Mets Prospect Showcase: RHP Mike Vasil

The first few months of the 2022 season have been very eventful for the New York Mets, as despite a few injuries and hiccups, the team is among the best in the league and many players are outperforming expectations at the Major League level.

Likewise, several of the Mets' minor league prospects have had strong showings through the first half of the year.

One of the New York Mets top performing prospects for the 2022 season is right handed pitcher Mike Vasil.

An 8th round pick (232nd overall) from the 2021 MLB draft, Mike Vasil has been making quiet a bit of noise in the Mets farm system, and despite being drafted just last year and in one of the later rounds, he is currently the no. 21 ranked prospect in the Mets' farm system.

Standing at 6' 5" and weighing 225 lbs, the 22 year old Vasil was a Boston native who opted to attend the University of Virginia following high school, where he would go on to play for the Cavaliers for 3 seasons.

Vasil's best year as a member of the Cavaliers came in his junior season, in which he posted a 4.52 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 81 2/3 innings. While his numbers weren't the flashiest, the Mets saw raw talent in him and opted to drafted him later the following summer.

According to his scouting report, Vasil's primary pitch was a 2 seam fastball sitting in the low 90s in college, but since joining the Mets organization, he adopted the 4 seam fastball and after tweaking his mechanics, he is routinely throwing fastballs in the mid 90s, toping out at 98 mph.

In addition to that, his scouting report also lists him as having a "average" slider and curveball, while his changeup "looked like his best secondary coming out of school."

As for how he has performed on the mound since joining the Mets, these aforementioned adjustments in his pitching mechanics have translated to a lot of early success on the mound through the beginning of his professional career.

In 2021, Vasil made 3 starts with the Mets rookie team in the Florida Complex League, in which he posted a 1.29 ERA over 7.0 innings while striking out 10 batters. While this may be a small sample size, it was a promising sign of things to come.

For the 2022 season, Vasil began the year with the Single-A St. Lucie Mets, in which he started 8 games, posting a 1.80 ERA over 35.0 innings, while striking out 37 batters. His strong start to the year prompted a call up to the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones in late May.

At the time of writing, Vasil has made a total of 3 starts with the Cyclones, over which he is sporting a much higher ERA of 5.40 in 15.0 innings, although he has produced a higher strikeout rate, as he has logged 22 Ks over this stretch.

Overall, for the 2022 season between St. Lucie and Brooklyn, Vasil has made 11 total starts, posting a 2.88 ERA in 50 innings while striking out 59 batters. Not too shabby at all for an 8th round pick.

Despite a few bumpy starts in Brooklyn, Mike Vasil has shown clear progress in both his mechanics and performance on the mound since being drafted to the Mets organization one year ago.

At just 22 years old, Vasil still has plenty of room to develop and if he continues his upward trajectory, we may even see him pitching in Queens in the not too distant future.