The 2021 season was one full of ups and downs for the Mets’ farm system. From the lows of Matt Allan’s Tommy John surgery and the Kumar Rocker debacle, to the highs of Francisco Álvarez’s Futures Game blast and the offensive explosion of Brett Baty and Mark Vientos, it was undoubtedly an interesting season for the Mets’ system. 2022 is shaping up to be much of the same for the Mets.

The team is slated to have two top-14 picks in the 2022 draft, their own second and third round picks, one Competitive Balance Round-B pick from the departure of Noah Syndergaard, and the potential for another Comp-B pick with the qualifying offer attached to Michael Conforto. Depending on how the rest of the qualifying offer market plays out, the Mets have a chance at six top-100 selections in what is widely considered to be a loaded draft class.

Regarding players already in their system, the Mets had five players crack a variety of top prospect lists, including Álvarez, Baty, Vientos, Ronny Mauricio and Alexander Ramirez.

Despite the ongoing lockout of Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball for players not on the 40-man roster remains untouched by any MLB/MLBPA labor dispute. The Mets farm system is primed for another big year in 2022, so let’s take a look at five important developments to follow through the new campaign.

Slew of Early Draft Picks

As currently slated, the Mets will have the 11th and 14th picks in the first round this year, their own second-round selection, a compensation pick for the loss of Noah Syndergaard, likely one for Michael Conforto, and then their own third-round selection. For reference, last year’s third-round pick at number 14 came in at pick 85 overall.

How the Competitive Balance draft selections shape up will dictate where their third-round selection lands, but there is a likelihood, and a solid one at that, that the Mets’ third-round selection will land within the top 100. The Mets were able to sign all of their 2021 selections aside from Rocker, but they did fail to add a top-end prospect to their system. They’ll have the chance to make up for that with their draft this season.

ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked his top 50 draft prospects earlier this month and included other “players of note.” It is important to note that this is not a mock draft, but he listed some players that are well within the range of the Mets’ selections. As his 14th ranked player, McDaniel had Virginia Tech outfielder Gavin Cross and Pace High School (Florida) right-handed pitcher Walter Ford. Again, these are not direct mocks to the Mets or notes of any connection, but shows about where the Mets would be looking in this year’s supremely talented draft.

The Mets often have a tendency to look for prep bats or college arms with their first round picks in years past, so names like Carson Whisenhunt (ECU), Landon Sims (Miss St.), and Connor Prielipp (Alabama) can make sense for the Mets if they pursue a top collegiate arm in this year’s class. Prep bats flood the top of this year’s class: Jackson Holliday (Oklahoma), Cam Collier (Florida) and Cole Young (Pennsylvania).

Increased Pitching Depth

The Mets missed on adding a surefire top arm to their system last season in Kumar Rocker, but it should be noted that they were still able to see solid growth and development from their pitching prospects overall. The Mets added two interesting arms with their second and third-round picks being Calvin Ziegler out of Canada and Dominic Hamel from Dallas Baptist. Later on in the eighth round the Mets added Mike Vasil, a right-handed starter out of Virginia. Despite not locking up the 10th pick, the Mets still made solid additions to their depth.

Joel Diaz burst onto the scene last year at the Mets Dominican Academy as a live right-handed arm that was reportedly touching 100 mph at only 17 years old. Diaz joins a list of recent international free agent singings in the upper end of the Mets’ system along side the likes of Robert Dominguez and Junior Santos.

 

Eric Orze is absolutely a name to watch going into 2022 considering his meteoric rise through the Mets’ system last season. Orze was a fifth-round selection out of New Orleans in 2020, and has only impressed since then. He started off 2021 with a 4.05 ERA in Brooklyn, but then pitched to a 2.43 ERA over his final 29.2 innings of the year between Binghamton and Syracuse. Orze is a name that can contribute to the Mets immediately this season, and can become a longterm cog in an often changing bullpen in Queens.

Brett Baty’s Ground Ball Rate

Brett Baty exploded onto the national scene last year as one of the top third base prospects in the game, even being dubbed the top third base prospect in baseball in 2022 by MLB Pipeline. Baty’s defense is said to have taken major strides forward last season, as is noted with his defensive Future Value (FV) on FanGraphs reaching a 50. His bat did as well.

However, one concern that still looms over Baty is his significant ground ball rate. For the 2021 season, Baty racked up a staggering 51.6 ground ball rate during his stint in Brooklyn, and an even larger 61.2 during his short stay in Binghamton at the end of the season.

 

A ground ball rate that high is startling and needs attention. If Baty can sort it out and work it down to around the 45% mark, there should be no real reason for concern going forward. However, a high ground ball rate mixed with a K rate of 25%, his highest since Rookie ball in 2019, there are some serious concerns while looking at Baty’s profile going forward. If Baty can begin lifting the ball at a higher percentage, the hope would be that this would generate into more power for the lefty, which would only help considering his .479 slugging percentage and 12 long in 2021.

Mark Vientos’ Defense

Arguably the most pivotal development on this list is the defense of Mark Vientos. The third baseman burst onto the national scene with an offensive explosion last season in Binghamton last year swatting 25 homers and putting up a wRC+ near the 150 mark. However, Vientos’ one major knock continues to be his defense. ESPN’s McDaniel noted this concern when ranking Vientos on his top 100, saying that “it may be more left field/first base long term than third base,” showing serious doubt for Vientos’ ability to remain at third base long term.

The Mets started using Vientos in left field last season, giving him 13 starts in the corner outfield spot last season between Binghamton and Syracuse. The Mets then later planned on having Vientos receive a weekly spot in left field this up coming season. The likelihood is that Vientos doesn’t stick at third base and moves to either first base or left field longterm, especially given that Baty is seen as a far better defender. If Vientos can even play just respectable defense, he is primed for a massive 2022 and would see a major jump in his stock.

If this scenario were to become a reality for Vientos, the Mets would then have two stud third base prospects going forward.

The Alex Ramirez Coming Out Party

Alex Ramirez cracked his first top-100 this winter when he came in at No. 100 on Keith Law’s rankings for The Athletic. Ramirez signed for just over $2M in 2019, and made his stateside debut last season for the St. Lucie Mets. At only 19, Ramirez hit .258/.326/.384 last season in 76 games played.

Law raved over Ramirez in his ranking, saying, “It’ll come down to control of the strike zone, as with so many young hitters; if he shows he can do it enough to get to the power, he’ll be a plus-plus defender in center field who hits 25-30 homers a year.” Ramirez is still raw and weighs only 170 pounds, according to Baseball Reference, to go along with a 6’3″ frame.

 

Ramirez is primed for a major year in 2022, with the ability to push his name further up this list and land on more top-100 lists. However, like most 19-year olds, Ramirez needs to improve upon his approach in order to take a step forward this year. The Dominican-born righty struck out a startling 31.1% of the time this year, while only walking 23 times in 334 total plate appearances. As he fills out his frame, the power will increase, but the center fielder only accumulated 25 extra-base hits last season, which is another area that could be improved on. However, he flashed some of his plus speed by notching 16 stolen bases while being caught seven times.

Ramirez took a major step forward in 2021 and is set up to be able to do so again in 2022. The Mets’ system has not had a top outfield prospect that lasted more than a year with the team since the days of Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo a little over half a decade ago. Ramirez has the chance to move into that stratosphere if he builds upon his 2021 season.