Brandon Sproat may be more important for the NY Mets than realized

Specific prospects the New York Mets could trade away are purely speculative. No trade has been made that swaps young players for an experienced veteran. Thus far, the biggest trade the Mets have made in terms of addition is swapping Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien.

Whichever major trade target of the Mets you might want to discuss, the name Brandon Sproat is often brought up in the mock trade. Sproat has been passed around twice by Nolan McLean in terms of importance. Jonah Tong might be neck-and-neck. The only reason why Sproat is ahead is how poorly Tong was at times in the majors last year.

Sproat is certainly a trade candidate. However, understanding the Mets are bound to need an immediate readjustment to their rotation because spring training injuries are just a part of the game, they might want to view Sproat as their best sixth starter option and someone who could slide onto the roster from the get-go if needed.

Brandon Sproat might be the best sixth starter the Mets have

Sproat shouldn’t be in the team’s plans to start the year in the big leagues. He looked good in parts of his 4 starts, but there’s a problem. He just wasn’t good enough to go into next year as a clear rotation candidate.

Sproat’s time in Triple-A hasn’t been dominant and his promotion to the majors was out of necessity just as it was for Tong. He was 8-6 with a 4.24 ERA in 121 innings for Syracuse with an 8.4 K/9 rate.

Syracuse has claimed multiple top Mets pitching prospects in recent years. Mike Vasil, Dom Hamel, and Blade Tidwell are three pitching prospects who ranked among the best in the system who faltered at that level. None are with the organization any longer. Vasil was a Rule 5 Draft pick in 2024. Hamel was picked up on waivers after a small sample with the Mets. Tidwell was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Tyler Rogers.

Sproat’s place within the organization is a bit iffy. Caught between being a realistic Opening Day roster candidate but also not showing enough in Triple-A, he edges out Tong as an emergency depth option simply because Tong lacks the experience in Triple-A that Sproat already has.

The Mets could always add a more experienced starter to the roster for this role. Carl Edwards Jr. is getting stretched out as a starter. He’s essentially this year’s Jose Urena even if he’s receiving the Clay Holmes treatment.

Mets pitchers have a habit missing time early on; not that it’s anything wholly unique to them. A spring training injury is practically a given and having the armor to get through an extended period of time is pretty important. With Tylor Megill out for the year as their usual candidate for that parachute, Sproat feels like a practical choice.