5 Mets pitching prospects that can contribute in 2024

The New York Mets have had a quiet offseason through January. Their free agent signings have consisted of one-year contracts with the hopes of bounce-back performances from the likes of Harrison Bader and Luis Severino. Without interest in moving top prospects, their only trade of significance has been acquiring Adrian Houser and Tyrone Taylor from the Milwaukee Brewers for Coleman Crow. Much to Mets fans' ire, it seems the offseason could be completed with many underlying questions to be answered before opening day.

For the Mets to contend in 2024, they will be reliant on the young prospects at their disposal to perform well upon entering the major leagues. The most notable have been the position players led by Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert, and Luisangel Acuna. While these players will draw the most attention, the team's biggest asset will come from the pitching side as many of their prospects are being undervalued for their performances in 2023. Furthermore, the trend in baseball has been the rise in expense to acquire quality pitching while drafting and developing young arms has become more difficult. With this in mind, if we had to create a 5-man rotation of just Mets prospects, who would be a part of that depth chart?

1. Christian Scott

A new pitcher has emerged as the most notable in the Mets' farm system. Drafted out of the University of Florida in the 5th round of 2021, Christian Scott has risen to become the Mets' top pitching prospect. Drafted as a relief pitcher, Scott has taken some time to adjust back to a starting role. Evaluators in the front office believe his 98 MPH fastball coupled with his Max Scherzer-created slider can propel his trajectory to becoming a number 3 starter by mid-season 2024. 

The Mets were proven correct in 2023 as Scott dominated across 19 starts with minor league affiliates Brooklyn and Binghamton, holding a 2.57 ERA across 87.2 innings pitched. He struck out 107 batters in that time with an impressive 12 walks and 63 hits allowed. These numbers were notable enough for PECOTA to list Scott as their 88th-best prospect out of the top 101. The only knock-on Scott has been his failure to this point in developing a third pitch he can trust. So far, he has been working on a changeup that improved dramatically in 2023. Should he enhance this pitch, Scott could become the biggest steal of the 2021 draft class.