Sunday, March 09

Welcome back to the Mets Beat newsletter! Anthony DiComo has covered the Mets for MLB.com since 2007, including the past 16 seasons full-time on the beat. One quick announcement: Our Around the Horn series will resume next week. Until then…

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- It’s a unique time for the Mets’ player development system, with so many of their most highly regarded prospects in the upper Minors. That sort of thing doesn’t happen every year.

Given their pedigree, many of those prospects have already become household names for clued-in fans. Jett Williams and Ryan Clifford have seen plenty of action in Grapefruit League games, for example. Drew Gilbert is also in Major League camp, where the Mets are taking him along slowly following a hamstring injury that sidelined him for much of 2024. He’s a name brand regardless. Brandon Sproat is here as well, lighting up radar guns early in spring. Blade Tidwell recently threw an immaculate inning.

While a few of those older players will take part in Spring Breakout, Major League Baseball’s annual mid-spring prospect showcase, much of the March 16 intrigue will revolve around less familiar prospects. Specifically, a large group of 2024 Draft picks is set to take part in this year’s event.

One of them, outfielder Carson Benge, is a first-round pick with a mop of red hair and thunder in his bat. Benge was a two-way player in college, but he’s focusing on the outfield now. The Mets believe he can become an elite offensive producer at the highest level.

Another, Jonathan Santucci, was one of the top left-handed pitchers available in the Draft. Though Santucci has yet to make his professional debut, he’ll play in front of a national audience during Spring Breakout.

Still another 2024 draftee, 19-year-old Trey Snyder, is a shortstop whom the Mets paid nearly $1 million over slot recommendations to sign out of the fifth round. While Snyder remains a long way from the Majors, his ceiling is as high as anyone the organization selected in last year’s Draft.

All told, six of the Mets’ top eight picks from a year ago are slated to appear in Spring Breakout.

Now in its second year, Spring Breakout is unlike the All-Star weekend Futures Game, which tends to include only a prospect or two from each organization. This month, entire teams of prospects will compete against each other, shedding light on the farm system as a whole -- not just the pipeline’s most elite players.

Last year, Spring Breakout offered fans their first real looks at Sproat, Clifford, Nolan McLean and others. This year, it promises to do the same for an even younger generation of prospects.

Many of those who appear on March 16 will eventually impact the big league club in significant ways. Some of them, we won’t see coming. Spring Breakout offers an early glimpse into that future.

Which Mets pitching staff holds the franchise record for ERA?

A) 1968

B) 1969

C) 1973

D) 1986

The Mets, who have long been the team of Queens, are about to invade Manhattan.

Earlier this week, the team announced a new initiative: Mets House, a team store and event space located at 1 Union Square West. The Mets are celebrating the grand opening on Friday with a wide range of events, including meet-and-greets with Dwight Gooden and Todd Zeile, as well as a live art experience where fans can have their portraits drawn on a baseball.

On Saturday, Mets House will have a live DJ from 1-3 p.m. Sunday is a family day, with activities including face painting from 12-4 p.m.

In addition, the first 50 fans who visit Mets House on Friday, Saturday and Sunday will receive two ticket vouchers to a 2025 home game.

• New pitch alert! Kodai Senga is working on a sinker that the Mets hope can help him neutralize right-handed hitters.

• As David Wright prepares to have his No. 5 retired this summer at Citi Field, here’s a look at how his leadership manifested through a friendship with Jacob deGrom. (Oh, and there’s a story about a haircut that you might not expect.) 

A) 1968

Believe it or not, the Mets’ ERA record was not set during a pennant-winning season. Instead, it was the 1968 staff led by Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Don Cardwell and a young Nolan Ryan that set the franchise mark with a 2.72 ERA. Across the league, pitchers were so dominant in 1968 that Major League Baseball lowered the mound after the season. (The Mets, despite their pitching success, finished 16 games below .500.)

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