The Arizona Fall League can serve as one final chance for Rule 5-eligible prospects to prove to their parent clubs that they are worthy of a 40-man roster spot before the November protection deadline.
Nick Morabito passed his audition.
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The Mets’ No. 16 prospect parlayed a strong AFL season with Scottsdale into a 40-man spot, the Mets announced Tuesday.
The 22-year-old outfielder tied for sixth in the showcase circuit with 25 hits in 17 games – as many as AFL MVP and No. 2 overall prospect Kevin McGonigle – and added 16 steals, good for third best in the AFL. Morabito finished with a .362/.450/.464 line, one homer, one triple and two doubles across his 81 plate appearances.
Taken with the 75th overall pick out of a Washington, D.C., high school in 2022, Morabito has proven to be a plus-plus runner in the pros, and that continued to be the case in the AFL, where he recorded 15 runs of 30 ft/sec or higher sprint speed (the measure considered “elite” at the MLB level). Those wheels have helped turn him into a plus defender in center field as well. All of his defensive reps in the desert came in the middle of the grass.
The right-handed hitter will have to work on his bat angles as he pushes toward Queens. He ran a 53.9 percent ground-ball rate with Double-A Binghamton, and 34 of his 54 balls in play in the Fall League (63 percent) also came on the ground. To that point, his hardest-hit ball in the AFL was 111.8 mph, but even that resulted in a 5-4-3 double play.
Here’s how the rest of the Mets' contingent performed in the Fall League:
Chris Suero, C/OF/1B (No. 15): One of this year’s most interesting Fall Leaguers from a versatility standpoint, Suero continued to cycle through catcher, left field and first base with Scottsdale, getting the lion’s share of his starts behind the plate. He tied McGonigle for the team lead with five homers and finished with a .283/.353/.567 line and eight steals in his 15 games.
John Bay, OF: Bay made for a fun Fall League story as an undrafted outfielder out of Austin Peay who signed with the Mets in late July. Three months later, he was sent to the AFL as an in-season replacement, but got limited playing time, playing in only three games for Scottsdale. He went 1-for-10 (.100) with two walks and five strikeouts.
Brett Banks, RHP: The 24-year-old right-hander fanned 13 of his 29 batters faced (44.8 percent) in the desert, but he also allowed four earned runs on six hits and five walks in six frames. Banks worked 94-98 with his four-seamer and also showed off an 82-85 mph slider with good horizontal break, an upper-80s cutter and a rarely used mid-80s changeup.
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Jordan Geber, RHP: Two years after pitching in the Fall League as a starter, the former Virginia Tech hurler was back as a reliever this time around, but he only saw the mound for four innings, the second fewest on the Scottsdale staff. He struck out five and didn’t walk any batters in that span, though he did surrender three earned runs on four hits.
Bryce Jenkins, RHP: The 2023 17th-rounder out of Tennessee missed almost two years due to Tommy John surgery before coming back in June, but he struggled with control with Single-A St. Lucie. Those issues continued in Arizona as he walked 10 in 8 1/3 innings over eight appearances. He allowed seven earned runs on six hits and struck out eight in that span, while showing off breaking balls approaching 3,000 rpm.
Ernesto Mercedes, RHP: The 22-year-old righty made only four appearances – including one in which he gave up five earned runs on three hits, one walk and a hit batsman without retiring a batter on Nov. 1 – and finished with nine earned runs over 2 2/3 frames total. He did finish on a high with a scoreless inning, in which he notched his lone AFL strikeout, on Nov. 11.
D’Andre Smith, OF: Another Rule 5-eligible player this offseason and a repeat Fall Leaguer following his 2023 time with Glendale, the 24-year-old outfielder didn’t make nearly the same impact as Morabito, going 5-for-27 (.185) with three doubles and six steals over eight games. He was removed from the roster on Oct. 29.
Austin Troesser, RHP: Troesser missed a significant amount of the regular season with a forearm strain, but he managed only four appearances with the Scorpions in the fall. He fanned four and allowed two earned runs on three hits and four walks in 4 2/3 frames.