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

2) Mike Vasil

Dom Hamel wasn’t the only notable prospect the Mets left unprotected. They also left right-hander Mike Vasil off their 40-man roster. Vasil was also a 2021 draft pick, selected in the eighth round. Baseball America pins him as the Mets’ 12th-best prospect, while Pipeline is less bullish, putting him at a still noteworthy 18th in the Mets’ system. 

Vasil put up a horrid 6.04 ERA, 5.75 FIP, and 1.54 WHIP in 134 innings at Syracuse. He saw his strikeout rate fall below 20%, clocking in at just 18.6%. It’s not as if Vasil offset this lowly K% with an elite walk rate, as his BB% was 8.6%. But Vasil was prone to the long ball. The right-hander put up a 1.66 HR/9 rate.

Vasil may have struggled badly in 2024, but he was putting up some respectable numbers between 2022 and 2023. This two-year stretch saw him post a 4.24 ERA, 3.88 FIP, and 1.17 WHIP. Vasil walked 8.9% of opponents but had a much better 27.4% K%. Home runs were also much less common when he was on the mound, as his HR/9 was 1.01.

Vasil has a wide variety of pitches at his disposal. His four-seamer displayed average attributes all around, sitting 93 MPH with 15.6/6.9 inches of vertical/horizontal break. His two-seamer has similar velo but with more break (25.2/15.1 inches of vertical/horizontal movement). Vasil also tosses a mid/upper-80s cutter with good vertical drop at 30.1 inches. He then rounds his arsenal with a low-80s sweeper and change-up.

While Vasil’s season was poor, another team could see Vasil as a low-risk/high-reward prospect. This is another player the Mets should consider moving via trade prior to the draft. Even if they can only net something like a low-level prospect for Vasil, it is better to lose him for something rather than lose him for the small amount of cash they receive if a team takes him in the draft.