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José Quintana Out Until At Least July Due To Rib Surgery

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March 14: Eppler today provided reporters with more information, including Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Quintana will undergo bone graft surgery on his rib and isn’t expected back until July at the earliest.

March 13, 3:15 pm: General manager Billy Eppler tells reporters, including Tim Britton of The Athletic, that the report of the three-month shutdown is “premature.” They are still talking to doctors about next steps.

1:30 pm: The Mets are planning to shut down starter José Quintana for the next three months, reports Mike Puma of The New York Post. The left-hander had recently been diagnosed with a stress fracture in one of his ribs and was sent for more imaging. It seems the injury is significant enough that he will miss roughly the first half of the season. However, Andy Martino of SNY has a slightly different viewpoint, reporting that the club is still considering different scenarios and will decide what to do in the next few days, with the three-month shutdown being one of the options being considered.

Quintana, 34, has long been a steady and reliable big league starter, primarily with the two Chicago clubs. From 2012 to 2019, he tossed 1,485 innings between the Cubs and White Sox with a 3.72 ERA. Outside of his rookie season in 2012, he made at least 31 starts and reached the 170-inning mark in each of those campaigns. That was followed by a couple of frustrating seasons, with a thumb injury holding him back in 2020 and the lefty struggling to get back on track in 2021. However, he finally got back into a good groove last year, tossing 165 2/3 innings between the Pirates and Cardinals with a 2.93 ERA, 20.2% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 46.4% ground ball rate.

The Mets were facing a great deal of rotation uncertainty this winter, with Jacob deGrom opting out of his contract while Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker each declined options. With all three of those hurlers reaching free agency and eventually signing elsewhere, the Mets spent aggressively to rebuild their rotation around incumbents Max Scherzer and Carlos Carrasco. They gave Justin Verlander an $86.67MM guarantee, $75MM to Kodai Senga and $26MM to Quintana, the latter on a two-year deal.

That gave the Mets a strong on-paper rotation but one with risk. Four of those five starters are over 34 years of age, while the 30-year-old Senga is going to be transitioning from a once-a-week throwing schedule in Japan to the five-day cycle of North American ball. We’re still not through spring and the Mets are already going to be turning to their depth options with Quintana set to miss significant time. Whether Quintana is ultimately shut down for three months or not, he’s likely facing an extended absence either way. Assuming Quintana is back to health in three months as planned, he will return to the mound in June. But he will then have to effectively redo his Spring Training, taking a few weeks to build back up to a starter’s workload, meaning the Mets will possibly have to look to other options until July or so.

Fortunately, the Mets have some solid depth options to turn to, such as David Peterson or Tylor Megill. The left-handed Peterson made 19 starts and nine relief appearances last year, posting a 3.83 ERA while striking out 27.8% of batters faced, walking 10.6% of them and getting grounders at a 49.4% clip. However, Puma reports that the club appears to be leaning towards Megill taking the rotation spot at this time. His 5.13 ERA from last year isn’t terribly impressive at first glance, but it’s possible that injuries played a role in that. As the Mets were dealing with injuries to start last year, they gave Megill a rotation spot and he posted a 1.93 ERA over five April starts. However, he allowed three earned runs in his next start and eight in the one after that, lasting just an inning and a third in the latter. He went on the injured list for biceps inflammation after that, came back for a couple more rough outings and went back on the IL for a shoulder strain.

Regardless of whoever ultimately gets the job, the Mets are now moving down their depth chart with this Quintana injury. It’s extremely rare for any team to get through a season without an injury like this, so the Mets surely anticipated having to call upon Peterson or Megill at some point. Still, it’s always unwelcome news when it actually comes into play. The club is set for what should be another tight divisional race this year, likely jockeying for position with Atlanta and Philadelphia for the top spot in the NL East, with the Mets already facing a significant hurdle in their path.

Mets Return Rule 5 Pick Zach Greene To Yankees

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Right-hander Zach Greene, whom the Mets selected in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft, has cleared waivers and will be returned to the Yankees organization, reports Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (via Twitter). The Yankees are not required to add him to the 40-man roster.

