Jarred Kelenic/Photo by Ed Delany, MMO

Keith Law of ESPN covered numerous topics in his Thursday chat though the one that will interest New York Mets fans the most were his thoughts on the farm system.

Law fielded this question from Jordan, “Where would you rank the Mets farm system going into next season? Mid-tier? Seems like almost all their top-20 guys had terrific seasons.”

A year ago this would have been a crazy question given the Mets consistently bottom tier farm system rankings going into 2018.

The answer was optimism however, “Above the median. Good chance they’ll be top ten. Most of their big names had great years, they landed a stud in Kelenic, their second-rounder Woods-Richardson looked better in pro ball than in the spring, and they had some pop-up guys like Newton establish themselves as prospects too. I get Mets fans on Twitter telling me how bad they think the farm is, but they’re totally wrong. They’ve drafted well, consistently, and hit on some international guys too.”

Law had the Mets higher than most to start the season with his No. 21 ranking out of the 30 major league teams. Baseball America had them at No. 27 to begin the season but recently boosted them up to No. 19, the fourth largest jump for a team from preseason to midseason.

This jump from Law and BA was helped by encouraging seasons from high picks in first baseman Peter Alonso, third baseman Mark Vientos, left-handed pitchers Anthony Kay and David Peterson and right-hander Justin Dunn. Mets also saw impressive results from their top two picks from 2018, outfielder Jarred Kelenic and right-handed pitcher Simeon Woods-Richardson.

Top prospect Andres Gimenez held his own while making his way to Double-A Binghamton and is now the No. 49 ranked prospect in baseball according to BA. MLB Pipeline currently has the Mets with four top 100 guys; Gimenez at No. 57, Alonso No. 61, Kelenic No. 65 and Dunn at No. 95.

The Mets also have a plethora of teenage talent in the lower levels with 2017 international free agents Ronny Mauricio and Adrian Hernandez as well as breakout prospects Luis Santana and Shervyen Newton.

Aside from the early success of the 2018 draft, the Mets added two of the top 2018 international free agents in catcher Francisco Alvarez (given team record $2.7 million bonus) and outfielder Freddy Valdez ($1.45M bonus). Lastly, they were able to get right-handed pitcher Franklyn Kilome from the Phillies in exchange for Asdrubal Cabrera. Kilome was in Baseball Prospectus’ top 100 before the season and finished the year off strong with Binghamton.

All in all, it’s a Mets farm system that is back on the upswing with guys that could help in 2019 and high upside prospects lower in the system.