Hayden Senger, Photo by Ed Delany of MMO

It is easy for catchers in the New York Mets system to go under-the-radar when your organization has the likes of Francisco Alvarez and Kevin Parada as two of its top prospects. With veteran catcher Omar Narvaez playing in the WBC next month, the Mets invited a few catcher prospects to spring training as non-roster invitees and one of them was Hayden Senger.

Senger received an invite to major league spring training for the second consecutive year. Last year, he appeared in eight spring training games and didn’t put up the results he would like (1-for-11, 5 K’s). However, he did gain some valuable experience in getting to catch some of the big league pitchers such as Max Scherzer.

The 25-year-old right-handed hitter was selected by the Mets in the 24th Round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of Miami (Ohio) and received a $125,000 signing bonus. Back then, Senger was one of five catchers that the Mets selected, including another non-roster invitee this year in Nick Meyer.

Back in 2021, Senger had a good season that led to him getting an invite to the Arizona Fall League at the end of the year. The 6’1” catcher had a slash line of .263/.341/.429 with five home runs, 14 RBIs, and a .770 OPS between High-A Brooklyn and Double-A Binghamton.

Last season, Senger appeared in 83 combined games for Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse. He had a slash line of .240/.309/.358 with five home runs, 31 RBIs, 21 walks, and an .OPS of .667. He did go on the IL during the season and missed about a month’s worth of action. When he came back, he ended up having a .380 OBP in the month of August before getting to finish the year in Syracuse.

If you compare the two seasons, Senger’s line drive rate number dropped off from 26.5% at Double-A in 2021 to 21.3% a year ago. Meanwhile, his fly ball rate was up drastically from 31.6% to 48.2%. Both of these numbers are courtesy of FanGraphs.

While Senger isn’t known for his offense, he has become one of the better defensive catchers in the system due to his athleticism. In 2021, he threw out 32% of the baserunners trying to steal between High-A Brooklyn and Binghamton. However, that number went down to just 20% one year ago.

The question is going to be how many reps will Senger get if Alvarez starts the year at Triple-A and with Meyer and Perez potential options at Triple-A as well. As he heads into his age-26 season, Senger could also use spring as an opportunity to impress and maybe be a part of a potential deal down the road.

Yes, Senger has dropped out of many Top 30 Mets prospect lists, but it will be interesting to watch him and Meyer battle it out at Syracuse this season. He has the chance to regain some of that momentum he had at the end of 2021.