4 Mets prospects the team could lose in the Rule 5 Draft next month

Tuesday evening was the deadline to add players and finalize the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 draft. Minor leaguers who were signed as 19 or older four or more years ago and players who signed at 18 or younger five or more years ago are eligible for the taking. The Rule 5 draft will occur during the Winter Meetings and is scheduled for December 11th.

The New York Mets, however, did not add any players to their 40-man roster to protect them from selection. That leaves some prospects out in the open and able to be selected by teams with room on their active roster. Four prospects the Mets left unprotected may head into the New Year with a different team than the Mets.

1) Dom Hamel

Dom Hamel is the highest-ranked prospect the Mets left available for the taking. A third-round pick by the Mets in 2021, Hamel is ranked as the team’s 15th-best prospect on MLB Pipeline and 11th-best on Baseball America. Hamel is coming off a rough season where he had a 6.79 ERA, 5.95 FIP, and 1.75 WHIP across 124.1 innings at Triple-A Syracuse. Hamel struggled to limit walks and home runs, with a 13.2% BB% and 1.66 HR/9 rate. His strikeout rate also wasn’t great, sitting at 21.3%.

But the right-hander is only a season removed from a promising campaign. During his tenure at Double-A Binghamton, Hamel pitched to the tune of a 3.85 ERA, 3.21 FIP, and 1.27 WHIP in 124 innings of work. Walks were far less frequent, as his BB% was 9.2%. Home runs were also a non-issue, with a 0.87 HR/9 rate. On top of that, he struck out a ton of opponents with a 30.1% K%.

Hamel has a five-pitch mix. His four-seamer only sits at 93 MPH but has above average vertical movement at 13.8 inches. He also throws three breaking offerings. The best is his low-80s sweeper with 43.5 inches of vertical/12.6 inches of horizontal break. Hamel will also toss an upper-80s cutter, along with a mid-70s curveball. Finally, there’s his primary off-speed pitch, a mid-80s change-up.

Hamel is coming off a rough season, and his control has always been a question mark. But we’re still talking about a top-15 prospect in the Mets’ system up for the taking. This is a player the Mets should consider trading. There is a decent chance that Hamel gets taken in the draft, and while it may be selling low on him, it’s better to get something than watch him get taken by another team for nothing.