3 former Mets prospects not named Pete Crow-Armstrong excelling with their new team

The New York Mets have emphasized evaluating their younger talent in 2024. So far in spring training, we have seen their top position players get some playing time including Drew Gilbert and Jett Williams. We have also seen a couple of innings handed to breakout pitching prospects like Mike Vasil and Christian Scott. Even though many of these players have been reassigned to minor league camp, they still have a great opportunity to make an impact on the 2024 Mets roster.

At the trade deadline in 2023, Steve Cohen pivoted his priorities to focus more on the farm system than on winning a World Series championship in 2024. This was done in part due to the talent traded away both during and before his administration. The Mets have traded away significant prospects in pursuit of a championship, most notably Jarred Kelenic in 2018 and Pete Crow-Armstrong in 2021. Although we all saw this coming, not every player traded away was highly regarded by the Mets' scouting department. Endy Rodriguez is the most notable, having become a top-100 prospect for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Aside from the most notable, which of the other mid-tier prospects are flourishing in their new organizations?

1. Kenedy Corona

The Mets have done poorly in evaluating their international prospects before they have a chance to flourish. Signed out of Venezuela for $10,000 in 2019, outfielder Kenedy Corona has become a top prospect in the Houston Astros organization. Before being dealt by the Mets in 2020, Corona was a contact-first right-handed hitting outfielder with immense speed on the bases. In 2019, Corona hit .301 with 14 doubles and 19 stolen bases for the Rookie-Ball Mets.

Since joining the Astros, Corona is best known for his launch angle having hit a combined 41 home runs between 2022 and 2023. Not only has he become a power threat, but Corona has also stolen 60 bases during this span while also winning a minor league gold glove award last season. The 23-year-olds superb arm strength was put on display this past Sunday when he nearly threw out Starling Marte at third base.

This trade made by Brodie Van Wagenen in 2020 is not only a blunder because he parted with Corona but for the lack of return on investment. The Mets also dealt left-handed reliever Blake Taylor in this transaction for outfielder Jake Marisnick, who was expected to be the right-handed complement to Brandon Nimmo in center field. However, Marisnick only played 16 games in the 2020 pandemic-shortened season. For a team searching for outfield depth this past offseason, the Mets would have enjoyed having Corona added to their 40-man roster for this upcoming season.

2. Carson Seymour

The Mets have historically done well with developing college arms, but have traded some away that could have helped this season. Selected in the 6th round of the 2021 draft, Carson Seymour is a hard-throwing right-handed starting pitcher. Though he struggled to pitch to a 6.19 ERA for Kansas State University in 2021, the Mets were intrigued by his 97 MPH fastball with noticeable sink. Since the organization was trying to save enough draft pool money to sign Kumar Rocker, Zack Scott selected Seymour much higher than his draft profile indicated.

Seymour has brushed aside any concerns regarding his collegiate career in 2022 splitting time between Single-A Port St. Lucie and High-A Brooklyn. In total, Seymour pitched to a 3.08 ERA in 111 innings pitched including 135 strikeouts and just 31 walks. These numbers were intriguing enough to the San Francisco Giants as they acquired him along with J.D. Davis and Thomas Szapucki at the trade deadline in 2022.

Since leaving the Mets, Seymour has become a solid mid-tier prospect in the Giants organization. He pitched to a 3.99 ERA in 112 innings at AA Richmond last season. These numbers put him in line with Mike Vasil, who has become a top prospect in the Mets' system. To make matters worse, the Mets never received a return on investment for Seymour's skillset either. Billy Eppler acquired the infamous Darin Ruf in this deal who was expected to replace Davis as the right-handed compliment to Daniel Vogelbach. By the time spring training 2023 came around, Ruf was released and Seymour continued his solid trajectory through the minor leagues.