Four Mets Among Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects
Jett Williams, Brandon Sproat, Jesus Baez and Nolan McLean cracked Baseball America’s annual list of the top 100 prospects released Wednesday.
Williams, ranked at 58, battled injuries last season while slashing .215/.358/.298 across three minor league levels (as high as Triple-A Syracuse) with no home runs and five steals in 148 plate appearances. The 21-year-old shortstop/center fielder hit two homers and stole seven bases in 22 games in the Arizona Fall League.
He was a first round pick (14th overall) out of high school (Rockwall-Heath, Heath, Texas) in the 2022 draft and hit 13 homers, posted an .876 OPS and stole 55 bases in 2023 across three levels.
Sproat, ranked at 61, was 7-4 with a 3.40 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 24 appearances (23 starts) across three levels (as high as Syracuse). He fanned 131 in 116.1 innings pitched to arguably emerge as the best pitching prospect in the organization. The 24-year-old right-hander was selected in the second round of the 2023 draft out of the University of Florida.
Jesus Baez. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
Baez (No. 92) hit 11 home runs and drove in 43 for Low-A St. Lucie and Brooklyn in 316 plate appearances. He slashed .262/.335/.447 and stole nine bases in 10 tries. He did miss the last two months of the season after tearing his meniscus. The 19-year-old was signed in 2022 out of the Dominican Republic.
McLean (No. 99) gave up being a two-way player during the 2024 season. In 25 starts (18 at Double-A Binghamton, seven at Single-A Brooklyn), he was 4-10 with a 3.78 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. He had 116 strikeouts in 109.2 IP. His ERA was 4.19 for Binghamton and 2.57 for Brooklyn. Multiple outlets have recently called McLean’s slider a plus-plus pitch.
Ronny Mauricio, who plays second, short and third, was on Baseball America’s list of 15 players who “just missed” the top 100. He missed all of 2024 recovering from knee surgery after hitting 23 homers and posting an .852 OPS at Syracuse in 2023 and hitting two homers for the Mets in 101 plate appearances. Recent reports suggest Mauricio may not be 100% when spring training starts next month.
If healthy, Mauricio may be part of a competition for playing time at third base with Brett Baty and Luisangel Acuña this spring.
RHPs Blade Tidwell and Jonah Tong and 1B/OF Ryan Clifford were on a list of every prospect who received a top 100 vote.
Baseball Prospectus had six Mets in their recently updated Top 101 list: Sproat, Williams, Tong, McLean and 2024 draftee Carson Benge.
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