Greene, 26, was the Yankees’ eighth-round pick back in 2019. As a player selected in the Rule 5 Draft, he’d have had to spend the entire season on the Mets’ roster or injured list (with at least 90 of those days coming on the active roster) in order for the Mets to be able to option him the following season. Before being offered back to his original team, a Rule 5 selection must first pass unclaimed through the entire league on outright waivers, which was the case in this instance.

Greene spent the 2022 season, his age-25 campaign, pitching with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate. He logged 68 1/3 innings out of the bullpen, notching a 3.42 ERA with a huge 33.3% strikeout rate but a bloated 11.1% walk rate. Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin of FanGraphs called him a potential three-pitch middle reliever when profiling last year’s Rule 5 class, noting that Greene’s delivery generated tremendous carry on his heater, which helps to offset the pitch’s below-average velocity.

With five relievers who can’t be optioned — Edwin Diaz, David Robertson, Adam Ottavino, Brooks Raley and Stephen Nogosek —  the Mets were always going to have a hard time carrying a Rule 5 pick. That’s especially true considering one of the few optionable arms they do have was also one of their most effective relievers in 2022: right-hander Drew Smith. Carrying Greene would’ve likely left Smith and righty John Curtiss as the team’s only two optionable relievers, creating minimal flexibility to shuffle the staff when the bullpen needs an extra arm or the rotation needs a spot starter.

Mets’ Bryce Montes de Oca Suffers Stress Reaction In Elbow

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MARCH 13: Montes de Oca was diagnosed with a stress reaction in his elbow, reports Russell Dorsey of Bally Sports (Twitter link). Fortunately, examination didn’t reveal any ligament damage. He’ll be reevaluated in a week, and while it still seems as if he could start the season on the injured list, the issue doesn’t appear to be as concerning from a longer-term perspective as it seemed over the weekend.

MARCH 12: Mets right-hander Bryce Montes de Oca left today’s Spring Training outing due to a forearm strain, manager Buck Showalter told reporters (including The Athletic’s Tim Britton).  Montes de Oca will undergo tests and imaging to determine the extent of the injury, and there is certainly plenty of extra concern considering de Oca’s history of arm troubles.  The 26-year-old underwent a Tommy John surgery back in 2013 when he was a high school pitcher, and he had another elbow procedure while pitching at the University of Missouri.

A ninth-round pick for the Mets in the 2018 draft, de Oca was further sidelined by knee, back, and shoulder-related surgeries.  Between those injuries and the canceled 2020 minor league season, de Oca didn’t make his pro debut until 2021.  Since then, he has a 3.80 ERA over 85 1/3 career minor league innings (almost all as a relief pitcher), and he made his MLB debut in the form of three appearance and 3 1/3 innings last season.

Despite all of the injuries and de Oca’s relatively advanced age (he turns 27 in April) for a prospect, MLB Pipeline ranks him 22nd on their list of the Mets’ top 30 prospects.  The upside is obvious, as de Oca’s 75-grade fastball often hits or surpasses the 100mph threshold, and he also has a cutter and slider that rank as plus pitches.  De Oca has a hefty 10.5% walk rate during his minor league career, but he has also missed bats to the tune of a 31.6% strikeout rate.  In addition, de Oca has also been excellent at keeping the ball in the park — he has allowed only a single home run in his 85 1/3 frames in the minors.

With all of this potential, it would be devastating to see de Oca’s career set back yet again by another major arm injury.  The best-case scenario is a low-level strain that could be healed within a couple of weeks, but naturally the Mets will be quite cautious with a pitcher with such a lengthy injury history.

Jordan Yamamoto Announces Retirement

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Right-hander Jordan Yamamoto took to Twitter today to announce his retirement. “I have decided to walk away from the game I love,” his post reads. “It’s definitely bittersweet. As I sit on my flight back home, there are so many emotions I’m feeling but none is regret. This has been an amazing journey and nothing short of unbelievable. A little kid from Hawaii with a dream. A dream to play in the MLB. If you would have told me at 10 years old that I would go on to be a big league pitcher and hold a franchise record, I would have never believed you. It is crazy and only right that I end my career the same way it started. On a back field game in Arizona. It’s poetry if you ask me.” He then goes on to thank all of the many people who have been a part of his journey, including his family, agents, teammates, coaches, staff members and fans.

