Peña’s bonus will likely be around $5 million, according to the report, which highlighted a dozen international players expected to sign at the same time. That will make up most of the $6.2 million the Mets have in their bonus pool.

Elian Peña

Peña, Ben Badler of Baseball America wrote, “is a polished lefthanded hitter and one of the most dangerous offensive threats in the class. It’s a sweet lefty swing that’s compact and stays through the hitting zone a long time, with Peña showing the ability to manipulate the barrel to consistently square up pitches for hard contact throughout the strike zone.”

Some scouts thought Peña could play third, while others thought he might be able to handle shortstop, according to Badler, who also posted a video of Peña hitting on X.

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McDaniel released his Top 100 MLB Prospects list earlier in the week, and the Mets had six players on it. The six top 100 prospects for the Mets are tied with the Baltimore Orioles (No. 1 overall ranking), Detroit Tigers (No. 3), San Diego Padres (No. 4), Brewers (No. 5), Yankees (N0. 6), and Reds (No. 10) for the most for any organization.

• No. 31 Jett Williams
• No. 39 Drew Gilbert
• No. 58 Luisangel Acuña
• No. 72 Ronny Mauricio
• No. 80 Ryan Clifford
• No. 99 Christian Scott

Baseball America also released their farm system rankings on Friday, and it’s a little rosier for Mets fans. BA has the Mets farm system at No. 8 in their rankings heading into the 2024 season after they had them at No. 5 going into last season. Baseball America had just three Mets in their recent top 100 lists.

• No. 30 Jett Williams
• No. 87 Ronny Mauricio
• No. 91 Drew Gilbert

Either way you slice it, the Mets have a farm system in the top half of the league, and that’s in large part due to the trades they made at the deadline last season. Gilbert, Clifford, and Acuña were acquired at the deadline, as were infielders Marco Vargas and Jeremy Rodriguez–two players multiple publications noted were close to their top 100 list.

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MLB Pipeline had the Mets at No. 11 before the season, so there’s no change in the ranking despite Francisco Álvarez’s and Brett Baty‘s graduations. That’s in part because the Mets acquired their top two prospects (according to Pipeline) at the deadline in SS Luisangel Acuña (No. 40 overall) and OF Drew Gilbert (No. 56 overall). The Mets also have SS/CF Jett Williams (No. 83), INF Ronny Mauricio (No. 92), and C Kevin Parada (No. 95) in their current Top 100 MLB prospects.

Luisangel Acuña, Photo by Anne-Marie Caruso of NorthJersey/USA TODAY NETWORK

Baseball America had the Mets ranked No. 5 before the season, but that included Álvarez at No. 9, Kodai Senga at No. 15, and Baty at No. 33, and they’ve all graduated from prospect status. Baseball America has the Mets at No. 14 now, with three of their top prospects coming from the deadline deals, Acuña (No. 63), Gilbert (No. 85), OF/1B Ryan Clifford (No. 96), and Williams (No. 97).

Whatever the ranking, the one very clear thing is that Mets’ GM Billy Eppler and the rest of the front office added a ton of talent to the farm system at the trade deadline this year.

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Drew Gilbert, Photo by Photo by Anne-Marie Caruso of NorthJersey/USA TODAY NETWORK

Here is their updated list:

