Top 5 NY Mets prospects ranked by how excited we should be for their MLB debut

3) Jonah Tong

It has been a long, long time since the Mets developed a pitcher we were excited about who actually managed to have a long-lasting impact on the starting rotation. An organization once built on homegrown pitching, they haven’t had much success. David Peterson took forever before he had his career-season and many questions remain with him.

A somewhat surprising riser in the system last year, Jonah Tong went from being a mid-level draft pick to someone every fan should know about. Improving his command while also cutting down hitters with a massive amount of strikeouts in 2024, the story of Tong as a come-from-out-of-nowhere Mets pitching prospect is one fans can always gravitate toward with excitement. After all, this is precisely what happened with Jacob deGrom. Back in 2021, fans were already believing Tylor Megill could repeat the same things as the two-time Cy Young winner. We love a good everyman (or simple man) type of story.

In masterful fashion, Tong didn’t allow an earned run in any of his 18.2 innings in St. Lucie last year. He got hit a little harder in Brooklyn where he spent most of the year, finishing with a 3.71 ERA in 85 frames. The ERA of a minor league pitcher is mostly irrelevant, though. Tong thrived in other areas, most notably finally finding a consistent handle on his control while maintaining jaw-dropping strikeout numbers. Combined at the three different levels, he averaged 3.7 walks per 9, and 12.7 strikeouts per 9. It was a huge improvement from the year prior when he issued 22 walks in 21 innings.

Tong has been rewarded on most prospect lists with a top 10 placement. In regards to excitement level, he’s even higher because few saw this coming.