Talented Mets prospect had his Triple-A debut spoiled by one bad inning

Brandon Sproat made his Triple-A debut on Thursday for the Syracuse Mets. The fast-rising New York Mets prospect graduated with a 1.07 ERA in High-A, 2.45 ERA in Double-A, and saw something happen in his Triple-A debut that he hasn’t in a long time. Sproat got roughed around.

One bad inning is where all of the damage took place. The Worcester Red Sox scored 6 earned runs against him in the third inning with a pair of home runs as the hardest smacks against him. The two dingers accounted for 5 of the 6 runs in the inning.

This was all Sproat or any other Syracuse pitcher would allow. The 6-3 loss that also included a home run and 2 RBI from Luke Ritter. Joey Lucchesi appeared out of the bullpen to help them finish off a rainy night.

Mets prospect Brandon Sproat experienced a rare beating in his Triple-A debut

It was bound to happen at some point. Clarification that Sproat is in fact human and not an AI-generated pitching prospect was needed. Discussion amongst fans about whether or not he’ll be an appropriate weapon out of the bullpen in September (or perhaps sooner) has been rampant and only grew upon his recent promotion.

According to Thomas Nestico, Sproat topped out at 100mph with pitches sitting closer to 97. It wasn’t the kind of results Sproat was looking for. Let’s blame Debby.

The Mets don’t have much time to make Sproat eligible for a possible playoff run. Only players on the 40-man roster or 60-day IL (moot in this case) as of August 31 at 11:59pm is postseason eligible. It does feel a little less likely for the Mets to push that button. Given that he’d probably only be a reliever any way, handing off a 40-man roster spot to him prematurely has some consequences. Someone else would lose their spot and Sproat’s early arrival to the 40-man roster would already take up some room for next season when the team has players like Dom Hamel and Mike Vasil who’ll need a spot or be Rule 5 Draft eligible.

Sproat will need to show more in his next two starts for the Mets to make this a real consideration. They’ve correctly promoted him in the minors quickly. The majors, and in a late-season race, are a lot different.