Mets AA affiliate advances to championship series with the help of top prospects

The season may be all but over for the New York Mets, but there is still exciting baseball being played that could have a big impact on the team's not-so-distant future. Led by some of the top-ranked prospects in the organization, the AA Binghamton Rumble Ponies swept the Yankees AA affiliate, the Somerset Patriots, on Thursday night to advance to the Eastern League Championship Series.

The Double-A team for the Mets are heading to the championship

The Rumble Ponies' two-game sweep featured contributions from several players that could earn a spot on the big league roster as soon as next year. Luisangel Acuna, the player the Mets received from the Max Scherzer trade with the Texas Rangers, brought in a run with a sacrifice fly in the third inning Thursday night, and that run proved decisive in the team's 2-0 victory, mainly because righthander Dom Hamel pushed his streak of scoreless innings to 21.2 after flummoxing the Patriots with 7.2 innings of three-hit ball.

As our own Tim Boyle wrote before his start yesterday, Hamel is an overlooked prospect that nonetheless could get a chance to contribute to a Mets staff in need of help in 2024. His tremendous finish to this season makes a big league trip even more likely.

Acuna and Hamel weren't the only Rumble Ponies to contribute to the series win. Outfielder Drew Gilbert, who was brought over from the Astros in the Justin Verlander deal, has hit .325 with a .984 OPS since joining the Mets organization. He continued his hot hitting in the series clincher, recording two hits in Thursday's win.

The Rumble Ponies made us of a six-run fourth inning on Tuesday to put the game out of reach. Jeremiah Jackson, who was acquired in the deal that sent Dominic Leone to the Angels, blasted a solo home run to start the rally, then first-round pick Jett Williams capped off the rally with a three-run bomb of his own.

Binghamton will face off against the Erie SeaWolves, the AA affiliate of the Detroit Tigers, in the Eastern League Championship Series beginning on Sunday. For those that have MLB At Bat through the MLB app, the games will be broadcast there. Mets fans should tune in to the best-of-three series not only to see if someone in the Mets organization can win a championship, but to get to know some of the players that may soon be playing at Citi Field, with Gilbert, Acuna, and Williams at the top of the list.