Mets top prospects in 2018 and what to expect going forward

The New York Mets farm has closed for the summer. Let’s look at what some of their best prospects accomplished this year and what we can look forward to in the future.

Nothing eases the anguish of a lost and painful baseball season quite like a look at a better future. The New York Mets came into the 2018 season with zero top 100 prospects on MLB.com’s list while having high hopes for the big club.

So much for that. All hope is not lost though, as the Mets now have four players on the aforementioned list with other promising players not too far behind. Let’s take a look at what got them there and what to hope for the future.

The four prospects on MLB’s list are

-#57 Andres Gimenez
-#61 Peter Alonso
-#65 Jarred Kelenic
-#95 Justin Dunn

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Gimenez began the year as the Mets top prospect and for good reason. After tearing it up in the Dominican Summer League as a 17-year-old in 2016, the Mets aggressively moved him stateside in 2017, bypassing stops in Kingsport and Brooklyn to slot him directly into Low-A ball with Columbia.

After holding his own there as one of the leagues youngest players at 18, the Mets continued to test his abilities by placing him with High-A St. Lucie to start 2018.

Continuing his trend of outperforming his age group, Gimenez yet again got promoted mid-2018. This time to AA Binghamton. Needless to say, the slick-fielding shortstop, who was a whole 5.2 years younger than the average player in the AA Eastern League, is on the fast track to the majors with a projected call-up of late 2019/ early 2020.

Alonso may have the highest offensive upside of any Mets prospect since the vaunted, daunted, flaunted Lastings Milledge.

We won’t get ahead of ourselves too much but to understate how excited Mets fans are about Pistol Pete Alonso may be a crime in Queens. After an electrifying, albeit short, debut in Brooklyn in 2016, Mets fans knew there was something to be seen in the second round pick.

It all came together in 2018 when along with the current (and future) Mets starting second-baseman Jeff McNeil, Alonso formed half the pair of debatably the most fearsome duo in the Eastern League. After both were promoted to AAA Las Vegas in mid-June, only McNeil has since been summoned to The Show, leaving Alonso to patiently wait for his turn.

Fortunately, all indications point towards that exaltation taking place in early 2019. Giddy-up.

If there’s one positive to the brutal 2017, it’s the potential star taken with the sixth overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft as a result. Kelenic is young and still learning every day, but all reports seem to indicate a potential five-tool stud.

Those reports were seemingly vindicated when Kelenic absolutely outmatched the Gulf Coast Rookie League. After just twelve games, the Mets had seen enough and promoted the 18-year-old to Appy League Kingsport.

A harsh debut cooled the hype a bit but he finished strong and figures to head to Brooklyn or possibly even Columbia sometime near the beginning of the 2019 season. His projected call-up is 2021-2022 so sit tight, folks.

Finally, we look at the leader of the newest wave of Mets pitching prospects. Many evaluators feared Dunn wouldn’t stick as a starter due to his size. He seems to have taken that personally.

Those concerns were put to bed after the Boston College righty dominated with High-A St. Lucie to the tune of a 2.36 ERA over 45.2IP. This stellar showing prompted a move to AA Binghamton where his ERA spiked but his overall output was similarly effective. Most importantly though, he stayed healthy and showed the durability needed to alleviate those “experts'” concerns.

Fresh off winning the New York Mets Sterling Award for Pitcher of the Year, Dunn is primed for another strong showing in 2019. An expected call-up should be sometime next year depending on the needs of the major league club.

Fear not, Mets fans. Help is on the way in the form of top prospects and not-so-top prospects. Keep an eye out for these names as they’ll hopefully be thrilling the Metropolitans faithful for years to come.

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