Will the Mets actually promote their pitching prospects to the big leagues?
Also - the Mets will try and turn their fortunes around against one of the hottest teams in baseball.
What’s up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets were off on Thursday - they open a three-game series with the red hot Brewers tonight in Milwaukee
Pete Alonso has a chance to make history in the same place he hit another historic home run (Daily News)
Perhaps the team will recapture some of the magic that propelled the Mets through the Wild Card round in Milwaukee (Newsday)
The Mets young pitching prospects are reminiscent of the 2015 team that also relied on a wealth of young arms (MLB.com)
The team will be honoring the 60th anniversary of the Beatles’ iconic performance at Shea Stadium with a special Beatles Night celebration (ESPN)
Playoff Race 🏁
Both the Phillies and Mets were off so there was very little movement in the standings. The Braves did beat the Marlins so now they are a mere 17 games out of first place.
The Reds were the only team in the race in action and they lost to the Pirates.
According to Fangraphs the Mets playoff odds dipped a bit to 87.6%.
Down on the Farm 🌾
RHP Brandon Sproat (No. 5 Prospect, Triple-A): 6.0 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
OF José Azocar (Triple-A): 2-for-3, 3 R, 3 RBI, HR, 2B, BB, K
OF Nick Morabito (No. 12 Prospect, Double-A): 2-for-5, R, RBI, 2B, K
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL PPD | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓️
Match-up: Mets (63-52) at Brewers (70-44)
Where: American Family Field — Milwaukee, WI
Starters: RHP Kodai Senga (7-3, 2.31 ERA) vs. RHP Brandon Woodruff (3-0, 2.22 ERA)
When: 8:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
When is the right time for the Mets to call up their top pitching prospects? ✍️
With the Trade Deadline in the past, the only help the Mets can turn to now to steer the club in the right direction are the players already on the team and the prospects who are thriving in the minor leagues.
One of the team’s biggest issues heading into the deadline was pitching, and while David Stearns was able to shore up the bullpen, the rotation is still in dire need of some help, and the front office was unable to move on any potential help to improve the front five or the depth.
And things really haven’t improved for the rotation, either.
Since the start of August, the rotation is 0-2 with a 7.04 ERA, which is good for 27th in the league and averaging a smidge over five innings per start. Only the Pittsburgh, Washington, and Colorado starters have been worse in terms of ERA since August began.
Going back further, specifically to June 13, which seems like a line of delineation for this club, Mets starters have a 5.08 ERA, which is the fourth worst in the majors, and they’re averaging just 4.6 innings per start.
So, what do the Mets do? Not only is their entire rotation struggling, but it is also comprised of five- and dive pitchers (at best), which has and will continue to put a strain on the bullpen no matter how revamped it is. The Mets can’t even get to their big arms since the rotation has routinely been ineffective, either.
Their first option is to move one of the starting five to the bullpen, and the two obvious candidates right now are Clay Holmes and Frankie Montas. Holmes has clearly tired and is well beyond his career-high in innings pitched, although he gave the Mets five strong innings in his last start. He has the potential to be an effective arm out of the pen for multiple innings or come into the game following an opener.
Montas is the other obvious choice to move to the bullpen. Between injury and underperformance, Montas has been a disaster this season after being signed to a two-year deal worth $34 million in the offseason - he is 3-2 with a 6.68 ERA in 33.2 innings pitched.
Should the Mets go that route, that would open up a spot in the rotation for top prospects Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, or perhaps even Jonah Tong. Tong is probably a bit of a long shot, but both McLean and Sproat are realistic options. McLean is currently 5-4 with a 2.81 ERA in Triple-A. In his latest start, he did not allow any runs in 5.2 innings while walking three and striking out seven.
Sproat struggled mightily earlier in the season, but recently he started putting it together. He gave up only two runs the entire month of July, which was good for a 0.67 ERA. With his latest quality start, his ERA is down to 4.10. Both McLean and Sproat are certainly worthy of a call-up given their recent performances, but it still remains to be seen if the team will go in that direction. They do still have Paul Blackburn, and Tylor Megill has resumed throwing, so the team could rely on the arms they already have instead of one of the prospects.
For now, the Mets seem committed to sticking with Montas and Holmes in the rotation, although Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said earlier this week they could go with an opener ahead of Montas on Saturday when he is scheduled to pitch again. Both Mendoza and Stearns have been peppered with questions about what they plan to do with these two plus their rising pitching prospects, and while Stearns specifically has said their prospects have entered the conversation, they’re clearly still hesitant to inject either of them into their rotation in a pressure-packed playoff race while hoping they can at least keep their rotation afloat, an unfair expectation for any prospect regardless of the hope they might bring.
There’s also the innings limit situation with McLean specifically, although it does apply for Sproat as well. McLean has thrown 109.2 IP so far in 2025, the same number he threw in 2024. If the Mets stick with their formula of adding 30 innings from the previous year, the math is quite simple there and he would have five starts of six innings left on his season before reaching the max. Sproat has thrown 101 innings so far in 2025, 16.1 IP fewer than that of 2024. That means, he has around 45 innings left before he hits his cap.
Presumably, all of that is what Stearns and the Mets front office are wrangling with - can either Sproat of McLean matter as much as they need them to?
Having said that and understanding the difficulty in such a decision, the bottom line is that the rotation needs to be better if they want to make it to October, and they need to find the best combinations of arms that will give them the best chance to succeed as they prepare for the home stretch of the season. Their trend already has proven to be unsustainable, and the Mets therefore have to soon make a decision on which road to travel if they intend to be playing in the tournament this year.
Around the League 🚩
Mariners 1B Josh Naylor is day-to-day with shoulder soreness after exiting his game early against the White Sox
The White Sox placed rookie SS Chase Meidroth on the 10-day injured list with a right thumb contusion
Umpire Jen Pawol spent a lifetime in baseball before getting the call that she would become the first woman to umpire a major league baseball game (ESPN)
Despite giving up a career-high seven hits, Pirates ace Paul Skenes lowered his ERA to 1.94 in Pittsburgh’s 7-0 victory over the Reds
Kodai Senga's performance tonight may very well be the harbinger of how this hellscape will play out.
#LGM
At this point in time, it's worth a gamble that the unknown seems like a far better option than the known when it comes to starting pitching