Mets' farm teams receive late-season boost from influx of prospects

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo's Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

NEW YORK -- Before Sunday’s game at Citi Field, a group of recently recalled Mets pitchers was chatting at one end of the clubhouse when the conversation turned to the playoff race.

No, not the Major League playoff race. The Triple-A one.

The Mets may be out of contention, but there are still multiple postseason races worth watching Upstate -- in large part because several of the prospects the Mets acquired at the Trade Deadline are dragging the Triple-A Syracuse Mets and Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies into contention. From Aug. 15 through Sept. 3, the Syracuse Mets won 13 of 16 to pull within striking distance of a playoff spot -- something that seemed unlikely before new prospects Emilien Pitre (from the Freddy Peralta trade, now ranked 11th in the Mets’ system), Billy Amick (from the A.J. Minter trade) and others came onto the scene.

“I hate losing so much,” Pitre said. “So being a part of a team that wins a lot is great. We did it in Binghamton, and now we’re doing it here. I just try to bring positive energy to the team. I’ll do anything to win a ballgame.”

When Pitre came to the organization, he initially reported to Binghamton, where the Rumble Ponies had just begun a 10-game winning streak. He wound up spending 12 games as a Rumble Pony and winning 11 of them, before moving up to Syracuse with Amick.

With those two on the roster, the Syracuse Mets won five of their next six games. Shortly thereafter, longtime manager Dick Scott returned from surgery to remove one of his kidneys following a cancer diagnosis, giving the Minor Leaguers something else to rally around.

“We all were kind of new, so it was easy to get to know everybody,” Amick said. “We were all in the same situation. We’re obviously all deep in the season, so we’re just trying to have fun, stay healthy and win some games."

Even if neither the Rumble Ponies nor the Syracuse Mets manage to make the playoffs, they will have achieved something noteworthy following the Deadline. In a lost season for the big league Mets, prospects like Pitre, Amick, Jefferson Rojas (from the Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor trade, ranked first in the Mets’ system and No. 76 in MLB) and others have offered the organization a dose of optimism.

Earlier this year, a popular narrative surrounding the farm system focused on the fact that outside of Nolan McLean, Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing, who all graduated to the Majors, most of the organization’s top-ranked prospects took steps backward in 2026. That’s partially why it felt so important for the Mets to infuse new talent into the system at the Deadline.

Now, those newcomers are thriving while several incumbents, including second-ranked prospect Jonathan Santucci and fourth-ranked Mitch Voit, are following suit. Last Tuesday in Syracuse, Amick was among three players to homer in the first two innings, launching a 415-foot shot that soared over a bar area in left field. Santucci added five solid innings to pick up the win. That same night, 75 miles to the south, Gary Gill Hill (from the Peralta trade, ranked 17th in the Mets’ system) pitched the first four innings of a Rumble Ponies victory.

“I’d say it’s a pretty good feeling, knowing that people are looking at us as the future,” Gill Hill said.

“It’s been really fun to watch and be a part of,” Amick added. “It’s just been nice to meet everybody and get to know the culture that they’re trying to bring. … Everybody’s working hard to try to win ballgames.”