Mets' Pitching Prospects Proving Future Is Bright

Under new owner Steve Cohen, the New York Mets' front office was given the green light to spend money in free agency and bring in big named players. Two players who made big waves were pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.

In 2022, Scherzer signed a three-year, $130 million contract with Verlander signing on a year later with a two-year, $86.67 million contract of his own. These signings were supposed to get the Mets back to the World Series for the first time since 2015.

Neither pitcher lasted two full seasons in New York as both were shipped out at the trade deadline to get prospects back in return. The organization started looking to the future as their playoff hopes were all but extinguished this year.

However, the next wave of great pitchers could be in their own pipeline.

Tim Britton, wrote a story for The Athletic going into detail about the young pitchers in the organization.

"(Mike) Vasil, (Dom) Hamel, Blade Tidwell, Christian Scott and Tyler Stuart constitute the next core of pitching prospects for New York. None of them were in big-league camp in spring training, only Vasil has graduated yet to Triple A. Yet the majors feel a whole lot closer for all of them than they did in late July, before the Mets “repurposed” themselves into a new 2024 reality," Britton writes.

Vasil took a no-hitter into the ninth inning for the Triple-A affiliate the same night that Hamel threw six scoreless innings, allowing four hits in his Double-A game.

The Mets have two pitching prospects, Vasil and Tidwell, ranked in the top 10 of their pipeline. Scott is ranked 12th, Hamel 16th and Stuart ranked 17th within the 11th rated pipeline in the MLB.

Vasil, Hamel, Scott and Stuart are all projected to make their major league debuts in the 2024 season. Based on New York's recent roster moves, that projection seems very likely.

If these players continue to develop, spending for aging veteran starting pitching won't become a necessity.