NY Mets promote prospect drafted one pick after Carson Benge to the next level

First-round picks get all of the attention. Carson Benge was on everyone’s radar and to see him win a job out of camp came as no surprise. What about those second-round selections? The New York Mets have had some good ones including the guy taken immediately after Benge.

Ranked as the second best Mets prospect by MLB Pipeline last week, Jonathan Santucci might actually have a case to be their best. He has superior numbers this season to Jonah Tong.

At 3-7 with a 3.57 ERA this year, the Mets had seen enough. Santucci is making the jump to Triple-A where he’ll have a chance to ride out the rest of the season and make his case to be ranked even higher on future updated top prospect lists.

Jonathan Santucci is another step closer to joining Carson Benge on the Mets roster

Santucci has been kind of under-the-radar. A 3.06 ERA last season, he has made 29 total starts in Double-A with a 3.10 ERA overall. A part of the reason why he might not receive the same attention is how slow he started both seasons.

Santucci had a 9.00 ERA after his first 4 starts in 2025. This year it was 5.71. April has been an unkind month to him. From Massachusetts, one has to wonder how he dealt with those early little league games.

Consistent over the last two months, Santucci has posted ERAs of 2.86 and 2.78. Tossing 5 shutout innings his last time out, which ended up as his final Rumble Ponies game, it came after a 5.2 inning performance where the opponent scored 5 times against him (4 earned) but he punched out a season high 13 batters. It was the second time this season Santucci went double digits with strikeouts.

Strikeouts have been a big part of his season. The 11.9 K/9 rate doesn’t fully mask the 4.5 BB/9, but it helps.

Probably not quite ready to fully compete for a rotation spot out of camp next year, with a potential lockout throwing a wrench into everyone’s plans, Santucci should be viewed more as a May or June promotion candidate in case of a Mets starting pitcher injury. The leap to Triple-A will provide him with a challenge many other prospects couldn’t handle, including Tong apparently. Meanwhile, Jack Wenninger remains steady with a 5 BB/9 walk rate being his biggest issue. The Mets would probably like to see more strikeouts from him, currently sitting at 8.6 K/9. The 3.59 ERA seems a little too lucky when considering his 1.39 WHIP.

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