Yamamoto, who turns 27 in May, was a 12th round draft pick of the Brewers in 2014. Despite that modest draft stock, he impressed in his first professional seasons, including a 2017 season where he posted a 2.51 ERA in 111 innings at Class-A Advanced. That performance was strong enough to get the attention of the Marlins, as Yamamoto was one of four players they acquired in the trade that sent Christian Yelich to Milwaukee.

Things continued to go well for Yamamoto in 2018, despite a few trips to the injured list. He made 13 starts with a 1.83 ERA at three different levels, finishing the year in Double-A. He then made another six starts in the Arizona Fall League with a 2.08 ERA in that time. The Marlins added him to their 40-man roster in November to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft and Baseball America ranked him as the club’s #18 prospect going into 2019.

He was able to make his major league debut in 2019, making 15 starts with a 4.46 ERA, as well as 12 more Double-A starts with a 3.58 ERA. He seemed to be part of a wave of young rotation talent in Miami, alongside guys like Sandy Alcantara, Pablo López and others. Unfortunately, things wouldn’t continue on that trajectory in the seasons to come, largely due to injury. Yamamoto landed on the injured list late in 2019 and had diminished velocity in 2020, getting tattooed for an ERA of 18.26 in 11 1/3 innings that year.

Prior to the 2021 campaign, the Marlins designated him for assignment and then flipped him to the Mets. That would go on to be another frustrating season for Yamamoto, as he spent the beginning of the year being shuttled between Triple-A and the majors before a shoulder injury sent him to the IL from May until September. He was designated for assignment in April of 2022 and cleared waivers, sticking with the Mets but without a roster spot. He made 24 appearances in the minors last year with an ERA of 6.00. He reached free agency at season’s end and signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers in January but was recently reassigned to minor league camp.

Yamamoto has now decided it’s time to hang up his cleats and start the next phase of his life. He appeared in 21 major league games, tossing 96 2/3 innings in that time with a 6.05 ERA. He struck out 98 batters and earned five wins. The franchise record that he referenced in his statement was that he started his career with 14 scoreless frames for the Marlins. We at MLB Trade Rumors salute Yamamoto on achieving his dream of making it to the majors and wish him the best in his post-playing endeavors.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Mets Place Zach Greene On Outright Waivers

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The Mets have placed right-hander Zach Greene on outright waivers, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports (Twitter link).  Greene was selected away from the Yankees in December’s Rule 5 Draft, and unless another team claims Greene on waivers, the Mets will have to offer him back to the Yankees for $50K.  If another team make a claim, they will assume Greene’s Rule 5 status, and will have to keep the hurler on their active roster for the entire season in order to fully obtain his rights.

Greene was an eighth-round pick for the Yankees in the 2019 draft, and he made a pretty quick rise through their farm system ranks even with the canceled 2020 minor league season interrupting development.  He spent the entire 2022 season at Triple-A, and posted a 3.42 ERA and a strong 33.3% strikeout rate over 68 1/3 innings (almost all in relief except for four “starts” as an opener).  An 11.1% walk rate was a weak point, and Greene has had pretty average control throughout his brief pro career.

With the Yankees filling their 40-man roster holes with other prospects, the 26-year-old Greene was left available for selection in the Rule 5 Draft.  It was always going to be difficult for a win-now team like the Mets to try and carry a Rule 5 player on their roster all season, and after Greene’s struggles in Spring Training, the Mets have opted to part ways with the righty.  Through 4 2/3 innings of Grapefruit League action, Greene posted a 13.50 ERA with more walks (six) than strikeouts (five).

Despite these uninspiring numbers, it’s not out of the question that another team (perhaps a non-contender) might take a chance on Greene to see if he can stick in their bullpen.  The strikeout potential and overall profile is intriguing, and since Greene already has a full Triple-A season under his belt, he is more of a big league-ready player than a project, unlike many other Rule 5 picks.

Starling Marte Tests Negative For Concussion After HBP

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Starling Marte will undergo further tests on Monday after being hit in the head by an Elvin Rodriguez pitch in today’s game.  Marte was able to walk off the field by himself and initial concussion tests were negative, yet the Mets will naturally be very careful in monitoring any sort of head-related injury.

It was only Marte’s second game of Spring Training, as he didn’t take the field until last Friday due to the Mets’ desire to slowly bring Marte back up to speed following groin surgery in November.  The club expected the outfielder to be ready for Opening Day, and that should still be the case, if Marte has indeed escaped injury after today’s scary incident.

