In his opening press conference, new Mets general manger Jared Porter highlighted the player development department as an area that needs an upgrade within the franchise. He also noted analytics and research as other areas that need improvement. Porter has a strong background in player scouting and development.

These were areas the Mets have been trying to upgrade – specifically the analytics department – since Sandy Alderson’s first go-around with the team, though he didn’t receive the resources to do so from previous ownership. They made slight improvements under the Brodie Van Wagenen administration, but it was generally viewed the Mets were still below league average in terms of resources committed to player development and analytics.

Porter – later on SNY – elaborated on analytics, “I believe analytics… is really a bridge-builder more than anything else. It should really bring the whole organization together.”

The Mets let go of Jared Banner, the director of player development under Van Wagenen, when the sale of the team to Cohen became official.

Porter also stressed the need of having a strong 40-man roster and minor-league system to help the major league team when injuries occur.

Just two of the Mets current top 20 prospects (according to MLB Pipeline) have played above A-ball, so there has been a real lack of talent in the upper echelons of the Mets minor league system the last couple years. During Porter’s press conference, Alderson noted that Syracuse, the Mets Triple-A affiliate, will be “veteran-oriented” this year. He also agreed the strength of the Mets minor-league system is in the lower rungs and those players need time to improve and play up to Double-A and Triple-A.

There are a multitude of reasons for this–from Van Wagenen trading dozens of prospects over his two years as GM to prospects (specifically bullpen pieces) traded for by Alderson at the end of his first tenure not panning out–so it will be nice to see this being addressed immediately. Player development was a strength of the Mets in the early-to-mid-2010s, which helped lead them to a World Series in 2015.

Steve Cohen noted in his opening press conference the Los Angeles Dodgers were a good organization to compare how he’d like to run the Mets, and the Dodgers are generally viewed as the benchmark with regards to resources committed to player development from the top of the organization down.

Now Cohen, Alderson, and Porter all seem aligned on needing to commit more resources to get this done.