3 NY Mets minor league Statcast standouts

Statcast was introduced in 2015. Since then, it has introduced multiple new statistics and brand-new ways of viewing the game. However, since 2021, A-Ball and Triple-A have gotten Statcast as well. The New York Mets have plenty of talented players between St. Lucie and Syracuse who we can view Statcast data from. But these three stand out the most among their prospects at these two levels.

1) Raimon Gomez

Raimon Gomez has some of the best stuff in the Mets’ farm system. Originally an international signee in 2021, Gomez had a promising 2022 season before being sidelined for most of 2023 and 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery . He is back in action now, pitching 18.1 innings between St. Lucie and Brooklyn, only allowing eight earned runs, striking out 27, and allowing just a single home run. But he’s also handed out 16 free passes.

But Gomez’s four-seam fastball has averaged out at 100.2 MPH, topping out at an insane 104.5 MPH. It is the fastest by any minor leaguer tracked by Statcast (min. 10 plate appearances). On top of elite velocity, he also throws the pitch with elite movement. His fastball only averages 10.9 inches of vertical drop, the third lowest among all Statcast-tracked fastballs, giving it the ‘riding’ movement at the top of the zone. But he is also one of only two pitchers with no more than a foot of vertical movement and at least ten inches of horizontal break, coming in at 10.9 inches.

This made Gomez’s fastball at St. Lucie practically unhittable. He induced an impressive 38.3% whiff rate. When opponents swung and made contact vs Gomez’s fastball, he induced an exit velocity of 81 MPH. Gomez will also throw a slider and occasionally fold in a curveball and sinker, but his fastball is one of the best in the minor leagues. Almost no one else throws a pitch with that much velocity and movement.

2) Drew Gilbert

Drew Gilbert hasn’t been able to fully rebound to his 2023 levels of production. He is hitting .235/.349/.364 with a .336 wOBA and 95 wRC+ in 195 plate appearances between St. Lucie and Syracuse. He has only struck out 15.4% of the time with a strong 13.3% walk rate but has only hit four home runs with a .130 isolated slugging percentage.

But Gilbert does have some decent Statcast metrics. For one, he only has a whiff rate of 16.7%. That is the 15th lowest among minor leaguers who are tracked by Statcast this season with at least 150 plate appearances. However, he is displaying more raw power than any other minor leaguer who swings and misses that infrequently.

There are only 20 batters with a whiff% of 18% or lower in 150+ plate appearances. Gilbert’s 90.2 MPH exit velocity and 8.9% barrel rate both rank second among those 20 batters. San Diego Padres’ Luis Campusano ranks above Gilbert in both metrics. The next closest is Cole Young, who has an 89.6 MPH exit velo, an 8.5% barrel rate, and is a top 50 prospect in baseball.

Gilbert may not be doing outstanding this season, but at least he’s doing the things you want to see a player doing right. He’s showing off some solid raw power and rarely swings and misses. The outfielder also seems to be showing good pitch recognition, given that he is walking at an excellent rate so far this year.

3) Nate Dohm 

Right-hander Nate Dohm was the Mets’ third-round draft pick last season. He made his pro debut this season at St. Lucie and pitched very well at the first full-season level of the minor leagues. It was only 28.1 innings, but he had a 3.18 ERA, a 27.9% strikeout percentage, an 8.2% walk rate, and only allowed one home run. 

Dohm has since been promoted to High-A Brooklyn, and his surface numbers definitely showed that he deserved it. However, his Statcast numbers also support this fact. Dohm had a 27.3% whiff rate. His slider was particularly good at getting batters to swing and miss, with a 31.6% whiff percentage. His only pitch that didn’t induce a whiff rate of at least 25% was his sinker.

Dohm was also very good at limiting hard contact. He had an 86.1 MPH exit velocity, but his barrel rate sat at just 2.6%. Only Wellington Aracena and Channing Austin had a lower barrel percentage in the Mets’ system, with at least 100 batters faced. Dohm also ranked 14th among all A-Ball pitchers.

Dohm is now at High-A, where he has only pitched 9.1 innings, allowing four earned runs, with 11 K’s and four free passes. But he showed off a lot of good traits at A-Ball, having no problem getting swings and misses with most of his pitches and inducing good contact when opponents put the bat on the ball.