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A look back at the top NY Mets prospects from 20 years ago

Baseball (and the world at large) were a lot different 20 years ago. So were the Mets' best prospects. So how did some of their top minor league talents pan out over the years?
ByNoah Wright|
New York Mets v Los Angeles Dodgers
New York Mets v Los Angeles Dodgers | Jeff Gross/GettyImages
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The unheralded postseason hero

Another international prospect the Mets signed in the early 2000s was Yusmeiro Petit. He was signed in 2001 and, by 2005, was the Mets’ second-best prospect. However, in the ‘05-’06 offseason, the Mets traded the right-hander to the Florida Marlins for slugger Carlos Delgado. But Petit would take a while to find his footing in the Majors.

From ‘06 through ‘09, Petit only had a 5.57 ERA, 5.44 FIP, and 1.42 WHIP with the Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks. He did not appear in any games in 2010 or 2011, only pitching for the Mariners’ Triple-A team before appearing in one game for the San Francisco Giants in 2011. However, a strong September showing in 2013, including falling just one out shy of his own perfect game, the Giants gave Petit a larger role in 2014, and it paid off immensely.

Petit was a key member of the Giants’ 2014 World Series-winning team. He pitched 117 innings, regularly making spot starts and pitching multiple innings out of the pen, with a dozen starts in 39 games. He had a quality 3.57 ERA, 2.78 FIP, and 1.02 WHIP, with a 28.9% K% and 4.8% walk rate. Petit also set a single-season record this year, sitting down 46 consecutive batters. During the Postseason, Petit pitched 12.2 innings, only allowing two earned runs. This also included six straight scoreless frames out of the bullpen in a marathon, 18-inning Game 2 of the NLDS against the Washington Nationals, as he pitched innings 12-17.

After 2014, Petit would become a quality long-reliever/spot-starter, working to a 3.28 ERA, 3.94 FIP, and 1.04 WHIP in 505 innings for the Giants, Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Angels, and finally the Oakland Athletics until his final season in 2021. He had the most innings pitched by any pitcher with fewer than 20 games started from ‘14-’21.

It took a while for Petit to breakout at the Major Leagues, but when everything was said and done, he can say he became a Postseason hero, won a World Series ring, set a MLB record, and was the closest one can be to throwing a perfect game, all while making just over $26 million in his career. 

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