The Mets Minor League Teams Are Winning

The big league club is struggling, but the minor league affiliates of the New York Mets are having seasons to remember.

Single-A, High-A and Double-A have all already clinched a postseason berth, and Triple-A is currently in playoff position with a little over a month to go in the 2nd half. If the MLB squad can pull out of this nosedive, there’s a real possibility that every player in the New York Mets organization from Single-A to MLB will be playing postseason baseball.

Single-A: St. Lucie Mets

In the Florida State League, the season is split into two halves. Each first-half division winner earns a playoff berth, as does each second-half division winner. There will be a semifinal series to determine the division winners, and then those two teams will play for the league title.

The St. Lucie Mets won the Eastern Division in the first half, clinching a spot in the Florida State League playoffs. They’re also in first place in the second half, and if they finish that way, the second playoff spot would default to the second-place team in the second half.

The first half St. Lucie Mets got standout performances from A.J. Ewing and Marco Vargas, who were both promoted to High-A at the end of April. Other contributors like Trace Willhoite, Colin Houck, Corey Collins and Nick Roselli have all also been promoted, but there is still enough firepower in the lineup to compete.

Notable bats like Daiverson Gutierrez, Jeremy Rodriguez, Trey Snyder and Simon Juan are in the lineup and have had varying levels of success. The most notable part of the roster is the presence of Mitch Voit and Antonio Jimenez, the organization’s first and third round picks just a month ago. They have both gotten off to slow starts to their professional careers, but it hasn’t been close to enough of a sample size to put any stock into.

Where this team excels is in pitching. Strikeout leader Wellington Aracena was traded at the deadline, but the staff is still full of arms having great seasons. Irving Cota and Jose Chirinos will man the front of the rotation, and Daviel Hurtado, Yuhi Sako, Bryce Jenkins, and many more will all contribute.

On the season, the St. Lucie Mets have the most strikeouts, the fewest hits and home runs given up, the lowest batting average against and the second-lowest ERA in the Florida State League. Much of the attention is on the minor league pitching at higher levels, but the Mets pitching development is shining from top to bottom in the organization.

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones

High-A uses the same playoff format as they do in Single-A, and the Brooklyn Cyclones were first-half South Atlantic League Champions.

Brooklyn is in trouble. In the first half, the Cyclones’ roster was loaded, but now in August, many are no longer with the team. Huge contributors Carson Benge, Jacob Reimer and Chris Suero have been promoted, and Jesús Báez was traded. The Cyclones have 69 home runs this season, and 35 were from those four players. That’s over 50%. Benge, who has exploded in Double-A, was actually the last among them with just four. Suero hit 13, Báez hit 10 and Reimer hit eight.

The offense has really been scuffling. Ewing had been the one plus bat in the second half, and he just got promoted to Double-A. Vargas, Houck, Ronald Hernández, Eli Serrano and Boston Baro have all struggled. The recently promoted Willhoite, a 24-year-old infielder, was St. Lucie’s best bat this season. He was old for Single-A and is still old for High-A, which could help provide a boost to Brooklyn’s lineup.

The pitching will compete. Will Watson, who spent the first half of the season in St. Lucie, will be a true “ace” for the Cyclones in the playoffs. Noah Hall will be a good Game 2 starter, and his performance this year says that might be selling him short. There’s plenty of bullpen depth to pitch with the best of them.

It will come down to the bats. There are some highly regarded prospects on the roster like Vargas, Baro and Serrano; they’re just not hitting. If the offense can do enough to support the pitching, they have a chance. However, the last-place record in the second half suggests it might be difficult to expect.

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies

Same as the previous two levels, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies had the best record in the Eastern League in the first half and clinched a playoff berth. Similar to St. Lucie and unlike Brooklyn, they’re pacing to do the same in the second half. The Rumble Ponies are firing on all cylinders and might be the best team in all of minor league baseball.

Offensively, the lineup had been loaded, but just lost Benge, Jett Williams and Ryan Clifford to Triple-A. It still has Reimer, Ewing and Suero — a trio that helped power Brooklyn to a playoff berth — and plenty more, too. Former first-round pick Kevin Parada, Nick Morabito, Nick Lorusso and D’Andre Smith have all turned in positive seasons. Ewing is now there too, and it will be interesting to see how he handles his third level this season. While the lineup is overall a little weaker than it was just a few days ago, it is still strong.

With that said, the pitching is easily the star of the show. The bats have been great, that’s just how good the pitching is.

Jonah Tong, the Mets’ No. 1 pitching prospect and probable top-5 pitching prospect in baseball, has had an outstanding season. He dominated hitters all year for the Rumble Ponies, but was also just promoted, a big blow to Binghamton’s chances in the playoffs.

That said, there are still plenty of arms left. Jack Wenninger has had a breakout season. Jonathan Santucci looks like a future top-100 prospect. R.J. Gordon has continued pitching well after lighting up High-A. Brendan Girton was just promoted to Double-A after dominating High-A. The bullpen is full of talented arms.

Double-A’s best team just suffered some key losses, but they should still compete.

Triple-A: Syracuse Mets

Triple-A doesn’t use the same playoff format as the other leagues, with the winners of the two Triple-A leagues playing each other instead of having league-specific championships. The Syracuse Mets are also the only team that doesn’t already have a playoff spot clinched. However, they are currently tied for first place in the International League, and if they can win the second half, they will play the first half winner for the International League title. If they win that, they’ll go to Las Vegas for the Triple-A Championship.

The lineup is good, and it just got better with the additions of Benge, Williams and Clifford. The rest of the team is mostly filled with either fringe MLB players or journeyman minor leaguers who haven’t managed to crack the big leagues, but has been solid all season.

Drew Gilbert, probably the most consistent hitter in the lineup, was traded at the deadline, but the lineup still has the likes of Luisangel Acuña, Jared Young, Joey Meneses, Luke Ritter, Yonny Hernández, José Azocar, Rafael Ortega and Pablo Reyes. Some of those players might lose their spots to the newly promoted top prospects, an unfortunate casualty of minor league baseball.

The pitching, like the other levels, is where this team shines. While they are set to lose Nolan McLean to the big leagues, it’s still led by Brandon Sproat. Add Tong to the mix and you have a nightmare for any team to face in the first two games of a playoff series.

Many of the pitchers who have been on the shuttle to and from Queens are there too, like Huascar Brazobán, Alex Carrillo, José Castillo, Chris Devenski, Justin Garza, Richard Lovelady, Kevin Herget, Jonathan Pintaro, Brandon Waddell and Austin Warren. Maybe some will be in the big leagues in September, but most will be in Syracuse. Top relief pitcher prospects Douglas Orellana and Dylan Ross are there too, adding some youthful firepower.

It will be a tough final month of the season. Syracuse is tied with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, the New York Yankees affiliate, for first place in the International League. If they can come out on top, the Mets will have four different affiliates playing playoff baseball.

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