With pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training just around the corner, it is that time of the year again: time for top-100 prospects. Following a strong year for the Mets farm system, several Mets players cracked top-100 lists, with a few being consensus top-50 prospects.
Top-100 lists have become more important than ever with MLB’s Prospect Promotion Incentive Program, rewarding teams for promoting top-100 prospects off lists from Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, and ESPN. There are more lists than just those three. Let’s take a look at where Mets prospects ranked across the various top-100 lists released this spring.
Drew Gilbert, Jett Williams, Luisangel Acuña, Photo by Steven Wojtowicz-MMO
ESPN: 31. Jett Williams, 39. Drew Gilbert, 58. Luisangel Acuña, 72. Ronny Mauricio, 80. Ryan Clifford, 99. Christian Scott
Baseball America: 30. Jett Williams, 87. Ronny Mauricio, 91. Drew Gilbert
Baseball Prospectus: 23. Jett Williams, 29. Drew Gilbert, 76. Ryan Clifford, 77. Luisangel Acuña, 88. Christian Scott
MLB Pipeline: 45. Jett Williams, 53. Drew Gilbert, 66. Luisangel Acuña, 97. Ryan Clifford
The Athletic: 30. Jett Williams, 45. Luisangel Acuña, 94. Ronny Mauricio, 100. Drew Gilbert
For the Mets, Jett Williams was a consensus top-50 prospect. The 2022 first-round selection burst into most top 50s following an incredibly strong 2023, which was highlighted by a dominant stint in Brooklyn that produced a 1.018 OPS over 36 games. Williams dominated as a whole in his first full professional season, putting up a .876 OPS with 43 extra-base hits, 13 of which were homers, and 45 stolen bases. Williams mainly played shortstop and center field, but is expected to play a large dosage of second base in 2024.
Drew Gilbert was the other Mets prospect to make every top-100 list. Gilbert was one-half of the return for Justin Verlander at the 2023 trading deadline and impressed heavily in his stint with the Mets. The former Volunteer reported to Double-A Binghamton, where he helped anchor a lineup that came just short of the Eastern League championship. He posted a .984 OPS with the Ponies and slugged six of his 18 total homers with the team. Overall, Gilbert hit .868 with 18 homers and is set to start the year in Triple-A Syracuse, as per Mets’ president of baseball operations David Stearns.
The Mets’ return in the Max Scherzer trade, Luisangel Acuña struggled in his short stint with the Mets. Acuña, the younger brother of NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., posted a .769 OPS overall in 2023, but stole an incredible 57 bases through the year. With Binghamton, Acuña hit .243/.317/.304 with 15 stolen bases, but just five extra-base hits. The slash line was a stark drop from his run with Texas’ Double-A Frisco prior to the trade, where he hit .315/.377/.453 with seven homers.
Ryan Clifford was the second half of the Justin Verlander trade, but did not enjoy quite the success that Gilbert did in the second half of the season. Clifford mashed six of his 18 total homers in Brooklyn, but managed just a .683 OPS through 32 games. Overall, Clifford posted a .854 OPS in 2023. Clifford was one of the better prospects in the 2022 draft, though he fell to the 11th round due to a strong commitment to Vanderbilt. However, Clifford exploded onto the scene and now finds himself on three top-100 lists heading into 2024.
Christian Scott was a fifth round selection in the 2021 draft out of the University of Florida, where Scott was predominantly a reliever. The Mets started to stretch Scott out in 2022 when he split his 18 games between nine starts and nine relief appearances. Scott went into 2023 as a full-time starter and propelled his career to new heights. Between Binghamton and Syracuse, with one rehab start in St. Lucie, Scott dominated to a 2.57 ERA with 10.98 K/9, a 1.23 BB/9, and a dominant 0.86 WHIP. Scott has become arguably the Mets’ best pitching prospect and figures to find his way to Queens in 2024.
Set to miss all of 2024, Ronny Mauricio made his Major League debut with the Mets in September of 2023. In his 101 at-bats, Mauricio struggled to a .643 OPS with two homers and nine RBIs but stole seven bases despite just a .296 OBP. Mauricio was able to hold his own at second base and was considered to be entering 2024 as a candidate to be the Mets’ everyday third baseman. Mauricio, like Clifford, made three top-100 lists but did not rank higher than 72 on any of them. It will be interesting to see where the polarizing Mets top prospect figures into top-100 rankings come mid-season.
Williams, Gilbert, Clifford, Mauricio, and Acuña all qualified for MLB’s Prospect Promotion Incentive Program because they were in at least two of the three necessary lists above.
