Chris McShane of Amazin’ Avenue wrote a great article where he spoke with Paul DePodesta, the Mets’ vice president of player development and amateur scouting, about the exciting progress the team’s minor league players have already made, and DePodesta is optimistic that there’s more to come, especially when it comes to those players producing in the big leagues.

As the system has grown over the past few years, the pitching has become the main strength of the organization, and with the 2014 season only a month away, many of the pitching prospects, as well as some coaches, will be assigned to different levels than they were a year ago.

DePodesta talks about the coaches, “it’s not quite the same as players. It’s not necessarily a promotion when guys move up or a demotion when they move down. It’s really about trying to find the right mix for each of them.”

One of the coaches making a move that has made a huge impact with the players thus far, is pitching coach Frank Viola, and in 2014 he will take his experience and knowledge to Las Vegas and join Wally Backman on the coaching staff.  He might be tested early on with some of the top pitching prospects expected to start out the season with the 51’s, but his track record only indicates that it can be a successful season.

The success will also be measured by how well the pitchers fair as they ready themselves for the next level.

“There are going to be more guys this year in Vegas that we deem major-league ready than we’ve had previously, especially out of our younger guys, not just older veteran guys.” Depodesta continues, “If you look at not only guys in the Triple-A bullpen, but even guys like [Cory] Mazzoni or [Logan] Verrett or [Jacob] deGrom, guys who we definitely see as starters but might be able to help us in the major league pen in the short-term if we don’t have a need in the rotation. It’s a great option to have, to have those extra guys can be very valuable in those roles.

“I hope a few guys grab the opportunity by the throat and take it. That would be ideal. We’ve got a lot of guys that we can go to during the course of the year if we feel like we need to.”

What the Mets have done the last few years by bringing in talented pitchers either by trade, the draft or even international signings has been nothing shy of magnificent, and when it all starts to come together, not only will the Farm System be the best in baseball, but the big club will benefit where it counts, in the pitching staff.

(Photo Credit: Michael Zagaris/Getty Images)