Brandon

Sproat

He walked three, struck out four, and threw just 49 of 87 pitches for strikes while allowing three home runs. While Sproat impressed in spring training, he has a 5.85 ERA through eight starts in Triple-A with a 26:26 K:BB ratio in 32 1/3 innings. He seems to have been firmly passed in the potential call-up pecking order by Blade Tidwell and Nolan McLean.

Sproat impressed the Mets this spring, but he’s opened the Triple-A season with a 5.79 ERA and a 13/10 K/BB in 18 2/3 innings over five starts. The 2003 second-round pick had a 32 percent strikeout rate in high-A and a 33 percent strikeout rate in Double-A, but he’s come in at just 16 percent in 12 starts since moving up to Triple-A in the second half of last year.

There was some speculation from Newday’s Tim Healey that top pitching prospect Brandon Sproat was a potential option for Friday or Saturday, if Canning wasn’t feeling better. The fact that they’re not waiting to make a decision here suggest that Canning is definitely feeling well enough to take the ball after being scratched from Wednesday’s scheduled start due to illness.

Healey mentioned that if Canning isn’t well enough to pitch on Wednesday or Thursday, the Mets will need another spot starter for Friday. There are a few options they could turn to, but Sproat is a name they have discussed. The 24-year-old was a huge riser in the Mets system last year, pitching to a 3.40 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and 131/42 K/BB ratio in 116 1/3 minor league innings. He has not gotten off to a fast start in Triple-A, but he remains an intriguing pitching prospect.

No word yet on Griffin’s potential replacement. Mets top pitching prospects Brandon Sproat, Blade Tidwell and Nolan McLean all pitched within the past few days in the upper minors, which eliminates them as potential emergency stopgap options. It’ll likely wind up being a bullpen game for the Mets unless they want to have David Peterson take the ball on short rest, which doesn’t seem ideal. Stay tuned.

The highly-touted pitcher struck out a pair while issuing one base on balls in the contest. He allowed a run in the opening inning as Jon Singleton plated Cam Smith with an RBI single. Sproat then settled down and worked a scoreless second inning including strikeouts of Brendan Rodgers and Jacob Melton. He seemed to tire a bit after starting the third, issuing a leadoff walk and a single before turning the ball over to the bullpen, and one of those inherited runners came around to score. While the 24-year-old impressed with his fastball in this one, it’s still clear that his secondary offerings need some work before he’s ready to join the Mets’ rotation.

New York shipped the majority of their top prospects over the minor-league camp during their latest batch of spring cuts. Sproat is the major headliner here after impressing last Friday in a pair of scoreless frames against the Nationals. Tidwell fired an immaculate inning and struck out five over two frames over the weekend against the Rays. Meanwhile, Clifford, Gilbert and Williams have a shot at ascending to the big leagues at some point in the near future.

It’s hard to imagine the Mets carrying Sproat out of spring training, even with two starters already down, but he should have a chance to make an impact at some point of the season. The 24-year-old went 7-4 with a 3.40 ERA and a 131/42 K/BB in 116 1/3 innings in the minors last year. He topped out at 99.0 mph today and averaged 97.3 mph on his six fastballs.

This well-deserved promotion comes just a day after the 23-year-old hurler racked up 13 strikeouts over five shutout innings at Double-A Binghampton. He has been extremely impressive this season, registering a 2.05 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and a 110/31 K/BB ratio over 87 2/3 innings between High-A Brooklyn and Double-A Binghampton. At this rate, it’s not out of the question that we could see him make a start or two with the Mets before the 2024 season concludes.

Fresh off a highly-impressive outing a couple weeks ago at the MLB Futures Game, Sproat authored one of the more dominant pitching performances of the season on Friday evening, piling up an eye-popping 21 swinging strikes, and striking out the final 11 batters he faced en route to his second double-digit strikeout effort of the year. The 23-year-old right-hander has been arguably the fastest-rising pitching prospect this season for fantasy purposes as he’s recorded a sublime 2.05 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 110/31 K/BB ratio across 87 2/3 innings (17 appearances, 16 starts) between High-A Brooklyn and Double-A Binghamtom. It might be unrealistic to expect him to reach New York before the current season wraps up, but he’s going to enter the 2025 campaign as one of the top pitching prospects in the game.