There’s no getting round this. The 2025 baseball season in New York has been some of the exasperating, confounding experiences that anybody can bear in mind for each Yankees and Mets followers.
Possibly one in every of them has skilled such a curler coaster journey — suppose the Yankees in 2017 falling out of first place on Aug. 1, by no means to regain it after going 14-15 the remainder of the month, or the Mets falling out of first place and rivalry by shedding eight of 9 in late September of 1999 — however by no means have each New York groups wreaked a lot angst on their followers in the identical season on their option to nonetheless making the playoffs.
Whereas we keep our doubts that both the Yankees or Mets have the chops to get to their mutual aim of a berth within the World Collection, we’re additionally seeing adequate proof that, regardless of their unsettling current, the longer term for each groups is extraordinarily vivid. Certainly, a half dozen of the highest prospects in all of baseball occur to be on the cusp of arrival at Yankee Stadium or Citi Discipline — or within the instances of Cam Schlittler, Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong — they’re already right here.
There isn’t a dearer commodity — or more durable one to develop — in baseball than high quality frontline beginning pitching. Due to David Stearns’ shortsightedness, the Mets have gone all season with a patchwork beginning rotation, struggling to pitch into the sixth inning — a significant motive they’ve languished in second place for the reason that starting of August. All of the whereas McLean and Brandon Sproat at Triple-A and Tong at Double-A have been having standout seasons, however Stearns steadfastly refused to deliver them up — till the season ending harm to Frankie Montas (a $17 million waste of cash) in mid-August pressured his hand on McLean, who’s moved proper to the highest of the rotation as the primary pitcher since Corridor of Famer Randy Johnson in 1988 to publish a 3-0 report, with 20-plus innings, 20-plus strikeouts and a sub-.200 opponents’ batting common in his first three begins. On Friday, Tong’s 97-pitch debut towards the Marlins was not practically as dazzling as McLean, however spectacular however, no walks, six strikeouts and numerous deception, with one earned run in 5 innings.
Conceivably, the Mets may have three rookies — McLean, Tong and Sproat — of their beginning rotation subsequent yr, which, with an eye fixed on the close to future, might have been a part of the rationale Stearns eschewed the high-end beginning pitchers within the free agent market final winter and sought to cobble collectively a rotation behind Kodai Senga and David Peterson with short-term comparatively cheap offers with Clay Holmes, Montas, Griffin Canning and Sean Manaea. In the meantime, the Mets’ different weak spot this yr — middle discipline — may additionally very possible be solved from inside subsequent yr with each Jett Williams, the versatile 5-7 whippet (.270, 12 HR, 33 steals) and final yr’s No. 1 draft selection Carson Benge (.305, 42 additional base hits), excelling at Binghamton.
As for the Yankees, earlier than Clarke Schmidt’s breakthrough season in 2023, you needed to go all the way in which again to Andy Pettitte within the ‘90s to find a pitcher they’d drafted and developed into a top quality frontline starter, and now the 24-year-old Schlittler, with a 2.76 ERA in his first eight begins since being known as up July 9, has demonstrated he has each the stuff and the make-up to earn a spot on the high of the rotation quickly. However proper behind Schlittler the Yankees have 4 bona fide frontline beginning pitching prospects in righties Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz, Carlos Lagrange, Ben Hess and Bryce Cunningham.
Of the 4, Hess and Cunningham are most likely a few years away however scouts are particularly excessive on Rodriguez-Cruz, who was the return from the Pink Sox for catcher Carlos Narvaez. “I know that deal was a head-scratcher when Narvaez won the Red Sox starting catching job right away,” mentioned one scout who just lately went by means of the Yankee farm system, “but the Yankees may down the road be the winners on it with Rodriguez-Cruz (150 strikeouts in 129 innings at High-A and AA this year). He’s small (160 pounds) but has three plus pitches, fastball, slider, curve, came fast this year and doesn’t scare. I can see him helping them next year.”
Lagrange, the 6-7 Dominican, is the one who’s most impressed at Double-A Somerset this yr along with his dominating 97-101 mph fastball and of whom the identical scout mentioned: “He’s a potential No. 1 with his overpowering stuff if he stays healthy which is always a concern with big guys like that. He just needs to further refine his command.”
In any case, with Schlittler and Will Warren having graduated to the varsity this yr and the opposite children nearing the Bronx, the Yankees may have an uncharacteristic wealth of beginning pitching riches subsequent yr when Gerrit Cole and Schmidt return in some unspecified time in the future. And at last, in fact, there’s 6-7 Spencer Jones whose 32 homers led all the minors as of final week and mixed with 25 stolen bases made him the No. 1 general prospect in baseball.
This yr Jones has additionally minimize manner down on his strikeouts and seems poised to win a spot within the Yankees’ 2026 outfield, presumably in middle, though Trent Grisham has difficult that by having a profession 28-homer season in his free agent stroll yr. My guess is the Yankees make Grisham a qualifying supply to allow them to get excessive draft choose compensation for him if he walks however they won’t get right into a bidding warfare to maintain him.
The one unfavorable in all this “homegrown” Yankee prosperity is Anthony Volpe, whom most scouts appear to agree has change into a legal responsibility that won’t have the ability to be mounted. Sadly, his potential alternative, George Lombard Jr., has struggled considerably at Somerset and is not less than a yr away.
IT’S A MADD, MADD WORLD
For years the analytics geeks have been telling us that batting common is a nugatory stat and sadly it seems that an increasing number of hitters are adhering to that, persevering with to swing for the fences with no concern about strikeouts. A test of the batting leaders Friday confirmed solely 5 qualifiers for the batting title with batting averages over .300 and just one — Freddie Freeman at .302 — within the Nationwide League. In keeping with the Elias Sports activities Bureau, this would be the fewest variety of qualifying .300 hitters since 1920! Earlier fewest .300 hitters since 1920: six in 1968, seven in 2024 and 9 in 2023. Conversely, nonetheless, the analytics geeks are at a loss to elucidate 5 of the six main groups in batting common — the Blue Jays, Brewers, Phillies, Astros and Dodgers — have been additionally main their divisions as of Friday. … It’s nonetheless too early to find out whether or not Aaron Decide or the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh is the American League MVP. Regardless of his monster season (main the AL in batting, runs, OPS, slugging and on-base pct.), Decide is not a lock. Since sustaining an elbow harm again in July and being relegated to DH duties after coming off the injured listing Aug. 5, it’s honest to say that Decide has been the third most dear participant simply on the Yankees behind Giancarlo Stanton and Clay Bellinger. However Raleigh is within the strategy of setting two important information — most homers by a catcher and can quickly eclipse Mickey Mantle’s mark of 52 homers by a change hitter set in 1956. Maybe the clinching issue for Raleigh can be if the Mariners are capable of win the AL West, one thing they haven’t accomplished since 2001 once they received a report 116 video games.