1. Luisangel Acuña, SS (Max Scherzer trade)
2. Drew Gilbert, OF (Justin Verlander trade)
3. Ryan Clifford, 1B/OF (Justin Verlander trade)
4. Jett Williams, SS/OF
5. Colin Houck, SS (2023 draft pick)
6. Ronny Mauricio, SS/2B/3B/LF
7. Kevin Parada, C
8. Mike Vasil, RHP
9. Blade Tidwell, RHP
10. Christian Scott, RHP
11. Mark Vientos, 1B/3B
12. Alex Ramirez, OF
13. Brandon Sproat, RHP (2023 draft pick)
14. Jacob Reimer, 1B/3B
15. Marco Vargas, SS/2B/3B (David Robertson trade)
16. Jesus Baez, SS
17. Justin Jarvis, RHP (Mark Canha trade)
18. Luis R. Rodriguez, LHP
19. Dominic Hamel, RHP
20. Matt Rudick, OF
21. Calvin Ziegler, RHP
22. Tyler Stuart, RHP
23. Daiverson Gutierrez, C
24. Ramon Gomez, RHP
25. Coleman Crow, RHP (Escobar trade)
26. Joel Díaz, RHP
27. Junior Santos, RHP
28. Layonel Ovalles, RHP
29. Jordany Ventura, RHP
30. Cristopher Larez, SS

The two biggest things that jump out to me are Kevin Parada dropping to seventh and Marco Vargas being only 15th. Parada has struggled behind the plate this year and is currently on the injured list with the Brooklyn Cyclones. Vargas should be much higher on the Mets list and should definitely be in the top 10, in my opinion. Should note that Baseball Prospectus has said Vargas will be a top 101 MLB prospect in their next update. I have Vargas at No. 7 on my recent update.

I’m surprised they don’t have catcher Ronald Hernandez –the other half of the David Robertson trade– and outfielder Stanley Consuegra on their list at all. I have Hernandez at No. 20 and Consuegra at No. 22.

What is clear, though, is that Billy Eppler and crew added a ton of talent at the trade deadline that certainly improved the Mets farm system.

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In their re-evaluation of the Mets farm system, Baseball America apparently did not include players from the June 2023 draft. As a result, prospects like Colin Houck and Brandon Sproat are not included in the rankings. While they are omitted, the following 30 are:

Ronny Mauricio. Photo by Ed Delany, MMO

1. Ronny Mauricio, 2B/LF/SS
2. Kevin Parada, C
3. Jett Williams, SS/CF
4. Mike Vasil, RHP
5. Alex Ramirez, OF
6. Mark Vientos, 3B/1B
7. Blade Tidwell, RHP
8. Jesus Baez, SS
9. Christian Scott, RHP
10. Jacob Reimer, 3B
11. Luis Rodriguez, LHP
12. Calvin Ziegler, RHP
13. Matt Rudick, OF
14. Dominic Hamel, RHP
15. Daiverson Gutierrez, C
16. Raimon Gomez, RHP
17. Tyler Stuart, RHP
18. Coleman Crow, RHP
19. Joel Diaz, RHP
20. Junior Santos, RHP
21. Landon Marceaux, RHP
22. Cristopher Larez, SS
23. Layonel Ovalles, RHP
24. Jordany Ventura, RHP
25. Jose Butto, RHP
26. Luis Moreno, RHP
27. Rowdey Jordan, OF/2B
28. Candido Cuevas, RHP
29. Dangelo Sarmiento, SS
30. Nick Morabito, OF

This is a re-ordering at the top when it comes to Mets prospects. In May, Baseball America had rated Parada as the top prospect who has not been in the majors. He has now been surpassed by Mauricio, who has a 106 wRC+ with Syracuse. Notably, the Mets have moved him off shortstop in an attempt to find an eventual place for him at the major league level.

With his struggles with Brooklyn this season, we have seen Ramirez’s stock take a hit. He is out of the top 100 rankings, and while he has held steady as the fifth-best prospect, he remains in that position after three promotions to the majors.

For Mets fans who have been frustrated by the team’s ability to produce pitching, the top 30 has a boon of pitching. Out of the 30 prospects ranked, 17 of them are pitchers. That includes three in the top 10.

This season, we have already seen the Mets produce two quality major league players and Senga perform well, each of whom have star potential. With Mauricio and Vasil, there are two more who could contribute by the end of this year or at some point in 2024. Overall, the Mets are starting to see their minor league system produce players, which was one of the stated goals when Steve Cohen purchased the team.

