Pedro Lopez is back to lead the Binghamton Mets for the fifth straight season and his ninth overall in the Mets organization. The B-Mets begin their 25th season looking for their fourth straight playoff appearance under Lopez. His coaching staff will stay the same with pitching coach Glenn Abbott returning for his fifth straight year with Binghamton and hitting coach Luis Natera starting his second season.

The B-Mets roster is highlighted by our #3 Mets prospect Dominic Smith who will play first base and be the cleanup hitter on a regular basis according to Lopez. Smith is coming off a terrific 2015 season when he was the Florida State League Most Valuable Player and was part of the All-Prospect Team in the Arizona Fall League. He hit .305/.354/.417 for St. Lucie while leading the league with 33 doubles and 79 RBI.

Utility prospect Jeff McNeil will return to where he ended the 2015, he hit .308/.369/.377 overall while playing shortstop, second, third, first, center field and even some left field in the fall league. He will play second and third for the B-Mets sharing time with L.J. Mazzilli who will look to bounce back after a season in which he hit just one homerun and missed 50 games due to a suspension.

Two veterans that are new to the Mets organization Niuman Romero and Derrik Gibson will round out the infield and share time manning shortstop. Romero,31, has played seven positions in his eleven year career including 3.2 innings on the mound and has 18 major league at bats to his credit. Gibson, 26, is a former 2nd round pick of the Red Sox in 2008, he has played second, shortstop, third, left and center field in his minor league career.

The B-Mets outfield will look quite a bit different from the 2015 one that had Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo together at times. Kyle Johnson will return to Binghamton after playing there in 2014 when he was a mid-season all-star. He was acquired by the Mets for Collin Cowgill and missed most of 2015 after having surgery on his hand. The switch-hitting Victor Cruzado got a cup of coffee (5 games, 15 AB’s) with the B-Mets in 2015 and should be the teams primary right fielder. Cruzado, 23, is a career .276/.375/.403 hitter in 1091 minor league at bats.

Right-handed hitting Maikis De La Cruz and Stefan Sabol are the final pieces to the outfield. Cruz, 25, has spent the last two seasons with the St. Lucie Mets and while he hasn’t shown much with the bat he is a strong defender. Sabol, 24, hit .258/.356/.360 in 116 games between Savannah and St. Lucie in 2015.

The catchers will be Xorge Carrillo returning for his fourth season with Binghamton and newcomer Colton Plaia.

Arguably the Mets top right-handed prospect Robert Gsellman will head the rotation, he went 7-7 with a 3.51 ERA and 1.25 WHIP for Binghamton (10-6, 2.89 ERA, 1.14 WHIP overall) in 2015. Joining him in the rotation are knuckleballer Mickey Jannis, lefty free agent signee Andrew Barbosa, former 11th rounder RHP Logan Taylor, possible relief convert RHP Rainy Lara and RHP Tyler Pill who has played for Binghamton in parts of the three previous seasons.

The bullpen will be lead by RHP Akeel Morris who was dominant down the stretch for Binghamton in 2015, allowing only one run over his final 22 innings. New comers LHP Kelly Secrest (0 homeruns allowed in 82 IP), LHP David Roseboom ( career 9.9 SO/9), RHP Mike Hepple (.227 career OPP AVG), LHP Kyle Regnault (1.99 ERA in affiliated debut last year) and RHP Luis Mateo (212 K’s in 181 IP) will be in the pen as well. It will be rounded out by RHP Beck Wheeler who pitched the entire 2015 with the B-Mets, he pitched to a 3.38 ERA while holding opponents to a .218 average.

Binghamton made it’s Opening Day roster official today by placing catcher Raywilly Gomez and outfielder Jared King on the disabled list. The roster includes ten players on last year’s B-Mets team and four that were part of the Eastern League title team in 2014.

The Binghamton Mets will start the season with a seven game homestand at NYSEG Stadium including the opener tonight vs. the New Hampshire Fisher Cats at 6:35 PM ET.