Former NY Mets prospect once on the rise with the Astros fell flat last season

For all of the criticism the New York Mets get whenever they trade a prospect, checking in on many of those players traded often reveals a different truth. Not many of those up-and-coming players make it.

A Mets trade with the Houston Astros prior to the 2020 season which brought Jake Marisnick to Queens for a handful of games included Kenedy Corona, a teenage prospect one year into his professional career who hit over .300 for the Mets in 2019. In 2022, an explosion of power with 19 home runs, a respectable .278 batting average, and 28 stolen bases suddenly made him a guy we were told to worry about.

Similar numbers in 2023 contained 22 home runs and 32 stolen bases with a dip in batting average. Unfortunately for Corona, he fell flat in 2024 right on the cusp of making himself a candidate for some major league playing time.

The Mets-Astros trade that sent Kenedy Corona to Houston is feeling less relevant after 2024

How bad did Corona do? In 396 plate appearances, he had only 3 home runs and 29 RBI. It was a far cry from what he had down the previous two seasons with 19 and 22 round-trippers.

It wasn’t just a year void of power. Corona hit .219/.326/.298 in Double-A where he spent most of the previous season. In Triple-A, Corona batted a measly .191/.257/.254.

The 24-year-old outfielder had a nightmare season. The stolen bases were still there, but in one quick season he went from being the 20th ranked prospect in Houston’s system to falling so far off the radar you'd think he was a drone flying over New Jersey.

Prospects getting to a certain level and not being able to keep up is a tale as old as time. We’ve seen several Mets players do it in recent years, some waiting until they get to the majors before the red flags are impossible to ignore.

A better season in 2025 can get Corona back on track to becoming one of those Mets prospects who got away. More likely, the familiar story of a minor leaguer briefly having success and disappearing as the talent level increases is the way this story ends.