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Francisco Álvarez. Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

On Thursday, Baseball America released their updated top-100 prospect rankings. Six Mets sit in these top 100:

• 6th – Catcher, Francisco Álvarez
• 15th – RHP, Kodai Senga
• 31st– Third baseman, Brett Baty
• 49th – Catcher, Kevin Parada
• 89th – Outfielder, Alex Ramírez
• 95th – Shortstop, Jett Williams

A notable name that was missing from this list was shortstop Ronny Mauricio.

No. 6 – Catcher Francisco Álvarez

Álvarez ranks a top the list for the Mets at No. 6. He was with New York in spring training where he posted a slash line of .107/.194/.107, good for an OPS of .301.

The young catcher was assigned to Triple-A Syracuse to start the season. Since returning to Syracuse, he has batted .250/.368/.688, with a 1.056 OPS. Notably, he has one double, two home runs, walked three times, scored four runs, and has four RBIs.

Álvarez will reportledy be with the Mets on Friday after Omar Narváez was added to the injured list. He is number one on our Mets’ prospect rankings list.

Kodai Senga. Photo by MMO’s Ed Delany

No. 15 – RHP Kodai Senga

The 30-year-old rookie from Japan is the next Mets’ player on the list.

Senga made three starts in spring training. Across nine innings, he pitched to a 4.00 ERA. He allowed four earned runs on six hits and struck out 10 in those nine innings.

Senga made his highly anticipated major league debut with the Mets on April 2 against Miami. He threw 5 1/3 inning. In that outing, he gave up just one earned run on five hits and walked three. He also struck out eight, each via his electric splitter.

Brett Baty. Photo by James Farrance

No. 31 – 3B Brett Baty

Brett Baty ranks No. 31 on Baseball America’s most recent update of the top-100 prospects in baseball. Baty was also with the Mets for spring training and looked impressive.

Baty, MMO’s second-ranked prospect in the Mets’ system, appeared in 23 games this spring. He slashed .325/.460/.425, with a .885 OPS. He had 13 hits, including a double and a triple. Baty also walked eight times, scored seven runs, and had six RBIs.

Baty was also reassigned to Triple-A Syracuse for the start of the 2023 season. He has played in four games since the season started and was slashing .400/.471/.867 with a 1.338 OPS before leaving the game Tuesday with a sore thumb. He is being listed as day-to-day for now.

Kevin Parada. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

No. 49 – Catcher Kevin Parada

Kevin Parada was a non-roster invitee to spring training. He hit .167/.333/.167, with an OPS of .500. He had just one hit, one walk, one run scored, and one RBI in the eight games he appeared in.

Parada was assigned to High-A Brooklyn to start the season. Last year’s 11th-overall pick is poised for a big season. He is our third-ranked prospect in the Mets’ system.

Alex Ramírez. Photo by Frank Becerra of Journal News

No. 89 – Outfielder Alex Ramírez

Ramírez also received an invite to spring training, where he batted .200/.238/.200, a .438 OPS. He appeared in 13 games and had four hits, three runs scored, one RBI, and walked once.

Ramírez, our fourth-ranked prospect in the Mets’ system, was assigned to High-A Brooklyn for the start of the season. The only 20-year-old will hope to build on last season, where he had close to an .800 OPS across two levels.

Jett Williams. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

No. 95 – Shortstop Jett Williams

Coming in and rounding out the list of Mets in the top 100 of Baseball America’s rankings is shortstop Jett Williams.

Williams appeared in just two games this spring. He had a double and an RBI in across those two games. Williams will start the season with Single-A St. Lucie.

Last year’s 14th-overall pick will look to build on his 10-game stint he had with St. Lucie last year. He had over an OPS of .800 across these 32 at-bats. Williams is MMO’s fifth-ranked prospect.

Ronny Mauricio. Photo by Serena Spencer

Not Ranked – Shortstop Ronny Mauricio

A name missing from the list is shortstop Ronny Mauricio. Our sixth-ranked prospect in the Mets’ system.

