accept that the fire’s out and slow down a minute. He’s super aggressive at the plate, with bat speed but too much soft contact, even though he has more power in the body than he’s shown. He’s the same way in the field, making difficult highlight plays but sometimes overrunning balls that should be routine catches. He’s a 70 runner who has been successful on the bases, with 49 steals in 60 attempts last year, and he went off in the hitter-friendly Arizona Fall League, showing more patience (easy to do when no one can throw a strike) and topping out at an exit velocity of 111.8 mph. He’s a fourth outfielder unless he either gets to more power or tones down his defense to make himself a 55 or 60 defender there.
Duke alum Jonathan Santucci held up well last season after dealing with elbow problems in college. (Kara Durrette / Associated Press)
11. Jonathan Santucci, LHP
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 205 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 23
Santucci, a second-round pick in 2024 out of Duke, sits 93-95 as a starter with a plus slider that’s up to 89, getting good tilt on the pitch and landing it in the zone when he needs to get a strike. I know several scouts who think that’s all he needs to go right to an MLB bullpen and be a high-leverage reliever, probably throwing upper 90s with a slider that might touch 91-92 and good control. I’d exhaust the starting thing before trying that, as he threw strikes in the rotation and held up for 117 innings last year, even though his 2023 season ended with a fracture in his elbow that required a screw to stabilize the bone. My bigger concern is that he barely uses his changeup, getting righties out so far with just the two pitches. He’s got that easy floor in the bullpen, but the Mets have been very good about helping pitchers add or tweak pitches to try to get them all the weapons they need, and he’s such an obvious candidate for a new change-up or a splitter to make him a fourth starter or better.
12. Jack Wenninger, RHP
Height: 6-4 | Weight: 210 | Bats: L | Throws: R | Age: 24
Wenninger is 95-97 with some ride up on the four-seamer, working with a low-spin slider/cutter and an average splitter that he tunnels well, making it very effective against minor-league hitters so far. The Mets’ sixth-round pick in 2023, he struck out 26.4 percent of batters he faced in Double A last year, working heavily with the fastball and its 17 inches of induced vertical break and that splitter, mixing in the cutter and adding a curveball last summer. The velocity is real, but it’s a bit off a trick-pitch package, as the fastball doesn’t have the difference-making life that Jonah Tong’s does, and the splitter lacks the heavy bottom of a plus pitch, hanging up just enough that a hitter who catches it out front will be able to whack it. It’s crazy that we are in an environment where a guy can touch 99 atop a four- or five-pitch mix and be a fifth-starter type, but velocity is cheap these days.
13. Will Watson, RHP
Height: 6-1 | Weight: 180 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 23
Watson was a shortstop/reliever at Cal Lutheran in 2022, transferred to a junior college, then went to USC in 2024 to work exclusively as a pitcher, after which the Mets took him in the fifth round. He throws hard, sitting 94-97, with a very long arm action and no deception, so the fastball doesn’t miss a lot of bats. His change-up is a 55, definitely his best pitch, while he’ll mix in a cutter, slider and occasional sweeper (because every Met pitcher has a sweeper, it’s in their contracts), with moderate spin on the breaking stuff and the cutter the best of those three pitches. He’s very athletic and fields his position well, so he should be able to adjust, but it’s odd that his delivery is so unathletic. The arm swing is so long that hitters see the ball all day, and I don’t think he can repeat it enough for average command and control. I think he’s a reliever as is, with some ceiling if he can shorten the arm action to let him stick as a starter.
14. Chris Suero, C/1B
Height: 5-11 | Weight: 205 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 22
Suero makes me a little nuts because I have seen him absolutely eviscerate baseballs, and I have seen him give away at-bats like he’s giving alms to the poor. It’s similar when he’s behind the plate — he can block and receive, and he can throw when he’s focused. Even with as much consistency as a random number generator, he still managed to draw 70 walks and hit 16 homers last year between High A and Double A, and then went to the AFL and teed off on the bad pitching there, including a max EV of 112.5 mph while he was in the desert. He can run. He has plus speed, and he uses it well, with 35 steals in 43 attempts last year. There’s too much ability here to ignore, even though in my experience, players like him end up frustrating us all.