Kodai Senga, Brooks Raley Facing Injury Concerns

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8:02PM: Senga is day-to-day with tendinitis at the base of his index finger, the Mets announced.

5:41PM: Kodai Senga was supposed to make a Spring Training start for the Mets today, but Senga was scratched due to discomfort at the base of his right index finger.  Senga unfortunately isn’t the only Mets pitcher dealing with injury, as “a low-grade hamstring strain” has forced reliever Brooks Raley to be removed from the Team USA roster at the World Baseball Classic.  (Aaron Loup will take Raley’s place in the tournament.)

Mets manager Buck Showalter told reporters (including Newsday’s Tim Healey and MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo) that both Senga and Raley should still be able to be part of New York’s roster on Opening Day.  In regards to Senga, Showalter said the scratch was precautionary, and that “probably during the season, [Senga] would have pitched.”

As a reliever, Raley doesn’t need to rebuild as much arm strength in order to get back to full readiness.  Assuming his hamstring problem doesn’t linger, the left-hander might not require much ramp-up time to prepare for game action in the Mets’ remaining Grapefruit League schedule, or for the start of the regular sesason.

The Mets acquired Raley in a trade with the Rays back in December.  With Joely Rodriguez and Chasen Shreve departing in free agency, Raley was projected to be the top left-hander in the Mets bullpen, and perhaps even the only left-hander depending on how the club settles on its roster.  While the Amazins were comfortable with carrying only one southpaw (Rodriguez) in the pen for large portions of the 2022 season, having an all-righty relief corps probably isn’t preferable.  Since Joey Lucchesi is being stretched out as a starter, Raley’s injury might create an opportunity for minor league signing T.J. McFarland to break camp if Raley does indeed end up need more time to recover.

Senga will undergo imaging and tests on his hand, as the Mets will certainly take every precaution even if it seems as though Senga might have nothing more than a day-to-day setback.  Until the imaging results are known, however, the situation adds some level of concern over Senga’s highly-anticipated debut season in Major League Baseball.

Senga signed a five-year, $75MM contract with New York in December, as the 30-year-old’s strong track record in Nippon Professional Baseball generated plenty of interest in his services amongst MLB teams.  The New York Post’s Jon Heyman reported last month that the Mets did have some health-related questions about Senga prior to the agreement, though the exact nature of those concerns (and whether or not there’s any relation to Senga’s current finger problem) isn’t known.

Jose Quintana has already been sidelined with a stress fracture in his rib, so between Quintana’s injury and now this uncertainty over Senga, the Mets could potentially have two holes to fill in their rotation behind Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, and Carlos Carrasco.  David Peterson had a scare of his own after he was hit in the foot by a comebacker earlier this spring, but Peterson suffered only a contusion and threw a live batting practice session on Thursday, so the southpaw should still be in line to take Quintana’s place.  If Senga also has to miss time, Tylor Megill is likely the next choice up on the rotation depth chart.

One possible obstacle to Senga’s readiness could be his lack of spring action to date, as he has pitched in only one game thus far.  The Mets were slowly bringing Senga into game action in order to better acclimate the right-hander to his new league, as Senga continues to adjust to the larger baseballs and steeper mounds used in MLB, as opposed to what Senga was used to in Japan.

Meanwhile, Quintana’s recovery timeline is yet to be determined, with Showalter telling Healey and other reporters that “they got a couple other people to look at some things and try to decide the best mode of operation which to go, as soon as we know exactly what we’re dealing with.”

The Mets’ Options If Jose Quintana Misses Time

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The Mets entered spring training with a deep but revamped rotation. Gone were longtime ace Jacob deGrom and steady right-handers Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker. In their place, the Mets signed future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, NPB star Kodai Senga and veteran lefty Jose Quintana, who had a resurgent campaign between the Pirates and Cardinals this past season.

That the first injury of the season for manager Buck Showalter’s club came from the typically durable Quintana is both unexpected and unwelcome news. The 34-year-old southpaw logged 32 starts between Pittsburgh and St. Louis in 2022, logging an excellent 2.93 ERA with a 20.6% strikeout rate, 6.9% walk rate and 46.4% ground-ball rate. It was a vintage Quintana showing, hearkening back to his peak years in Chicago — and it was impressive enough to land him a two-year, $26MM contract (13 times larger than the one-year, $2MM guarantee he received from Pittsburgh one winter ago).