This spring, Mauricio appeared in 17 games. He slashed .242/.286/.636, with a .922 OPS. The shortstop had one double, four home runs, five runs scored, and eight RBIs impressing many.

Mauricio was assigned to Syracuse (Triple-A) to open the season, where he has continued his strong play. He is currently slashing .364/.391/.773, good for a 1.164 OPS. Across five games, Mauricio has eight hits, one double, one triple, two home runs, four runs scored, one walk, and six RBIs.

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Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Baseball America has released their ratings of the MLB farm systems, and they ranked the Mets as the fifth-best in baseball. We got a sense of how highly rated the Mets system could be rated when six prospects were ranked among BA’s top-100 prospects.

Following the Mets system the past few years, we have seen their top prospects progress to the upper levels of the minors. Notably, they had some of their top prospects make their Major League debut last season. Here’s what Baseball America has to say about the Mets system, including the proximity of their top prospects to the big leagues.

The system’s top three prospects—Francisco Álvarez, NPB veteran Kodai Senga and Brett Baty—will impact the big leagues this season, while 2022 top draft picks Kevin Parada, Jett Williams and Blade Tidwell provide depth and upside to supplement up-the-middle talents like Alex Ramirez and Ronny Mauricio.

We already know Senga will start the 2023 season in the Mets Opening Day rotation. With his hot start to the spring, there is a chance we may see Baty join him in the majors. If he doesn’t, the expectation is he and Álvarez will be contributors and possibly everyday players before the end of the 2023 season.

While not specifically mentioned, there is also the chance we see players like Mark Vientos, Jose Butto, and Bryce Montes de Oca become significant contributors to the 2023 squad. This speaks to the depth of the Mets system and how the upper levels have been able to produce Major League players.

It also speaks to how much the Mets system has improved. Last year, the Mets system was ranked 16th, and they were ranked 23rd in 2021. Now, they are in the top five.

The Mets rank behind the Baltimore Orioles, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Cleveland Guardians on Baseball America’s list. This puts them as the top system in the National League East.

The other National League East teams are ranked as follows: Washington Nationals (7), Philadelphia Phillies (19), Miami Marlins (20), and Atlanta Braves (30). The Braves finishing last shouldn’t be that much of a surprise,  with Atlanta graduating a significant number of prospects over the past few seasons.

Like the Braves, the Mets system will “take a hit” once prospects like Álvarez, Baty, and Senga graduate from prospect status. That said, the Mets scouting department has shown they can draft as well as anyone in the National League, and they have been identifying terrific players in international free agency. All told, the Mets system is well regarded now, and it promises to remain that way in the future.

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Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets are well represented in the 2023 Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects list. New York has six players in the top 100, topped by Francisco Álvarez, who clocks in at No. 9.

Behind Álvarez on the list are, Kodai Senga (No. 16), Brett Baty (No. 33), Kevin Parada (No. 50),  Alex Ramirez (No. 92), and Jett Williams (No. 95).

Former Mets prospects are also represented on the list, with Endy Rodriguez (traded in the Joey Lucceshi deal) coming in at No. 23, and Pete Crow-Armstrong (traded in the Javier Báez deal) coming in at No. 25.

Álvarez, Senga, and Baty all figure to be contributors to the Mets big-league roster in 2023. Senga will be in the team’s rotation alongside Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, José Quintana, and Carlos Carrasco. Álvarez and Baty are candidates for a spot on the Opening Day roster, but will have to usurp veterans for playing time.

Parada, Ramirez, and Williams are still years away from contributing, but their presence on this list is certainly promising in terms of how their potential is viewed by the larger baseball community.

