Since it’s rebirth of minor league baseball in 1961, Syracuse, New York has seen 22 winning seasons. They last qualified for the playoffs in 2014. In that time, they’ve been affiliated with Minnesota, Washington, New York Mets, Detroit, New York Yankees, Toronto, Washington and currently the New York Mets again.

Up until 2019, the team had been community owned. When the New York Mets took ownership of the team in 2019, the word from upper management was that they would do what they could to put a competitive team on the field but most of their more talented players were in the lower levels of the system. Well, it’s 2023 and that talent is starting to arrive.

The Salt City is buzzing about the minor league prospects that will start the season in Syracuse. Names like Francisco Alvarez ranked No.1 in the Mets system on MMN’s top 30, Brett Baty No. 2, Ronny Mauricio No. 6, Mark Vientos No. 8, and Jose Butto No. 13  just to name a few. The anticipation of seeing the talent arrive in Syracuse is like butter dripping off a salt potato! Syracuse loves to support a winning team and while winning is not the most important thing in minor league baseball, it can go a long way in helping develop the culture of an organization.

Here’s the Triple-A Syracuse Mets Opening Day roster:

Starting Rotation

• RHP Tylor Megill – Opening Day starter
• RHP Jose Butto
• LHP Joey Lucchesi
• RHP Humberto Mejia
• RHP Denyi Reyes

Bullpen

• RHP Jeff Brigham
• RHP Tony Dibrell
• RHP Grant Hartwig
• LHP T.J. McFarland
• LHP Zach Muckenhirn
• RHP Eric Orze
• RHP Bubby Rossman
• LHP Josh Walker
• RHP William Woods
• RHP Jimmy Yacabonis

Catchers

• Francisco Alvarez
• Michael Perez
• Nick Meyer

Infielders 

• Brett Baty
• Mark Vientos
• Ronny Mauricio
• Danny Mendick
• DJ Stewart
• Jose Peraza
• Jonathan Arauz

Outfielders

• Lorenzo Cedrola
• Khalil Lee
• Carlos Cortes

The Mets organization has not only invested in bringing free agents to the parent club with guys like Justin Verlander and Kodai Senga, but they have also built up an impressive minor league system through trades and the draft. Baseball America ranked the Mets’ farm system fifth overall in baseball following a strong 2022 draft that included taking both catcher Kevin Parada and shortstop Jett Williams in the first round. Even with the loss of All-Star closer Edwin Diaz who was injured while participating in the WBC, expectations are high for the parent club this year and it seems that has trickled down throughout the system.

The Syracuse Mets open the season on the road in Worcester on March 31st against the Red Sox.  Their home opener is April 4th vs I90 rival the Rochester Red Wings (Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals) they’re expecting a sell-out at NBT Bank Stadium. Winter is almost over, baseball season is on the horizon and we have all the makings of an amazin’ summer in Syracuse, New York at historic NBT Bank Stadium!