Quintana will be out for a yet-to-be-determined period of time, however, owing to a stress fracture in his rib. There’s no sense running wild with speculation as to whether that’ll amount to weeks or months at this juncture, but at the very least, Opening Day doesn’t appear to be in the cards. Quintana exited after just one inning in his most recent Grapefruit League start due to discomfort, so this isn’t likely to be an injury he can just pitch through.

If there’s a silver lining for the Mets, it’s that even through all of the turnover in the rotation, they’ve managed to maintain a solid amount of depth beyond the projected Opening Day quintet of Max Scherzer, Verlander, Senga, Quintana and Carlos Carrasco. There were times when the team appeared open to moving Carrasco, but the early setback for Quintana highlights the importance of retaining him and so much of the other depth from which they could’ve dealt.

To that end, with what looks to be at least a short-term vacancy in the rotation, let’s run through the Mets’ options to fill the spot.

The Two Favorites

David Peterson, LHP, 27 years old

About as overqualified a sixth starter as you’ll find in the league, Peterson was the 20th overall pick in the 2017 draft and has spent parts of three seasons in the big leagues with the Mets: two of them good and the middle one (2021) quite bad. The lefty sandwiched an ugly 5.54 ERA between a pair of sub-4.00 efforts, with the end result being a solid 4.26 ERA (4.18 FIP, 4.14 SIERA) in 222 innings at the big league level.

Peterson leaned more heavily on his four-seamer and slider than ever before in 2022, dropping his sinker/two-seam usage from 26.3% in 2021 to 12.3% last season. He posted career-best totals in swinging-strike rate (12.8%), opponents’ chase rate (31.2%) and opponents’ contact rate (71.2%). It’s tempting to think that some of those gains might be from working out of the bullpen for a spell, but while Peterson had similar ERAs as a starter and a reliever, he had better strikeout and walk rates while working out of the rotation.

Fresh off a season that saw him toss 105 2/3 innings of 3.83 ERA ball with a 27.8% strikeout rate, 10.6% walk rate and 49.4% grounder rate, Peterson is the ostensible front-runner to take any early starts that Quintana might miss. Other clubs surely had interest in him this winter — particularly once the Mets had signed all three of Verlander, Senga and Quintana — but the decision to hold onto him is already paying off.

Tylor Megill, RHP, 27

If Peterson is the favorite, Megill might not be all that far behind. He made 18 respectable starts in 2021, pitching to a 4.52 ERA with more impressive strikeout and walk rates (26.1% and 7.1%, respectively). In 2022, when the Mets needed a starter, Megill stepped up and took the ball on six occasions from April 7 through May 4, pitching to a sterling 2.43 ERA with a gaudy 36-to-8 K/BB ratio in 33 1/3 innings of work. His fastball, which averaged 94.7 mph in 2021, was up to nearly 96 mph on average in 2022, and Megill suddenly looked like far more than a band-aid on an injury-marred starting staff — at least until the injury bug bit him, too.

The Mets placed Megill on the 15-day injured list with biceps inflammation on May 12, just days after he was tattooed for eight runs in 1 1/3 innings against the Nationals. He returned on June 10, made a pair of starts that lasted 3 1/3 frames apiece (yielding a combined six runs in the process) and went back on the IL just seven days after being activated — this time due to a shoulder strain. The absence proved far more substantial this time around. Megill was transferred to the 60-day IL just 10 days after his original placement, and he remained sidelined all the way until Sept. 19.

In his career, Megill has overwhelmed right-handed opponents with a power fastball/slider combination, but his changeup has been generally ineffective, leaving him susceptible to left-handed batters. That bears out in his alarming platoon splits. Righties have been downright flummoxed by him, batting only .202/.247/.331. Lefty bats, however, have absolutely clobbered Megill at a .307/.368/.568 clip. He’ll have a chance to win the job, but if he’s going to find long-term success, he’ll need to find a better offering to neutralize opponents in platoon settings.