The overall top five on the list are:

1. SS/3B Gunnar Henderson (Baltimore)
2. OF Corbin Carroll (Arizona)
3. OF Jackson Chourio (Milwaukee)
4. 3B Jordan Walker (St. Louis)
5. RHP Andrew Painter (Philadelphia)

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Tommy Tanous, Photo: NY Post

The Mets have multiple decisions to make on July 17th that will certainly affect wins and losses in the long-term outlook of the franchise. The 2022 MLB draft takes place on that day with the Mets having two first-round picks, their second-round pick, and a compensation pick for Noah Syndergaard signing with the Angels.

The Mets have the third largest bonus pool available of $13,955,700.

Here’s the breakdown of the picks:

• #11 overall (comp for not signing Kumar Rocker) – $4,778,200 slot bonus
• #14 overall – $4,241,600 slot bonus
• #52 overall – $1,474,400 slot bonus
• #75 overall (comp for Syndergaard) – $873,300

All four of these picks will happen on Sunday night on MLB Network and ESPN, with coverage starting at 7:00 p.m. ET. Four picks on Sunday night and another pick on Saturday that gives them five of the top 90 picks in the draft certainly puts a laser focus on an important time for Mets vice president of amateur and international scouting Tommy Tanous and Mets director of scouting Marc Tramuta.

Interestingly, Tanous and Tramuta have been in a similar situation before, 12 years ago with the Toronto Blue Jays when they had eight picks in the top 93. In a fascinating twist, the crown jewel of that draft was Syndergaard and now Noah is a reason why they have one of their top picks this year. Tanous joined the Mets the next year in 2011 and Tramuta followed suit after the 2012 draft.

Tanous, Tramuta and their group of scouts have done a fine job drafting over the years. In fact, the Mets have been one of the better teams in baseball in terms of getting value from the draft since 2010. Players drafted by the Mets since 2010 have accumulated the second most WAR —trailing only the Astros — according to research by Down on the Farm.

I should also note that we talked to Tramuta on our MMO Weekly show two months ago, and he raved about how awesome it is to now have Ben Zauzmer be a part of the draft process as well. Zauzmer, previously in the Dodgers organization, was hired in January of 2021 to be the Mets’ director of analytics and was quickly promoted to assistant GM in December of the same year. In the episode, Tramuta talks about the great balance the Mets use in the draft (and other areas of the organization) between scouting and analytics.

“You’d be foolish not to use that data to try to get an edge. That’s one thing Tommy and I and Ben have done, we talk about where can we find that next edge whether it’s scouting or analytics. We try to stay ahead of the curve,” Tramuta said.

This important draft will also be the first one under the watchful eye of GM Billy Eppler. While Eppler was known to be fairly hands on when he came to drafting with the Angels, the Mets have typically relied heavily on their amateur scouting department and more recently the R&D department to come up with a list of players they like.

Then lastly, before we get in to specific players the Mets might draft, it’s important to note that the MLB draft is like no other when it comes to what player the team takes. In the NFL if you need a franchise QB then you’re likely going to take one earlier in the draft and potentially plug him pretty quickly. In baseball, players go right to the minor leagues after being drafted and it takes most of the good players multiple seasons in the minors to be ready for the big leagues.

A good example of that is Pete Alonso. He was a college bat the Mets drafted after his junior season at Florida and he then took three minor league seasons before he was one of the best sluggers in the majors. That’s a pretty advanced college bat; it can take longer for players taken out of high school. It simply takes time. You don’t draft for need in baseball, you take the best player available. That’s an important note before we look at a few mock drafts.

Jace Jung, Photo by Elise Bressler, Texas Tech Athletics

Let’s take a look at a few players that have been mocked to the Mets recently by Baseball America, Prospects Live, ESPN and The Athletic.

