Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Mets have a prospect problem. And there is no denying it.

There seems to be some flawed logic at play when it comes to how the Mets are handling their prospects. It is in stark contrast to the rest of MLB, and it contradicts the mission statement of the front office wanting to win right now.

It seems that every single day highly-rated prospect Brett Baty goes off at the plate and produces highlight reels after highlight reels of offensive prowess. It is also becoming a regular occurrence to see the third baseman execute a stellar play in the field, an area of his game he’s rapidly improving on by the day. As a result, the calls for Baty to be promoted grow louder and louder by the day too.

Not wanting to be left behind, other top prospects in Mark Vientos and Ronny Mauricio are tearing the cover off the baseball in the minor leagues, raking at an incredibly insane rate. Yet, like Baty, they continue to be ignored despite the fact the Mets have struggled offensively in the early going of 2023.

However, even when they do promote a prospect, the Mets can’t seem to get out of their own way in that instance, either. The Francisco Álvarez case proves that. One of the best prospects in all of baseball was promoted in early April following an injury to Omar Narváez. The plan was for Álvarez to share catching duties with Tomás Nido, and potentially provide some much-needed power from the DH spot. However, Álvarez has hardly been used and has been a mere spectator for the most part.

Calling up a top prospect who boasts raw power when your team lacks that very quality is the smart move, but allowing that same top prospect to collect splinters in his backside while he sits on the bench day in and day out is the complete opposite of that. It is a boneheaded move of epic proportions.

What is happening with Álvarez right now is only going to severely hurt his development, not help it. And that’s a major, major problem.

In-fact, it appears as though the Mets have developed a concerning habit when it comes to the treatment of their prospects. It stretches back to last year when they were reluctant to promote Baty and Álvarez late in the year, despite the fact both players were raking coupled with the fact that the team needed a surge of offense.

That trend continued into spring training. Baty, as we all know, absolutely dominated the Grapefruit League as he hit .325/.460/.425/.885 with six RBIs. He did everything in his power to prove he belonged on the major league roster, including improving his defense at the hot corner.

However, he was instead ushered down to Triple-A where he has only continued to mash at a high, high level. Baty is slashing .400/.500/.886 with five homers, 15 RBIs and a 1.386 OPS. He hit his second grand slam of the season for Syracuse on Friday. With Eduardo Escobar struggling and acting as an automatic out – he’s hitting just .114/.167/.227/.394 – it is comical that Baty is still mired in the minors.

You can put forward a strong argument that the front office are not putting the Mets in the best position to win at all when it comes to their handling of their prospects. Baty still not being up in the majors aside, the Mets aren’t getting enough production from their designated hitters or from the bottom of the lineup. They have also left 111 runners on base so far this season, which ranks fourth worst in MLB. The Mets currently rank 28th in team batting average (.224) in the majors, too.

Given the fact the Mets are stuck in a loaded and formidable National League East division, not to mention they are expected to win in 2023, they can’t afford the luxury of a slow start. They need to be firing on all cylinders right now and what they have right now isn’t currently working. Therefore, what would be the harm in calling up Vientos and Mauricio too and giving them some reps at the DH spot? Mauricio is on an absolute tear in Triple-A with six homers and 14 RBIs. He could inject a real spark into the bottom of the lineup. As could Vientos, who is currently hitting .283/.365/.565/.931 with four homers and nine RBIs for Syracuse.

Sure, there would be growing pains for Baty, Mauricio and Vientos upon being called up to the majors. But there would be no harm in at least giving all three an opportunity to show what they can do and allow them to iron out any kinks now so they can play major roles down the stretch and in the postseason. And, they probably wouldn’t be any worse than some of the hitters in the lineup at the moment.

Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Mets Doing Wrong By Their Prospects

What makes this whole situation even more annoying is the fact that it seems the rest of MLB is doing the opposite. The New York Yankees knew they couldn’t ignore Anthony Volpe‘s hot, hot spring and, despite the pressure the supposed heir to Derek Jeter would face from the off, he was on the Opening Day roster. It hasn’t been all plain sailing for Volpe who has suffered his fair share of growing pains, but the Yankees have stuck with their vaunted prospect and the results are starting to show after Volpe hit his first career home run on Friday.

The St. Louis Cardinals knew they would be an even better team with top prospect Jordan Walker on the roster, despite the fact that he was just 20-years-old on Opening Day. And so it has proved. Walker is currently hitting .294/.333/.451/.784 and he recently put together a hugely impressive 12-game hitting streak.

Another example is the Baltimore Orioles. They’ve taken the leash off of Gunnar Henderson this season and, while they opted to keep their best pitching prospect in Grayson Rodriguez in the minors to begin 2023, they soon saw the error of their ways. Granted, Rodriguez has struggled, he gave up six hits and four walks in his home debut against the Oakland A’s, but the Orioles realize there is a process that needs to play out.

After all, all prospects, no matter how good they are destined to become, will go through growing pains and they will not become better players if they aren’t given the opportunity to work through those mistakes and experience the steep learning curves that come in professional sports.

There are a slew of examples littered throughout Major League Baseball of teams putting their faith in their best young players and then giving them all the time they need to adapt to life in the bigs, to develop and to sustain the battle scars you ultimately need in order to become a player player.

The Mets are the outlier.

And that’s where they are going wrong. They seem determined not to give any of their top prospects a real or consistent shot in the majors until they are the finished and most polished product possible. But that just isn’t realistic. You don’t learn without doing and all prospects need reps in the majors in order to adapt and have what it takes to ultimately succeed on the biggest stage.

The Mets aren’t only hurting the likes of Baty, Mauricio and Vientos by keeping them in Triple-A purgatory, not to mention by forcing Álvarez to keep riding the bench, but they are hurting themselves in the process too. This team is built to win right now and any successful team in any of the major sports needs contributions from young studs and role players throughout the course of a season. Baseball isn’t any different. Just look at recent champions like the Astros, Braves and the Dodgers. They all boasted the perfect blend of experience and youth, of proven big leaguers and young studs with nothing to lose. Jeremy Peña, in his rookie year, led the Astros to the World Series in 2022 and won the World Series MVP after hitting .345/.367/.638/.1.005 in the postseason.

It is amazing what happens when you give youth a chance.

There’s no more excuses for the Mets. They can’t hide behind the Wilpons or a lack of spending anymore. They boast the highest payroll in MLB and owner Steve Cohen has made it clear he wants to win. And soon. Well, in order to win you need your best players on the roster but, as it stands, the Mets have left some of their best chances to win to languish in the minor leagues.

It is about time the New York Mets take the kid gloves off when it comes to their prospects and let them do their thing in the majors. Show some trust just like every other team in the bigs. If they don’t start handling their most prized prospects with more care soon, they could live to regret it in more ways than one.