Longer Shots Who Could Start At Some Point In 2023

Joey Lucchesi, LHP, 29

Acquired from the Padres in the three-team deal that sent Joe Musgrove from Pittsburgh to San Diego, Lucchesi made 11 solid appearances for the Mets in 2021, serving in this exact type of sixth starter role that’s now resurfaced in Queens. Eight of those appearances were starts, and the former fourth-round pick worked to a decent 4.46  ERA with a more-impressive 3.40 FIP and 3.79 SIERA. Lucchesi punched out a strong 26.1% of his opponents against a similarly strong 7.1% walk rate. He might’ve held that role down the stretch — and into 2022 — had he remained healthy, but a late-June diagnosis of a torn ulnar collateral ligament led to Tommy John surgery. Lucchesi missed the remainder of the 2021 season and all of the 2022 campaign.

Early in his career with the Friars, Lucchesi looked the part of a solid fourth starter, pitching to a 4.14 ERA in 56 starts and 293 2/3 innings from 2018-19. He’s thrown just 44 innings since that time, due primarily to injury, but he owns a 4.24 ERA in 337 2/3 big league innings. He still has a pair of minor league options remaining, so the Mets can send him to Triple-A Syracuse to stay stretched out and monitor his workload if they go another route in the rotation. Given that he missed all of the 2022 season, Lucchesi is likely to have his innings capped this season, which probably works against him — especially in the early stages.

Elieser Hernandez, RHP, 27

An offseason acquisition made with an eye toward bolstering the pitching depth, Hernandez came over alongside reliever Jeff Brigham in a deal sending minor leaguers Franklin Sanchez and Jake Mangum to Miami. He’s fresh off a tough 2022 season, but the former Rule 5 pick — the Marlins selected him out of the Astros organization in 2017 — was once a promising member of the Marlins’ young core of arms. From 2020-21, he pitched 77 1/3 innings of 3.84 ERA ball with plus strikeout (26.3%) and walk (5.7%) rates.

Home runs and injuries have been a problem for Hernandez throughout his career, however. His breakout 2020 campaign was shortened by a lat strain, and his 2021 season was interrupted both by a strained quadriceps and inflammation in his right biceps. He’s only shown glimpses of his potential in the Majors, but Hernandez also sports a stout 2.86 ERA, 32.4% strikeout rate and 6.5% walk rate in 129 Triple-A frames spread across parts of four seasons. He has a minor league option remaining,  but he could also make the club as a long reliever.

Jose Butto, RHP, 25

Butto, who’ll turn 26 in less than two weeks, made his big league debut last year when he tossed four innings but was knocked around by the Phillies, who scored seven runs against him at Citizens Bank Park. It wasn’t a great first impression, but Butto nonetheless had a strong year in the minors, logging a combined 3.56 ERA in 129 innings between Double-A and Triple-A.

Scouting reports at each of Baseball America, MLB.com and FanGraphs laud Butto’s plus changeup and above-average heater, but he lacks a third offering, leading to plenty of speculation that he’ll ultimately settle in as a long reliever or swingman. There’s more upside here if he can improve either his curveball or his slider, but he’d be hard-pressed to leapfrog the names ahead of him for starts early in the season. Still, he’s already gotten his feet wet in the Majors and had success in the upper minors, so with some improvements to his secondary pitches and/or a big early performance in Syracuse, Butto could find himself making some starts at some point this year, as injuries on the big league roster necessitate.

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As far as non-roster options go, the Mets are generally light on MLB-ready starting pitching in the upper levels of their system (beyond the 40-man names already covered above). Recent trades have thinned out some of that depth, with both J.T. Ginn and Adam Oller going to the A’s for Chris Bassitt, while Thomas Szapucki went to the Giants as part of the Darin Ruf swap. Most of the Mets’ very best prospects are position players, and the top-ranked pitchers in their system are generally multiple years from MLB readiness.

The presence of Peterson, Megill, Lucchesi, Hernandez and Butto gives the Mets ample depth from which to draw, particularly given how solid both Peterson and Megill looked at times last year. Still, pitcher performance is volatile and injuries are inevitable. If the Mets want to further cultivate some depth, there are a handful of recognizable veteran names who’ve yet to sign — Michael Pineda, Chris Archer and Dylan Bundy among them. Whether that trio, or any of the other remaining starters on the market, is willing to take a minor league deal remains to be seen.

