Photo by Ed Delany, MMN

The Columbia Fireflies released their fourth Opening Day roster as the Low-A affiliate of the Mets. Returning manager Pedro Lopez will be tasked with developing the following squad:

Pitchers (13): Jose Butto, Christian James, Andrew Mitchell, Dedniel Nunez, Billy Oxford, Darwin Ramos, Luc Rennie, Thomas Szapucki, Willy Taveras, Chris Viall, Jaison Vilera, Simeon Woods-Richardson, Ezequiel Zabaleta

Catchers (2): Hayden Senger, Juan Uriarte

Infielders (6): Chase Chambers, Ronny Mauricio, Shervyen Newton, Walter Rasquin, Brian Sharp, Mark Vientos

Outfielders (4): Ranfy Adon, Anthony Dirocie, Wagner Lagrange, Jose Miguel Medina

In what is guaranteed to be the most prospect-heavy team in the organization, the Fireflies will kick off the season with half of the system’s top ten as ranked by Baseball America. Teenagers Mauricio (3), Vientos (4), Newton (7), and Woods-Richardson have been confidently sent to Columbia.

Szapucki (10) will return to regular season action after recovering from July 2017 Tommy John surgery. In three minor league seasons, the 22-year-old owns a 2.27 ERA with 12.5 strikeouts per nine innings. If he’s back to full strength, Szapucki could cement himself as the highest upside starting pitcher in the organization.

The rest of rotation is likely to feature a lot of piggybacking, where the traditional starter works the first three or four innings and another stretched out arm can throw the next three. In addition to Szapucki and Woods-Richardson, Butto, James, Mitchell, Nunez, Ramos, Rennie, Taveras, Viall, and Vilera have experience with a starting pitcher workload.

While the infield will be under a microscope, the outfield features four of the toolsiest players in the organization. Adon’s speed, Dirocie’s power, Lagrange’s defense, and Medina’s combination of all three offer some excitement to keep tabs on.

The Fireflies open the season with a seven-game homestand at the newly renamed Segra Park beginning on Thursday.