A top NY Mets prospect not getting nearly the amount of love he has earned

All of the preseason prospect rankings are coming out, if they haven’t already. ESPN updated their list with a thorough look into the top 10 within every organization. The New York Mets prospects didn’t offer any incredible surprises. It’s a lot of the guys we expected.

Maybe most notable is the steady rise of Jonathan Santucci. ESPN previously had him ranked 10th in the team’s system, bumping up to the number 8 spot. This can be easily explained by the departure of Brandon Sproat and Jett Williams in the trade for Freddy Peralta. By default, he has to move up.

Santucci actually deserves a ton of credit for being one of the quieter and incredibly productive Mets prospects last year. ESPN went as far as to rank him the 176th best prospect in all of baseball. His numbers from last year suggest he could be capable of dropping the 1 from the front of that number.

Stop sleeping on Mets prospect Jonathan Santucci

A second-round pick by the Mets in 2024, Santucci is only getting overlooked by fans because of how incredible those ahead of him in the rankings and MLB ETA have done. Nolan McLean had all of the eyeballs on him last year. Jonah Tong had plenty, too. Even our dearly departed Brandon Sproat has been captivating audiences.

Santucci did his job in 2025. Graduating from High-A to Double-A after just under 70 innings, he managed to finish the year even stronger one level up. The Double-A numbers produced a 4-0 record, 2.52 ERA, and 11.3 K/9. He has been masterful with his control, walking just over 3 batters per 9 in his 117.2 innings last year.

One explanation as to why Santucci never got the credit he deserves is the slow start. After not pitching at all in 2024 after getting drafted, he debuted with a poor April in Brooklyn. An 0-3 record and 9.00 ERA after 4 starts, all future months included an ERA below 3.00 except for August when it raised to a sensible 3.51. This was his best strikeout month as well, coming in at 11.9 K/9.

There’s a lot to really like about Santucci. It seems like he needed time to adjust to pitching in the pros. He’ll spend all of this season at age 23, tracking well towards a big league debut in 2027 at some point. Half a season in Double-A, another half in Triple-A and suddenly the Mets have a lefty rotation replacement for David Peterson. If there’s one thing the Mets farm system lacks, it’s lefty pitchers on the rise.