Forget the pinstripes across town or the big-spending Dodgers for a second. If you want to see where the real tectonic plates of baseball are shifting, look at Queens. The latest prospect rankings just dropped, and while the usual suspects like Baseball America are playing it safe, Baseball Prospectus just went ahead and pushed all their chips into the middle of the table on the Mets.
They didn’t just list the big four we all know. They named seven guys to their Top 101. Seven. That’s not a farm system; that’s a small army. While everyone else is arguing over whether the Mets have a top-ten pipeline, BP basically declared the takeover imminent.
The Ace and the Anomaly
Nolan McLean is the headliner, and for good reason. Ranked fourth, he isn’t just a pitching prospect anymore. He’s the pitching prospect. After a cup of coffee in the show last year where he sat everyone down with a 2.06 ERA over 48 innings, he’s officially graduated from “experiment” to “rotation anchor.”
Watching him punch out 57 batters in that short stint was a revelation. He’s got the kind of pure, unadulterated velocity that makes scouts drool and hitters rethink their career choices. Pairing him with a veteran like Freddy Peralta, whom the Mets just snagged in that blockbuster trade, gives this rotation a ceiling we haven’t seen in years.
Then there is Jonah Tong, ranked 23rd by BP. People call him a Tim Lincecum clone, and honestly, the comparison isn’t lazy. The delivery is a chaotic masterpiece of limbs and timing that shouldn’t work but absolutely does. His 7.71 ERA in the bigs last year looked ugly on paper, but the 4.31 FIP tells the real story. The kid has a rising fastball that defies physics. If he tightens up the secondaries, he’s a front-line monster.
The Speed and the Slug
Carson Benge, 10th on the list, is the name you’ll be hearing all through Port St. Lucie this month. He hit a wall in Triple-A last year, sure. Every young hitter does. But the power-speed toolset is undeniable, and he’s walking into spring training with a legitimate shot to steal the left field job.
If Benge provides the spark, Ryan Clifford provides the thunder. The man hit 29 home runs last year. That isn’t a fluke; it’s a warning. He’s the top power threat in the system, and BP slotting him at 86 shows they finally value that left-handed pop that can turn a game around with one swing in the seventh inning.
Then you have A.J. Ewing (38th), who is basically a blur on the basepaths. Seventy stolen bases in a single season is video game stuff. He paired that with a .830 OPS across three levels, proving he’s more than just a track star in cleats. He’s a baseball player who understands how to get on and how to make pitchers miserable once he’s there.
The Dark Horses in the Top 100
The real shockers on the BP list were Jacob Reimer (70th) and Will Watson (96th). Reimer is a corner infielder with a massive 157 wRC+ and 54 extra-base hits last season. He’s a hitting theory nerd who overhauled his swing and started punishing mistakes.
Will Watson is the sleeper of all sleepers. A 2.60 ERA across three levels as a 23-year-old righty? That gets you noticed. He peaked at Double-A Binghamton and looked like he belonged every step of the way. Most outlets ignored him, but BP sees a guy who could be a high-leverage weapon or a back-end starter by next summer.
The depth is staggering. This isn’t just about 2026. This is about building a sustainable, perennial winner that doesn’t have to rely solely on Steve Cohen’s checkbook. The kids aren’t just coming; they’re already at the gates.
More about:New York Mets
