The first half of the year was a bit of a roller coaster for St. Lucie, finding most of their first half success at the end of May, end of June, and made a big push to end the first half in July when they took five of six from the Bradenton Marauders to end the first half of the season and clinch their spot in the postseason as first half champions of the FSL East.

Coming out of the All-Star break, St. Lucie got off to a very hot start to the second half, winning nine of their first 11 games.. In August, they either tied or won every series. Their success in the second half was enough to also win the division title again in the FSL East after claiming it in the first half.

Unfortunately, after a strong 77-53 season (.592 win percentage), St. Lucie’s luck ran out in the first round of the postseason as the Daytona Tortugas, who had their number most of the regular season, once again dominated the Divisional Series. The Mets took game one 4-2, but the Tortugas took advantage of the Mets’ offense going quiet to claim the last two games of the series, eliminating the Mets in heartbreaking fashion.

St. Lucie’s leaders at the plate (minimum 60 games played) were right fielder, Yohairo Cuevas (.278/.440/.369/.809, 12 doubles, two home runs, 11 RBIs, 50 BB, 11 SB, 41 R, 63 games); first baseman, Trace Willhoite (.265/.382/.470/.852, 13 doubles, two triples, 14 home runs, 66 RBIs, 47 BB, 14 SB, 59 R, 85 games); center fielder, Yonatan Henriquez (.264/.354/.395/.749, 18 doubles, two triples, eight home runs, 50 RBIs, 51 BB, 33 SB, 59 R, 104 games); and third baseman, Colin Houck (.252/.351/.461/.812, 14 doubles, five triples, eight home runs, 38 RBIs, 33 BB, 11 SB, 43 R, 62 games). All four players had been promoted prior to the 2025 FSL divisional round of playoffs.

Offensively, the Mets had a .245 team average and 79 home runs. They combined for 282 stolen bases and had a single-game franchise record 13 stolen bases during the season as well.

The Mets’ pitchers moved around quite a bit in 2025, but it was Wellington Aracena (1-1, 2.38 ERA, 84 SO, 64 1/3 innings), Irving Cota (5-6, 4.36 ERA, 72 SO, 84 2/3 innings), and Channing Austin (2-4, 4.31 ERA, 66 SO, 71 innings) that led the Mets’ pitching staff.

Jose Chirinos was also a leader on the mound for St. Lucie. Through 56 1/3 innings, he was 5-2 with 51 strikeouts. He was on the mound for St. Lucie in game one of the playoffs, throwing five scoreless innings, giving up just two hits and striking out four.

Mets pitching in total had 633 strikeouts, with a 3.59 ERA, which was best in the Florida State League. By the end of 2025, 29 players were promoted from St. Lucie to Brooklyn.

The post Low-A St. Lucie Season Recap: Mets Crowned First and Second Half Champions appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Morabito slashed .397/.518/.529/1.047 for April across 68 at-bats. He was second in total bases with 36. He had two triples and nine stolen bases. For the season, he has stolen 11 bases in 14 attempts and is now slashing .411/.538/.534/1.072. His .538 on-base percentage is second among 902 minor league hitters and his 218 wRC+ ranks third.

Morabito ranked 28th on our preseason Top 35 Mets prospects list.

The 20-year-old had seven multi-hit games in April and closed the month on a seven-game hitting streak. He was a second-round pick in the 2022 draft out of Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C. The Mets received the pick they used on Morabito, as compensation for Noah Syndergaard turning town the qualifying offer and signing with the Angels.

The post Nick Morabito Earns FSL Player of the Month Honor appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Not that it should come as a surprise to anyone who has paid attention over the past 17 months, but Pete Alonso is as excited as anyone for the return of major league baseball.

But he also understands that things are just starting now for a couple of reasons — both the deadly virus that disrupted life as we know it and the thousands of health professionals whose work has allowed for this moment to be possible.

Alonso announced on Thursday that his Homers for Heroes foundation, which he launched in April, will honor a healthcare worker for each of the 60 games this season. “60 heroes for 60 games,” he called it.

“We’re going to be recognizing the hero, naming the hero, explaining their story, bringing their story to light,” Alonso said. “There’s been some absolutely tremendous work from people from all different types of communities around the country.”

Each of Alonso’s heroes will receive recognition and a care package of memorabilia sent to them.

“If I hit a home run maybe a home run ball,” he said.

If his rookie season was any indication, there will be plenty of home run baseballs for Alonso to hand out. Though he won’t come close to the 53 he hit a year ago with about a third of the games, he’s primed to offer similar production scaled to the opportunities he’ll have.