Failing that, the Mets can perhaps keep an eye on other veterans around the league who are currently on minor league/non-roster deals. Many of those pitchers have opt-out opportunities if they don’t make their current club’s roster or upward mobility clauses that allow them to leave the current organization if another team is willing to offer an immediate 40-man roster spot.

For the time being, it doesn’t appear particularly crucial for the Mets to make another addition, but a second injury in the rotation would start to leave an otherwise strong staff looking vulnerable, and there’s little harm in stockpiling depth to the extent possible.

Big Hype Prospects: Walker, Baty, Volpe, Colas, Jameson

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The hype is real this week on Big Hype Prospects. Numerous notable youngsters are among the top performers in the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues.

Five BHPs In The News

Jordan Walker, 20, OF, STL (AA)
536 PA, 19 HR, 22 SB, .306/.388/.510

Walker is fourth among qualified spring hitters with a 1.429 OPS across 28 plate appearances. He’s already popped three doubles and three home runs. This column has covered Walker’s scouting traits many times. His hot play is putting him in the picture for an Opening Day role, though such an assignment is unlikely for numerous reasons. The sad truth is club control is an important consideration for teams when choosing a debut date. While new rules offer some consolation, the terms* are rather difficult to achieve. Additionally, the Cardinals have a deep roster. Nolan Arenado covers Walker’s natural position of third base. He’s converted to outfield where Dylan Carlson, Tyler O’Neill, Lars Nootbaar, Alec Burleson, and Juan Yepez are also in the mix. In addition to competition and control incentives, Walker isn’t on the 40-man roster nor does he have any experience in Triple-A.

*Namely, two new rules. A player is awarded a full year of service if they finish top two in Rookie of the Year voting. A team can gain extra draft picks if a “top prospect” makes the Opening Day roster and later finishes top three in rookie voting or top five in MVP/Cy Young voting.

Brett Baty, 23, 3B, NYM (MLB)
(AA) 394 PA, 19 HR, 2 SB, .312/.406/.544

Another frequent guest of BHP, Baty is currently sixth-best among qualified hitters with a 1.208 OPS. He has one double and one home run. He spent most of 2022 in Double-A, though he had brief trials in Triple-A and the Majors. He didn’t look overmatched in his debut even though the end results weren’t impressive. An uncharacteristic .179 BABIP entirely explains his modest 71 wRC+. Baty is competing with Eduardo Escobar who could find himself in a utility role if Baty wins the third base job. There’s also room in the designated hitter competition where Daniel Vogelbach, Darin Ruf, and Tommy Pham are expected to see the bulk of the action. None of those veterans should be considered a lock to make the Mets roster.

Anthony Volpe, 21, SS, NYY (AAA)
(AAA) 427 PA, 24 HR, .280/.358/.519

Yet another player who has been covered ad nauseum by this column, Volpe is on the cusp of his big league debut. His 1.097 OPS looks strong in the early going. In addition to a home run and two doubles, he also has three stolen bases. Volpe’s path to the starting shortstop role should be viewed as an uphill battle if only because the Yankees have given themselves a number of difficult decisions to make this spring. Volpe is plagued by the same criteria that could give the Cardinals pause regarding Walker. Additionally, Volpe has identifiable flaws as a hitter – most notably, a fly ball-oriented swing. He could find himself with a low BABIP in the Majors, especially since many pitchers have become adept at attacking this hitting profile.

Oscar Colas, 24, OF, CWS (AAA)
(AA) 225 PA, 14 HR, 1 SB, .306/.364/.563

Colas surged through the White Sox system last season, making stops in High-, Double-, and Triple-A. His time in Double-A was his most meaningful performance. He only accrued 33 plate appearances in Triple-A. Colas has a bead on Chicago’s right field job where first baseman Gavin Sheets is seen as the main competition. Colas is batting .429/.455/.476 in 22 spring plate appearances. He is known for making impactful contact. Like many products of the White Sox farm system over the years, he has a detrimentally aggressive plate approach. His first test in the Majors will be laying off competitive pitches outside of the zone. Many a prospect with comparable tools and discipline to Colas failed to stick in the Majors.

