Bulldog NY Mets prospect should be an earlier season option than some realize

Pitching depth is something the New York Mets have plenty of. The major league roster currently has six starters plus Tobias Myers who’ll be stretched out for that purpose. They also have Jonah Tong vying for an opportunity to get back to the majors at some point. Don’t sleep on Christian Scott either. He’s going to insert himself into the conversation, too.

It’s an exciting time for the Mets youth movement with a large number of high-performing pitchers coming up through the system. One of those pitchers caught between the wave with experience and the next big one is Jack Wenninger.

A sixth round pick from 2023 coming off of a huge year in Double-A featuring a 2.92 ERA in 26 starts, he’s an arm who could bypass a full year in Triple-A if he continues to pitch like a bulldog.

The Mets social media team sure seems to like Jack Wenninger

Wenninger has been all over Mets social media. He was part of an AMA (Ask Mets Anything) and gained additional attention when he and Tong shared their love for each other.

Being at the forefront of the spring training hype, it seems to suggest the organization is high enough on Wenninger to give him the same treatment they did Tong last year (2 starts in Triple-A before promotion) and Scott back in 2024 (he was called up in the first week of May).

Wenninger seems likely to follow more of the Scott path. He’ll get more than a pair of outings in Syracuse due to timing. It is a little strange he never made it his way to Syracuse last year. In doing so, the Mets got to see him pitch in the Eastern League postseason

It went incredibly well for Wenninger. He pitched 6 innings of 1-hit ball with 9 strikeouts and followed it up with a 5 inning, 11 strikeout performance in the championship round. The latter sealed a championship for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

There’s no telling how healthy the Mets starting pitchers will be when Opening Day hits. More difficult is how many arms they’ll have by May.

Wenninger isn’t on the 40-man roster yet, but with Rule 5 Draft eligibility this December, it’s almost a given they’ll turn to him for help if needed. He’s a candidate to fall into the same trap as Nolan McLean, waiting until there are fewer than 45 days left in the regular season for his debut to maintain his rookie status for the following season.