But Alonso will be the first to put the team over himself. In the sprint that will be the 60-game season, that has never been more important.

“I believe so,” he said when asked if the Mets are the team to beat in the NL East. “I think we have an extremely dynamic lineup… There’s no easy out.”

“We also have a great pitching staff,” he continued. “I think we’ve got the pieces to do it.”

There will be plenty of emotion this season as well. Without fans in the seats, Alonso and his teammates, who fed off the Citi Field electricity in 2019, will have to create the atmosphere themselves.

Their first experience with the new normal came last weekend in two exhibitions against the New York Yankees.

“It felt exactly like playing in the Florida State League,” said Alonso, who spent 82 games there with the St. Lucie Mets in 2017. “You could probably count the number of fans on your hands at a Florida State League game.”

But a  lack of in-person faces doesn’t mean an absence of them. “We know that Mets Nation is watching at home,” Alonso said.

The post Pete Alonso Announces “60 Heroes for 60 Games” Initiative appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Photo by Ed Delany, MMN

No. 15 Carlos Cortes, 2B
B/T: L/S Age: 22 (6/30/1997)
Height: 5’7″ Weight: 197 lbs
ETA: 2021 Previous Rank: No. 25
Acquired: 3rd round in 2018 from University of South Carolina
2019 Stats: 127 Games, .255/.336/.397, 26 2B, 11 HR, 68 RBI, 119 wRC+

The second time was the charm for the New York Mets who originally drafted but did not sign Carlos Cortes out of high school in 2016. They would not to be denied again in 2018 when they took Carlos in the third round and gave him a $1,000,038 bonus.

Now the Mets have a hard hitting middle infielder in the system who seems poised to break out in 2020 likely in the upper minors after starting and ending the 2019 season with Class high-A St. Lucie Mets.

Cortes played with the Brooklyn Cyclones affiliate out of the draft slashing .264 /338/.382, playing exclusively at second base for the Cyclones in 47 games. Then Carlos, at age 22, was pushed past Low A and played the 2019 season with the St. Lucie Mets.  The most impressive stat overall regarding Carlos in 2019 with Lucie, was his slash line with runners in scoring position where he was .342/.415/.508 on the year.

Carlos showed an ability to hit for power, barreling up on the ball often, accounting for 40 XBH during the season while also by the view of this writer often falling victim to the dreaded BABIP (.281).

Carlos Cortes also did not shy away from going opposite field, which could also further explain the impressive numbers with RISP. In the Florida State League for the season Cortes ranked at or near the top 15 in 11 offensive categories, including ranking second in RBIs, third in total bases, fourth in runs scored and finishing top ten in walks, doubles and hits.

Defensively, Cortes has worked hard to make himself a passable defender at second base. He has played there almost exclusively, the ambidextrous Florida native played one game in left field late last year. A position he played a lot in college. He even caught and pitched in high school.

I spoke with Carlos this off-season about the process, training, preparation and planning for the coming season. As of now Carlos still sees himself going forward at the second base position, but would go in the outfield if requested as well to add to his versatility to go with his bat. His lack of speed and arm strength makes second base his likely long-term fit.

I remain very high on Carlos Cortes, reporting early on in spring 2019 to avoid the box scores after a rough start in the stat sheets in April slashing .232/.289/.317/.606. I saw the potential in the bat, the balls hit hard in play or just foul, he was the victim of bad luck early. Myself and fans were rewarded in May, when Carlos slashed .303/.355/.505.  Later in August, he hit .290/.389/.484 and finished the season being named an All Star by the Florida State League.

There is still a potential breakout year in his bat. I would expect an assignment in Double-A Binghamton for 2020 with potential to move up to Syracuse. He has good power that is brought by above average bat speed and a swing with an upward plane. In addition to his power, he struck out only 16.8% of the time in 2019.

Previous Rankings

16 Freddy Valdez – OF

17 Adrian Hernandez – CF

18 Dedniel Nunez – RHP 

19 Alexander Ramirez – OF

20 Ali Sanchez – C

25-21 Led by Jaylen Palmer

30-26 Led by Ryley Gilliam

The post MMO 2020 Top 30 Mets Prospects: No. 15 Carlos Cortes, 2B appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Similar to how the New York Mets honored Hall of Famer Tom Seaver by changing the address of Citi Field to 41 Seaver Way, the Mets will also be honoring Mike Piazza by changing the address of First Data Field.

First Data Field is the Mets Spring Training complex and the home to their Florida State League affiliate.

In many ways, honoring Piazza in this location is quite fitting. The Hall of Famer spent his collegiate career in Florida before being drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was the Dodgers trading Piazza to the Florida Marlins which led to him becoming a Met. Lastly, Florida is where Piazza makes his home.

