17th round draft pick who barely pitched before 2026 belongs on the NY Mets' radar

The Double-A season is over and with it comes the conclusion to a rather sensational performance out of a 17th round draft pick by the New York Mets. Bryce Jenkins, a 25-year-old taken late in the 2023 MLB Draft, barely pitched in college with only 16.1 innings of work. He added only another 16 as a professional pitcher from 2023-2025. Tommy John surgery was the usual suspect to slow him down.

Rather than let this destroy his career, Jenkins returned to action in 2026 and quietly put himself on the team’s radar for the future. A 1.99 ERA with Brooklyn in 40.2 innings of work and 10.4 K/9 with 3.3 BB/9 earned him a promotion.

Jenkins got to Binghamton for another 13.2 innings. He managed to win 4 games in relief while pitching to a 0.66 ERA. Once again, he had a 3.3 BB/9 rate with only a slight drop in strikeouts to 9.2 K/9. His 1.66 ERA overall with a 0.86 WHIP matched well to complete what was one of the best years of any Mets minor league pitcher.

Bryce Jenkins had one of the best seasons of any Mets minor leaguer in 2026

Among the ranks of all Mets major leaguers and minor leaguers with the qualified innings, nobody did it better than Jenkins in 2026. The same goes for his WHIP. He wasn’t tight-rope walking through outings. Jenkins was incredible at limiting hits. With Brooklyn in particular, hitters couldn’t figure him out. They managed only 3.8 hits per 9 innings.

The Mets were already at least a little intrigued by Jenkins prior to this year. After 12 innings and a 6.00 ERA in 2025, they invited him to participate in the Arizona Fall League. He went on to allow 7 runs in 8.1 innings. It would have been easy to move on. He was already 24 at the time and as such a low draft pick taken by the previous regime, all of the markets were there to become a minor leaguer who never managed to become a legitimate prospect.

From a late round draft pick to someone we need to start paying attention to, Jenkins’ age has the makings of accelerating through the system quickly. He could be a sneaky grab in this year’s upcoming Rule 5 Draft, if there is one, but with only a little more than a dozen innings above Single-A, one would have to imagine he’s at least a few months away from having any sort of major league impact. Would a team actually be able to handle having him around for the full 2027 calendar?

If Jenkins can pick up where he left off, he should be someone who can jump up through Double-A quickly and possibly join the rotating group of Mets relievers. Triple-A will be the real test. It has claimed multiple Mets pitchers in recent years, Dylan Ross and Ryan Lambert being two of the more notable relievers in 2026 whose stock suffered.

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