Hyped NY Mets prospect on the 40-man roster couldn’t look more lost

Though the New York Mets' collapse in 2025 left them with little to play for in the waning weeks of that season, they did at least spark a lot of fan excitement by promoting a number of their top prospects to the big leagues. Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, and Jonah Tong all got into some MLB action, offering a glimpse into the future of the Mets' rotation.

There was another hyped prospect among that group, though he never got into a game after being called up for the final weekend. Dylan Ross had spent the year climbing all the way from High-A to the majors, emerging as a no-doubt Opening Day bullpen option for 2026.

However, he wound up not making even a single appearance in spring training, which has proven to be a telling omen for his entire season.

Dylan Ross is falling off the Mets' radar during disastrous 2026 season

From a pure stuff standpoint, there's still a lot to like about the 25-year-old. His fastball is averaging around 97 miles per hour in Triple-A this year, while his favorite secondaries (his slider and his sweeper) are both inducing whiff rates above 45%. Hence, it's no surprise that he's still striking out reams of hitters (11.50 K/9 this season).

And yet, the results can't be denied. He has an 8.49 ERA and 6.41 FIP in Triple-A, despite his impressive strikeout numbers and groundball habits (54.4% of contact against him is on the ground). Yes, bad luck in the form of a .387 BABIP surely has something to do with those struggles, but that's just what happens when you're consistently getting barreled and giving up hard contact. It's telling that the big-league team, even after emptying their bullpen at the trade deadline, didn't think to give him a look, despite the fact that he's already on the 40-man roster.

The real problem is that he's simply lost his feel for the strike zone. A 19.1% walk rate in Syracuse is bad enough, but he's also working with a strike percentage of 55.6% (10th percentile among Triple-A pitchers). Even worse is his ghastly 40.5% in-zone rate, which means that nearly six out of every 10 pitches that leave his hand are ending up outside the zone.

He's barely surviving in the minor leagues with those numbers -- imagine what the best hitters in the world would do to him. Hopes that Ross would become the next high-leverage weapon for the Mets need to be put on hold indefinitely, at least until he remembers how to keep hitters honest.

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