15. Daiverson Gutierrez, C
Height: 5-11 | Weight: 206 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 20
Gutierrez is a very high-contact hitter who has a chance to stick behind the plate, but he needs to work on his blocking and tighten up his throwing. He’s got a strong frame for a backstop and moves well enough to see him as at least an average receiver and blocker, while he has an average arm and needs to work on his transfer and throwing accuracy to make it play. His swing is a little handsy, and he doesn’t use his lower half enough, so it’s contact without power, evidenced by his .242/.362/.309 line in Low A last year and similarly low EV numbers. Right now, he looks like a solid backup at his peak, with the potential for an everyday catcher if he can use his lower half and make harder contact.
16. Marco Vargas, SS
Height: 5-11 | Weight: 170 | Bats: L | Throws: R | Age: 21
Vargas is a plus defender at shortstop, maybe a 70, with speed and an excellent eye. He also slugged .323 last year as a 20-year-old at both levels of Class A, because he hits the ball on the ground too often. The Chihuahua, Mexico, native makes some medium-hard contact, enough that if he just got the ball in the air more, he’d boost his batting average and slugging percentage, and the glove is good enough that he can stick to hitting single-digit home run totals and still be a big leaguer.
17. Camden Lohman, RHP
Height: 6-4 | Weight: 195 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 19
Lohman signed an over-slot deal in the eighth round last season out of a Missouri high school thanks to his extremely fast arm and a potentially plus curveball. He comes from a high three-quarters slot and gets on top of the ball well, getting up to 95 and showing an occasional splitter, as well. He takes a moderate stride towards the plate but probably could stride further to get some more extension out over his front side. He’s a high school pitcher, with all the risk that entails, and he has the upside of a starter given the three pitches and the potential swing-and-miss weapon in the curveball.
Boston Baro had a down season in 2025 but still has potential based on his tools. (Nick Cammett / Diamond Images via Getty Images)
18. Boston Baro, SS/2B
Height: 6-0 | Weight: 170 | Bats: L | Throws: R | Age: 21
Baro was my sleeper for the Mets last year. Instead, he had a miserable season at the plate, hitting .224/.282/.321, even though he only struck out about 20 percent of the time and hit his share of line drives. He got very pull-happy, which may have been part of the problem, as otherwise it was a year where everything went a little bit wrong, adding up to a catastrophic year. He still ran well, still played plus defense at short, still got to fastballs and still hit enough line drives for better results. He definitely needs to get stronger, but that’s a cop-out answer for a year this bad. I’m holding out hope based on his athleticism and still decent command of the strike zone.
19. Edward Lantigua
Height: 6-1 | Weight: 174 | Bats: R | Throws: R | Age: 19
Lantigua started his Florida Complex League season in 2025 with a passive approach, taking his walks in a league where lots of pitchers don’t know where the plate is, without looking for pitches to drive. He started looking to drive the ball in the final month, still walking plenty because it’s the FCL, hitting four of his six doubles and all three of his homers in the last 11 games of the FCL season. He is disciplined, and he could be a leadoff-hitting center fielder if he gains some speed as he gets stronger and works with the Mets’ development staff. He might take some time, as he only turned 19 in November and is not that physically mature, but the change in his mindset at the plate is a positive sign.
20. Daviel Hurtado, LHP
Height: 6-1 | Weight: 166 | Bats: L | Throws: L | Age: 21
Hurtado is a projectable right-hander from Cuba who’s been up to 97, sitting more 92-94, with at least an average curveball right now. He looks like he hasn’t had a ton of development work yet, as there’s effort to the delivery, and he doesn’t get out over his front side much. Also, he doesn’t have a sweeper, so you know the Mets haven’t even tried helping him yet. I’d guess he’s a reliever, but he’s just a wild card with a good arm and body.
2026 impact
McLean is in the Opening Day rotation and a Top-5 National League Rookie of the Year candidate.
The fallen
I missed on Kevin Parada, too. The Mets’ first pick in 2022, four spots before they took Jett Williams, mashed at Georgia Tech with fringy catching, yet he hasn’t hit anywhere close to that in pro ball. He repeated Double A last year and hit .254/.326/.429, then went up to Triple A for three weeks and was bad again. I do think he’ll get an MLB call-up, but he’s an emergency catcher at this point.
Sleeper
I don’t think Peña is a budding superstar, at least not yet, but I do think he’s going to hit well through the low minors given his feel for the zone and present strength for his age.