3 Mets prospects eligible for the Rule 5 Draft the team should consider adding to the 40-man roster

The Rule 5 Draft isn’t the most exciting event in Major League Baseball, but a noteworthy one nonetheless. Some notable players have been selected in the past. Roberto Clemente is probably the most well-known. Former New York Mets pitcher Johan Santana was another, although not claimed by them. This happened before he came to Queens.

There is a ton of strategy when it comes to protecting players who are Rule 5 Draft eligible. Because the players who are taken are required to stay on the 26-man roster all year or be offered back to their original club, teams must have confidence in their abilities. The Mets have a couple of players new to the organization or Rule 5 Draft absent from their 40-man roster right now they need to strongly consider adding prior to this winter’s draft.

Honorable mentions should go out to Carlos Cortes and Luke Ritter. While each is having a productive year on the farm, they seem more capable of escaping the Rule 5 Draft unselected or don’t quite fit into what the Mets need right now. If Billy Eppler and I underwent some sort of Freaky Friday situation, I’d gladly give them a shot in the big leagues this September. It wouldn’t be unsurprising to see at least one of them traded before the Rule 5 Draft in order to award the Mets with at least something in return.

1) NY Mets prospect Justin Jarvis is the most obvious player to protect in the Rule 5 Draft

Justin Jarvis is the player the Mets picked up in the trade deadline deal for Mark Canha. The 23-year-old right-handed pitcher came over from the Milwaukee Brewers already eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. He’d only pitched 3 games in Triple-A at the time. Since joining the Mets, he has gotten a few more.

The results for Jarvis haven’t been there, however. In 6 starts for Syracuse, Jarvis is 0-3 with an 8.38 ERA. It was a trend already ongoing with the Brewers’ Triple-A team in Nashville. Jarvis is now a combined 0-5 with a 9.29 ERA with both organizations at this level.

The Mets don’t have to force Jarvis onto their big league roster just yet but giving him one of their coveted 40-man roster spots is a must. Otherwise, what was the point of trading for him in the first place?

Jarvis might be safe from getting selected in the Rule 5 Draft simply because he hasn’t shown enough to warrant a major league role. It’s not worth the risk. We’d have to believe adding Jarvis to the 40-man roster or trading him in a separate deal was a part of the Mets’ plan all along. Surely they could have gotten something else for Jarvis if they hadn’t already planned out space for him on their 40-man roster, right?

2) NY Mets prospect Jeremiah Jackson is another trade addition to consider for the 40-man roster

There’s also Jeremiah Jackson, another JJ the team acquired at the trade deadline. This one comes to us via the Dominic Leone deal. He’s a curious cat. Jackson is on his way to setting a new personal-high in home runs for a single season on the farm. Stuck in Double-A at the moment, his biggest problem has been hitting for average. He was just a .215 batter last season in Double-A. He has been better overall this year yet not enough to earn him a promotion to Triple-A quite yet.

Jackson has hit .239/.336/.413 for Binghamton in his first 110 plate appearances. Highlighting this stay are the 5 home runs which combined with the 15 hit prior to joining the Mets organization gives him a solid 20.

Jackson has played all over the field in his professional career. He has logged a time of time at shortstop but has gotten increasingly more familiar with second base. Jackson can also be found at third base and in the outfield.

A low batting average, high power potential prospect like Jackson might be a little too far from major league-ready for anyone to steal him from the Mets in the Rule 5 Draft. Teams with no plans of competing next season could surprise us. Jackson has shown off speed on the base paths. He’s a utility man a team could suffer through the growing pains with in 2024 and if things don’t work out, demote for the 2025 campaign to freshen up some of those skills.