• Jett Williams, SS/OF, Rockwall-Heath High School in Texas – Baseball America says Jett has among the best strike zone judgement and defensive skills of all the prep players available. The 18-year-old has plus speed and is one of the shorter players at 5’8” expected to go early in the draft.
• Brock Porter, RHP, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s High School in Michigan – Baseball America, MLB Pipeline, and the Athletic all have Porter as the first pitcher off the board. Porter has been up to 100 mph and BA ranks his changeup as the second best in the draft among prep pitchers. The 19-year-old has an easily repeatable delivery that has helped him earn back-to-back Gatorade Player of the Year awards.
• Jace Jung, 2B/3B, Texas Tech – Both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline have Jung ranked as the No. 9 player overall in the draft. The 21-year-old has shown a ton of power with 35 home runs in 117 games over the last two seasons and BA also ranked his strike zone judgment as the second best among college bats. His brother, Josh, is currently ranked as the Texas Rangers top position player prospect.
• Daniel Susac, C, Arizona – The consensus No. 2 catcher in the draft behind Kevin Parada is a good sized dude at 6’4”, 218 pounds. The right-handed hitter (formally a switch-hitter) had a 1.012 OPS this past season as a sophomore for Arizona. Baseball America ranked him as the fourth best draft eligible defensive catcher among college players.
• Justin Crawford, CF, Bishop Gorman High School in Nevada – The son of former big leaguer Carl Crawford is known for his defense and speed, ranked second and fourth respectively by BA among prep hitters. The 18-year-old is a left-handed hitter just like his four-time All-Star father.

Jett Williams

Here’s recent mock drafts from top outlets:

• ESPN – Crawford at #11, Williams at #14, 3B/1B Tyler Locklear at #52, and OF Gavin Turley at #75
• Athletic – Jung at #11, Susac at #14
• Baseball America – Williams at #11, Porter at #14
• Prospects Live – SS Zach Neto at #11, Porter at #14, and 3B Cayden Wallace at #52

I think Keith Law best described the Mets’ potential for the 2022 draft: “They can do just about anything they want in the first round. They could go way over slot here if some big name slides to them, and then cut a deal at No. 14 to balance out their pool, for example. That means the Mets are supposedly on everybody, and anything is on the table. They could boost a college arm at No. 14 to pay for someone at No. 11, for example. Here, I’ve got Jung, presumed to be a top-10 pick most of the spring, going to them as a straight value pick, where they take a player who never should have gotten this far.”

There’s a ton of different ways the Mets could go with their first couple of picks and what they do will be remembered for a long time in what is one of the most important drafts in recent team history.

“The boring answer is you still take the best player available but having all those picks and the pool money there’s plenty of different scenarios you can play around with,” Tramuta said. “But you should stick with what you’re good at and be disciplined.”

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Good Morning, Mets fans! After a day off yesterday, the Mets begin a three-game series back at Citi Field against the red-hot Marlins tonight, who recently returned to action. Michael Wacha (1-1, 6.00 ERA) gets the ball tonight as the 5-8 Mets look to get on a roll.

Latest Mets News

The team demoted catcher Ali Sanchez as rosters shrunk to 28 today.

Latest MLB News

MLB announced make-up games for games that were postponed due to COVID-19 related issues.

Should the Australian Baseball League return, Manny Rameriez will be there for the Auckland Tuatara, per 1News.

MLB.com‘s latest pitching power rankings saw Jacob deGrom come in first, trailed by Shane Bieber.

JJ Cooper of Baseball America looked into MiLB’s latest proposal to MLB concerning the future of Minor League Baseball.

MLB.com announced the development of the Baseball Savant Illustrator.

Amazon gave the go ahead to the TV series “A League Of Their Own,” a baseball series focused on a women’s baseball league and of course based on the true events that inspired the 1992 movie.

HBO will air a documentary on WFAN personality Craig Carton on October 7.

MLB has suspended Astros’ reliever Kent Emanuel 80 games for a PED bust.

Latest On MMO

Michael Mayer looked into the recent successes of the Mets bullpen.

Rich Sparago dived into how Edwin Diaz can reclaim the closers role.

Matt Musico dissected Michael Conforto‘s hot start.

On This Day In Mets History

Birthdays: Kirk Nieuwenhuis (33), Tyler Yates (43), Danny Graves

Let’s go Mets!

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