Drey Jameson, 25, SP, ARI (MLB)
(AAA) 114 IP, 8.61 K/9, 3.32 BB/9, 6.95 ERA

Jameson is competing with Ryne Nelson and others for the Diamondbacks fifth starter job. He mostly relies on two fastballs and a plus slider, though he also features a curve and changeup. In three spring outings, he’s tossed 6.2 innings with eight strikeouts, five hits, two walks, a home run, and three runs allowed. Although he’s proven a tad homer prone throughout his development, a high ground ball rate helps to salve the sting. He has the raw traits of a future workhorse. Within the next couple seasons, he could click in much the way Logan Webb clicked between his 2020 and 2021 campaigns. For those concerned about his Triple-A numbers, those are at least partly an artifact of circumstance. Reno’s starters combined for a 5.24 ERA which ranked fifth out of 10 clubs in the PCL.

Three More

Cole Ragans, TEX (25): Ragans averaged 92.1-mph with his heater last season so it raised a few eyebrows when he hit 99-mph the other day. With a number of Rangers starters banged up, there’s a decent chance Ragans will nab a start or two early in the season. I’m withholding enthusiasm until he maintains velocity in longer outings. At a minimum, the southpaw could really play up out of the bullpen.

Masyn Winn, STL (20): Though he has almost no chance of playing his way to an Opening Day assignment, Winn is making a favorable impression this spring. He has a 1.071 OPS in 17 plate appearances with a homer and two steals. Scouts want to see him adjust against competitive breaking balls but are otherwise enamored with the young shortstop. Defensively, he has an 80-grade arm but closer to 40-grade range and footwork. The arm ensures he’ll stick on the left side of the infield.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand, CIN (23): Acquired in the Tyler Mahle trade, Encarnacion-Strand has slugged at every stop along the ladder. He’s expected to reach Triple-A early this season if not right out of the gate. In 18 spring plate appearances, he has 11 hits including a double and three home runs. The profile reads like a more compactly built Franmil Reyes.

Read The Transcript Of Our Chat With Former MLB Catcher Gary Bennett

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Former MLB catcher Gary Bennett chatted with MLBTR readers for more than two hours this morning. Click here to read the transcript and learn more about Bennett below:

Gary Bennett was drafted by the Phillies in the 11th round in 1990 out of Waukegan East High School.  His MLB career began with a single plate appearance more than five years later, when he pinch-hit for the Phils against David Wells.  His first big league home run came in 1999, at the age of 27.

In July of 2001, Bennett was traded to the Mets for Todd Pratt.  A year later, he was dealt to the Rockies.

It was in 2002, at the age of 30, that Bennett landed regular work in the Majors, serving as Colorado’s primary catcher.  He then signed a free agent deal with the Padres, leading their ’03 club in innings caught.  After the ’03 season, Bennett signed as a free agent with the Brewers.  He served as the backup to Chad Moeller that year.

On to the Nationals in ’05, Bennett’s life as a big league mercenary catcher continued, this time with Damian Miller as his counterpart.

Bennett moved to the Cardinals for the ’06 season, working behind Yadier Molina.  The Cards beat the Tigers in five games in the World Series that year, and Bennett earned a ring.  The Cardinals retained Bennett for ’07, providing some rare continuity, after which he closed out his career with the Dodgers.

In the end, Bennett spent over 4,200 innings in the Majors behind the dish, catching pitchers such as Jake Peavy, Ben Sheets, and Adam Wainwright.  He also hit a homer off Sheets at one point, taking Dontrelle Willis and many others deep as well.  Memorable moments included walk-offs on back-to-back days against the Cubs in ’06 – one a single and the other a grand slam.

In 2007, Bennett was one of the players named in the Mitchell Report.  He owned up to his use of human growth hormone, later telling Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “It was unethical, cheating, taking performance enhancement stuff.”

After Gary’s playing days wrapped up, he became a partner in a training academy called Slammers Baseball.  Other ventures have included medical device sales, real estate, and non-profit foundations such as CASA Lake County and Science of Sport.  The Bennetts also have three kids, one of whom played baseball at Mizzou and another currently playing at Illinois.  You can follow Gary on Twitter @gdbjr5.

Gary offered to chat with MLBTR readers, and we’re happy to have him!  Click here to join the live chat.

If you’re a current or former MLB player and would like to do a one-hour chat on MLBTR, please contact us!

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