This NY Mets prospect's value is skyrocketing without him doing a thing

Usually it takes some actual action for a player’s value to increase. Leave it to the MLB offseason to circumnavigate logic and make a particular New York Mets prospect even more valuable to the franchise than he had been previously.

Whether you rank him first, second, third, or heaven forbid even lower in the Mets system, Brandon Sproat has become your mother’s foreign-made heirloom; one which you don’t play a game of “uppie” with a balloon around as a child or dare you risk chipping a part of it.

The heavy price on young starting pitchers in trades and mediocre ones in free agency has made Brandon Sproat even more important for the Mets

The Mets have had many types of excellent players in recent years. What they’ve lacked is the young stud pitcher. David Peterson took until his fifth major league season to prove himself. For a brief time, there was thought Tylor Megill could replicate what Jacob deGrom did before him. How silly were we to ever set such lofty expectations!

Drafting, signing, or trading for and then developing pitchers hasn’t been a strength of the Mets. A full decade has gone by since the last starting pitcher came up to the majors and showed he had ace potential. We were treated well in the early 2010s with Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard, and even Steven Matz who put together some really good years early on. We haven’t had anything close to it since.

Starting pitchers with any ability whatsoever don’t come cheap in the free agent market nor do they seem to get handed over in trades for anything short of a haul. Despite how injury prone they are, there isn’t anything more valuable to teams than a starter who gets carded even by the least responsible bartender out there.

Growing pitchers like Brandon Sproat in the system is crucial for the Mets even with Steve Cohen's deep pockets

Sproat turned 24 on September 17 and should start next season in Triple-A hoping to show more than the 7.53 ERA he put together in 7 starts. His dazzling performance in Brooklyn followed by an almost equally as impressive stretch with Binghamton had him fast-tracking his way up the minors in his first professional season.

Under David Stearns, the Mets have been cautious about any long commitments to pitchers of any kind. They’ve also been casual about protecting some once notable prospects. They let Mike Vasil get taken in the Rule 5 Draft. Dom Hamel, while not selected, was left open for anyone who wanted to take a chance. Sproat, on the other hand, was where the Mets seemed to draw the line in negotiations involving a trade for Garrett Crochet. Although the idea of him plus Jett Williams is what they shot down, one has to imagine the inclusion of Sproat was the bigger issue.

The Mets will eventually need to have some controllable starters on their staff. A year-to-year plan of finding the next Sean Manaea is not sustainable. Simply buying the best available free agents doesn’t work either. It also seems to go against Stearns’ philosophy.

Last offseason we saw pitchers who fell into the “bounceback” category get around $13-14 million per year. This offseason, the Mets awarded Frankie Montas with $17 million and a player option for 2026. By the time a player like Sproat is in free agency, how many millions will these seemingly average arms go for?

Overdue for something to go well in their development of young starting pitchers, Sproat being a solution in the rotation sooner than later becomes a huge win for a team constantly looking to add to their rotation. Valuable to the Mets based on talent alone for now, any success he gives them in the near future at league minimum dollars is sure to benefit them when it comes to balancing the budget.