When the announcement is officially made, Mike Piazza will be on-hand along with Jeff Wilpon and other local officials. Once the change is official, the Mets will have honored both of their Hall of Famers with an address and retired number.

With the Mets honoring Piazza in the same way they’ve honored Seaver, you wonder how long it will be before the Mets contemplate erecting a statue in Piazza’s honor as well.

The post Mets Honoring Mike Piazza With Address Change appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

As reported Lindsay Kramer of Syracuse.com, the New York Mets have hired Brian Schneider to manage the Triple-A Syracuse Mets. Schneider will be replacing Tony DeFrancesco who was promoted to be the first base coach on Carlos Beltran‘s staff.

Schneider, 43, played 13 years in the majors. He was acquired by the Mets in 2007 from the Washington Nationals along with Ryan Church in exchange for Lastings Milledge. In his two years with the Mets, he hit .244/.323/.356 while amassing a 0.4 WAR.

His playing time with the Mets is evidence of how deep his ties are to the organization. In addition to being teammates with current Mets manager Carlos Beltran, he was acquired by current assistant general manager Omar Minaya. During his playing days, he was represented by current Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen.

Schneider has been a minor league manager and coach in the Miami Marlins farm system.

From 2014 – 2015, he was the manager of the Jupiter Hammerheads of the Florida State League. In his two years as manager, he amassed a 117-160 (.422) record. Over that two-year period, he managed future Major Leaguers like Austin Barnes, JT Riddle, and Christian Yelich.

Over the past fouryears, he has been a catching coach for the Miami Marlins. In his role, he worked with J.T. Realmuto and Jorge Alfaro.

Rich Donnelly will be the bench coach for Schneider. Donnelly was the rookie level Kingsport Mets’ manager in 2019.

The post Mets Name Brian Schneider New Triple-A Manager appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Photo by Logan Barer, MMO

Andres Gimenez being just 19-years-old hasn’t stopped him from posting an impressive .821 OPS in his first 21 games with the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

The New York Mets top prospect was promoted to Double-A after posting a .780 OPS in 85 games with the Advanced-A St. Lucie Mets. Gimenez was 3.4 year younger than the league average in the Florida State League and is now a whopping 5.3 years younger than the average in the Eastern League playing for Binghamton.

Baseball America recently polled managers in each of the full season leagues asking them to vote on the best tools and Gimenez was mentioned numerous times. He was voted the best baserunner, fastest baserunner, best defensive shortstop and best infield arm in the Florida State League.

Gimenez has blazed through the Mets system after they signed him out of Venezuela in 2015 for a $1.2 million bonus. He went straight from the Dominican Summer League in 2016 to the Columbia Fireflies in 2017, skipping over three levels. He’s also pushed himself up prospects list with MLB having him ranked No. 59 and BA with him at No. 52.

Beyond the impressive .321/.398/.423 slash line for Binghamton, the left-handed hitting Gimenez has also lowered his strikeout rate from 19.9% in A-Ball to 14.4% in Double-A and slightly raised his walk rate from 6.3% to 6.7%. He has also stolen five bases with Binghamton giving him 33 overall this year (though with 12 CS).

Time and time again I hear people talk about Gimenez and Amed Rosario in the same breath despite them being different types of players. While Rosario certainly has/had the higher ceiling of the two, Gimenez is the more polished player at his age. He does all the little developmental things right like bunting, baserunning, and other things that will never show up in the box scores.

Another thing that stands out to me about Gimenez is how much coaches rave about the young left-handed hitter. From work ethnic to maturity, multiple coaches from multiple teams have gone out of their way to throw praise on the Mets top prospect.

While Gimenez is still only 19, everything about his skillset shows a player close to major league ready on both sides of the ball.

The post Gimenez Continues to Impress in Double-A appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Andres Gimenez/Photo by Ed Delany, MMO

While prospects like Peter Alonso, Jeff McNeil, and since the draft, Jarred Kelenic receive all the headlines and attention, the consensus in scouting circles continues to be that Andres Gimenez is the best prospect in the Mets organization. We saw further evidence of that with Gimenez skyrocketing up into Baseball Prospectus Top 50.

In their pre-season list, Gimenez was ranked 82. After a strong start to the season, the 19-year-old middle infielder has jumped 35 spots and all the way to No. 47. When reading Baseball Prospectus’ scouting report for Gimenez, you understand the reason for the leap:

Gimenez offers polish, a broad base of skills on both sides of the ball, and a good shot to stick at the six. He’s held his own as one of the youngest player in both his stateside stops so far. He’s never going to be a heady stat line scout, but he’s added a bit of pop this year, leaving no real holes in his game. He has a very advanced hit tool and approach for a 19-year-old, and if he adds strength in his early-20s, he could end up doing some real damage with the bat in the upper minors and this will look low.

