We finally made it to #1 in our Top 80 Mets prospect list and I’m sure you were all surprised to see Steven Matz at the very top. Matz was drafted in the 2nd round by the Mets in 2009 out of Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, New York. It wouldn’t be until 2012 when he pitched in a professional game for the first time, yet he is considered one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is our number 80 prospect Alberto Baldonado, the left-handed pitcher was signed out of Panama by the Mets in 2009. He was lights out for the Savannah Sand Gnats in 2015 with a 1.91 ERA and held batters to a .183 batting average.

The prospects we covered in our countdown have come to the Mets from a variety of avenues and we have broken them down for you.

Number of players in Top 80 from the draft: 45

• Of those 45 players, three of them are first rounders and all of them are in the top five.
• The lowest draft pick to make our prospect list was Arnaldo Berrios (#69) who was drafted in the 39th round in 2014.
• The highest drafted player was Dominic Smith (#3) who was taken 11th overall by the Mets in 2013.
• Here is how the top 80 breaks down by draft class: 2015 (13 players), 2014 (9), 2013 (7), 2012 (9), 2011 (4), 2010 (2), and only Matz from the 2009 draft.

Number of players in Top 80 from international free agency: 28

• The highest ranked player on the list was Amed Rosario (#2) who the Mets signed out of the Dominican Republic for what is still a team record $1.75 million.
• Rosario is one of sixteen players on the list that were signed as IFA from the Dominican, the most for any country.
• Second most was the nine signed out of Venezuelan. There is one a piece from Colombia (Nabil Crismatt, #50), Panama (Baldonado, #80), and Mexico (Juan Uriarte, #78).

Signed as minor league free agents: 3

• Former 1st round pick of the Nationals, Josh Smoker (#27) signed in April of 2015 with the Mets and he has climbed the ladder rather quickly. The hard throwing lefty was added to the 40-man roster this offseason, we should see him at some point this season in Flushing.
• R.A. Dickey is gone but the Mets have found themselves another knuckleballer in Mickey Jannis (#75). The former 44th round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays was pitching for the Long Island Ducks when the Mets signed him in 2015.
• Lefty Dario Alvarez (#43) hadn’t pitched in affiliated baseball for three straight years when the Mets signed him to a minor league deal in 2013. He shot fast through the Mets system, making his major league debut in 2014.

Players signed as non-drafted free agents: 2

• T.J. Rivera (#37) went undrafted out of Troy University before signing as a minor league free agent with the Mets in 2011. He has done nothing but hit since signing, he is a career .318/.366/.418 hitter in the minors.
• The Mets signed right-handed pitcher Michael Gibbons in 2014 out of Wheaton College after going undrafted. He made his pro debut in 2015 pitching across four different levels while topping out with the Double-A Binghamton Mets.

Players acquired via trade in Top 80: 2

• Our #48 prospect is left-handed pitcher Blake Taylor, he was traded to the Mets in 2014 with reliever Zach Thornton for Ike Davis. Unfortunately, he had Tommy John Surgery and will miss the entire 2017 season.
• Sandy Alderson made what will go down as the best trade in Mets history when got the Blue Jays to give him Noah Syndergaard, Travis d’Arnaud, John Buck, and the non-elite prospect Wuilmer Beccera. Fortunately for the Mets, Becerra is turning himself into a high potential prospect and is #6 on our list.

Since Sandy Alderson took over the Mets, they have done a good job of looking under every rock to find talents like Smoker and Jannis. They have brought in a solid amount of international talent as well, with two of the Mets biggest IFA bonuses coming in 2015 to Gregory Guerrero ($1.5M) and Andres Gimenez ($1.2M).

Here you can find all of the Top 80 Prospects.