Photo: Ed Delany, MMO
The New York Mets have decided to make a few minor changes in offseason player development with them no longer doing the traditional instructional league in Port St. Lucie.
Instead, the Mets will hold a development camp this week for it’s top prospects including the likes of Peter Alonso, Andres Gimenez, Ronny Mauricio, Anthony Kay, Justin Dunn David Peterson and 2018 first round Jarred Kelenic.
J.P. Ricciardi, Mets special assistant to the GM, explained the reasoning behind the change to Tim Healey of Newsday, “[The purpose is] to get them assimilated to what being in New York is. What it’s like to be in New York, the media, what a day looks like at the major-league level, interaction with the major-league staff, hands-on work with the major-league staff.”
Another part of the Mets development change is having two shorter instructional camps in Port St. Lucie and now one in the Dominican Republic. In the past the Mets have had top international prospects like Mauricio and Gimenez come stateside for the Instructional League.
The change was likely also necessitated by the St. Louis Cardinals and Florida Marlins – both share Jupiter spring facility close proximity to PSL – deciding last season to cancel their fall instructs league. Giving the Mets only the Astros as a close option for instruct league games.
Other teams have recently cut down on the amount of instructional league games they play and also moved them until closer to spring training.
