Photo by MiLB.com

The Arizona Fall League begins tonight with the Mets being part of the Salt River Rafters along with the Blue Jays, Nationals, Rockies, and Diamondbacks. The Mets have seven prospects on the roster that is headlined by Florida State League Player of the Year Dominic Smith and Eastern League Rookie of the Year Gavin Cecchini.

They will be joined by infielder Jeff McNeil, reliever Beck Wheeler, reliever Mike Hepple, knuckleballer Mickey Jannis, and lefty reliever Kyle Regnault. Savannah Sand Gnats pitching coach Marc Valdes will serve on the Rafters staff in the same capacity as he did in regular season.

Smith hit .305/.354/.417 for St. Lucie while leading the league with 33 doubles and 79 RBI despite sporting a .149 batting average on May 9th. Cecchini enjoyed an all-star season hitting .317/.377/.442 with 37 extra base hits and knocking in 51 runs. McNeil was an all-star as well after leading the FSL with 80 runs scored and with his .373 OBP.

Hepple was signed by the Mets in 2013 out of the Frontier League, he has pitched to a 2.34 ERA in 80.2 innings between the Brooklyn Cyclones and St. Lucie. He held opponents to a .224 on his way to being named a FSL all-star this year.

In his first year in the Mets organization Regnault was fantastic turning in a 1.99 ERA and 1.057 WHIP while saving 7 games for St. Lucie. The former Can-American Association player allowed only 43 hits in 58.2 innings with a 53/19 SO/BB ratio.

Jannis is the third Mets pitcher on the roster who came from the Independent Leagues, he started the 2015 season with the Long Island Ducks. The 27-year old knuckleballer had a 3.55 ERA and 1.35 WHIP in 11 games (10 starts) between Binghamton and St. Lucie.

Wheeler was strong out of the B’Mets bullpen this year pitching to a 3.38 ERA while holding Eastern League opponents to a .218 average. He had reverse splits holding lefty hitters to a .157 average and gave up only one earned run over his last 17 innings.

Last year’s Mets participants in the AFL included Brandon Nimmo, L.J. Mazzilli, Matt Reynolds, Dario Alvarez and Paul Sewald.

The Rafters start their season tonight vs. the Scottsdale Scorpions at 9:35 PM ET.