In 81 games for St. Lucie thus far, Gimenez is hitting .278/.346/.430 with 18 doubles, four triples, six homers, and 29 RBI. What really stands out there is he has already set career highs in doubles and homers while matching his career-high in triples. Gimenez has also set a career-high in stolen bases with 26.

He’s ranked sixth in the Florida State League in doubles, and he’s ranked fifth in triples. Additionally, he is the league leader in stolen bases. With him doing all of this while being 3.5 years younger than league average, you get a real sense as to why some many outlets, like Baseball Prospectus, are so high on Gimenez.

Overall, Gimenez was the only Mets prospect to make the Top 50. If he continues playing this way and continues to develop, he may soon find himself even higher in these rankings. If some of his fellow Mets prospects continue developing the way they do, they may soon join him on these lists.

The post Gimenez Jumps Into Baseball Prospectus’ Top 50 appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

With the No. 19 pick in the 2016 Major League Baseball draft, the Mets selected right-hander Justin Dunn out of Boston College.

That season, he appeared in 11 games (eight started) for the Short-A Brooklyn Cyclones, recording a 1.50 ERA and .227 BAA in 30.0 innings pitched.

However, 2017 wasn’t as kind to him. He spent the season with High-A St. Lucie, and registered a 5.00 ERA over 95.1 innings pitched. What was perhaps the most concerning was his lack of control at the level; he walked 45 batters. He was also placed on the disabled list in August with an undisclosed injury.

With all that being said, the Mets remain bullish on their former first round pick, a talent evaluator recently told Mike Puma.

“He didn’t pitch a lot in college, so when he got to pro ball it’s all new to him, starting and going through all that stuff,” a Mets talent evaluator said. “He is just finding himself right now, but [he has a] good arm, good stuff, good competitor, good athlete.”

Dunn pitched mostly as a reliever in college, and may end up as one in the future, but for now the team sees him as a starter. They obviously have faith in him, as well. They had him skip Class-A Columbia altogether as he made the jump from Brooklyn to St. Lucie.

“He went from the New York-Penn League to the Florida State League, (and) that is a big jump for somebody who didn’t pitch a lot in college,” the evaluator said. “I think you will see his numbers improve this year. He is a good one. He just needs time.”

At just 22-years-old, the Mets are hoping he can have a reversal of fortunes and represent the future pitchers of this team.

The post Mets Remain High on Prospect Justin Dunn appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

The New York Mets have announced Chad Kreuter will become the 17th manager in the history of the St. Lucie Mets. St. Lucie is the Mets High-A affiliate that plays in the Florida State League.

Kreuter said this in a team press release, “It is an honor to be named a manager in professional baseball. The Mets are a great organization. They have shown the ability to produce great homegrown talent. It looks like it will continue that way so to be able to manage one of their young teams is really exciting.”

Kreuter takes the reigns from former St. Lucie manager Luis Rojas. Rojas had been promoted to Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies as part of the organizational managerial reshuffling that transpired once Wally Backman resigned as the manager of Triple-A Las Vegas 51s.

Kreuter’s previous managerial experience came with the USC Trojans. While there, Kreuter managed current Mets first baseman Lucas Duda. During Kreuter’s stint as manager of the Trojans, he compiled a 111-117 record. In 2011, after his five year stint with the Trojans, Kreuter served as the minor league field coordinator for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Joining Kreuter on the St. Lucie staff will be pitching coach Marc Valdes. This will be Valdes’ second season with St. Lucie and his eighth season in the Mets farm system as a pitching coach. His previously served as the pitching coach for Kingsport Mets (2007 – 2008), Binghamton Mets (2011), and Brooklyn Cyclones (2012 – 2013).

Former Met Val Pascucci returns for his second season as the St. Lucie hitting coach. Before St. Lucie, Pascucci served as the hitting coach for Savannah Sand Gnats.

Matt Hunter returns for his fourth consecutive season as the athletic trainer for St. Lucie and his 13th season overall in the Mets farm system.

This will be the first season for Alex Tavarez as St. Lucie’s strength and conditioning coach. Tavarez was previously the strength and conditioning coach for Kingsport (2014 – 2015) and Columbia Fireflies (2016).

St. Lucie has created a new position, mental skills coach, which will be Sabrina Gomez.

The post Chad Kreuter Named New St. Lucie Mets Skipper appeared first on Metsmerized Online.