Now that the 2022 season is over, Minor League Mondays will take a look at each of the New York Mets’ minor league affiliates over the next several weeks. This series will take a look at each affiliate’s season highlights, top prospects, interesting promotions, and more. We continue our climb up the minor league ladder today with a look at the AAA Syracuse Mets, who play in the International League.
Minor League Mondays Affiliate Review: Syracuse Mets
2022 Record: 64-85, Ninth Place in East Division
Story: While the lower levels of the New York Mets’ farm system had plenty of success, AAA Syracuse was not as fortunate. The Mets did not provide a ton of elite prospects to Syracuse, resulting in a roster stacked mostly with AAAA players and older prospects without a ton of big-league potential. Things did change by the end of the season as some of the talent from the lower levels started making moves to Syracuse as Francisco Alvarez and Brett Baty spent time with the AAA club in the second half. While the end result was a ninth-place finish, brighter days are ahead for Syracuse.
Top Promotion: This is a three-for-one deal as the Syracuse Mets celebrated Salt Potato Weekend on the final weekend of August to pay tribute to one of the region’s most unique foods. The team wore Syracuse Salt Potato jerseys all weekend and had special giveaway items on Friday (a 2022 team photo), Saturday (a Salt Potato jersey for the first 1,000 fans) and Sunday (a tater tot bobblehead).
Top Prospects:
C Francisco Alvarez: Alvarez, who the Mets signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela in 2019, spent the second half of the season with Syracuse after getting promoted following his second trip to the Futures Game. In 45 games at the AAA level, Alvarez hit .234 with nine home runs and 31 RBIs, getting hot down the stretch to earn a promotion to the majors on the final weekend of the regular season. Alvarez is currently rated as the Mets’ best prospect by MLB.com and is in the discussion for the best prospect in baseball.
3B Mark Vientos: Vientos, the Mets’ second-round pick in 2019 out of American Heritage High School in Florida, spent the year with Syracuse and crushed AAA pitching. The Mets saw Vientos hit .280 with 24 home runs and 72 RBIs in 101 games for Syracuse, a performance strong enough to earn him a promotion to the major leagues in September. Vientos is currently rated as the Mets’ seventh-best prospect according to MLB.com.
OF Jake Mangum: Mangum, the Mets’ fourth-round pick in 2019 out of Mississippi State, had a strong season that resulted in a late-season promotion to AAA Syracuse. In 33 games at the AAA level, Mangum batted .333 with two home runs, 21 RBIs and seven stolen bases. The Mets will have to decide whether or not to add Mangum to the 40-man roster this offseason to protect him from the Rule V Draft, which is returning after a one-year lockout-related hiatus.
Check back next week as our Minor League Mondays Affiliate Review Series wraps up with some bonus coverage of the Mets’ prospects playing in the Arizona Fall League!
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