Why the Mets are turning to Brandon Sproat now
Four weeks, three rookies. The Mets are handing the ball to Brandon Sproat on Sunday in Cincinnati, the latest sign the club is leaning hard on its farm system to steady a shaky rotation during a tight Wild Card chase.
Sproat, 24, was billed last winter as the organizations top pitching prospect. Then two teammates beat him to Queens. Nolan McLean jumped from Double-A and won his first four big league starts with a 1.37 ERA. Jonah Tong followed last Friday, gave up one run over five innings, and is lined up to pitch again Saturday. Now its Sproats turn in the series finale against a Reds team chasing the same third NL Wild Card slot the Mets want.
The timing is about performance and need. Sproats year split in two. Through May 20 at Triple-A Syracuse, he wore a 6.69 ERA across nine starts. Since then, he has looked like the pitcher the club scouted and drafted: a 3.19 ERA over his last 17 outings, and if you strip out a seven-run bullpen cameo on August 24, a 2.78 ERA in 16 starts since May 25. His latest outing, last Saturday, was his best yetseven scoreless innings, nine strikeouts, two walks, crisp tempo, no mess.
He gets the ball on a weeks rest, which suits the Mets just fine after a month of juggling. The rotation hasnt held up the way the front office hoped, and Sunday originally belonged to Kodai Senga. The 32-year-old hasnt found a rhythm since coming off the injured list July 11, posting a 6.56 ERA over his last eight starts and failing to reach six innings since June 6. The club is weighing a reset for Senga, up to and including a Triple-A stint, but that would require his approval under the terms of his deal.
All of this unfolds with the standings in mind. The Mets and Reds meet Sunday in a rubber game that feels larger than one date on the calendar. New York has spent the past month patching innings with kids and creativity. Thats the story of the summer so far: if the rotation is going to hold, its going to be on the arms theyve developed.
Sproats path here is familiar and a little winding. The right-hander pitched four years at Florida, helped the Gators reach the College World Series in his final season, and logged 242 strikeouts in 223 29 innings with a 19-8 record and 4.27 ERA. The Mets drafted him in the third round in 2022; he went back to school, sharpened his stuff, and returned as a second-round pick (No. 56 overall) in 2023 after eight wins, 134 strikeouts, and all-region and All-SEC honors.
Once he signed, the numbers popped. In 2024, he blitzed through High-A Brooklyn (1.07 ERA in six appearances), kept missing bats at Double-A Binghamton (2.45 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 11 starts), then hit the Triple-A speed bump almost every pitcher meets. Syracuse hitters punished mistakes, and for two months he made too many. The rebound came with steadier strike throwing, better pitch selection, and fewer big innings. Saturdays seven-scoreless outing put a bow on it.
Sproats debut also adds another line to Floridas pipeline. He will be the 87th Gator to reach the majors and the 35th during Kevin OSullivans tenure, part of a run that has produced a nation-leading 39 MLB debuts since 2008. For the Mets, its the third in-house arm to arrive in less than a month. Velocity is great. Volume matters more. They need innings they can trust.
Scouting report, matchups, and what this move signals
The book on Sproat starts with the fastball. He operates in the upper 90s and can reach triple digits when he needs a little extra. He pairs it with a hard slider that has tightened up over the past year, and a changeup that flashes as his most reliable swing-and-miss pitch against lefties. He will show a curve to change eye levels. The difference between Triple-A trouble and Sundays opportunity: landing first-pitch strikes, keeping the fastball above barrels, and trusting the changeup early in counts.
Command, not stuff, is the watch item. Early this season, misses caught too much plate. Over the last two months, hes worked ahead and cut the free passes. When hes around the zone, hitters have to honor 98 mph at the letters and the slider off it. When hes not, hes navigating traffic. The Mets catchers will likely simplify it early: ride the fastball, sprinkle sliders, and turn to the change when lefties cheat to heat.
The setting adds an extra test. Great American Ball Park punishes mistakes, especially up and to the pull side. The Reds have thunder and speedElly De La Cruz can wreck an inning in one swing or one sprint, and Spencer Steer punishes anything middle-away. Expect a conservative game plan with runners: quick times to the plate, more slide-steps, and a willingness to waste a pitch if the running game gets loud.
The Mets wont ask Sproat to be a hero on Day 1. Expect a managed workload, something closer to a midseason build than a let-it-eat audition. The bullpen has carried a lot lately; if he can give five competitive innings, that counts.
The stakes? Real, but not suffocating. The schedule turns fast after Cincinnati, and every stable turn lets the club hold the line on off-days and bullpen roles. Thats where the youth movement matters. McLeans hot start bought breathing room. Tongs steady debut calmed things. Sproats job is simple: keep the carousel turning.
Heres what this call-up means in the short term and what to watch on Sunday.
- Rotation reset: With Senga scuffling, Sundays start is Sproats chance to grab a spot and force a decision. If he looks the part, the Mets can skip or soften Sengas next turn while they sort out a plan hes comfortable with.
- Development on the fly: Three rookies in a month is not the original script. The club is choosing upside and strikeout stuff over veteran volatility. Thats a gamble, but the early return from McLean and Tong made it easier to take.
- Pitch mix checkpoint: First inning matters. If Sproat lands first-pitch heaters and gets a couple early chases on the slider, the changeup will play. If hes behind, the Reds will hunt fastballs in fastball counts.
- Ballpark plan: Fewer elevated sliders in this yard. Work north-south with the heater and change, then expand laterally once hes ahead.
- Debut emotions: Adrenaline adds velocity and costs command. Watch the first 10 pitches. If the heartbeat slows, the outing usually settles.
Theres a broader, front-office story here too. This is what the Mets under a development-first plan look like in practice: direct promotions for arms who earn it, quick tests, and real roles if they stick. In a month, they turned a rotation patch into a strategy. Its bumpy by nature. It also raises the ceiling of a staff that needed swing-and-miss.
Sproats college background hints at how he might handle the moment. Hes pitched in front of 20,000 fans at the College World Series and navigated SEC lineups that punish every mistake. The pro climb gave him all three layers of the minors in short order: dominance in High-A, consistency in Double-A, and the Triple-A humbling that forces an adjustment. He made one, backed it with results, and kept them coming long enough to earn this shot.
For Senga, the next step is about timing and trust. Veterans rarely welcome resets, and demotions for players with service time and contracts involve more than a simple transaction. The club can also space turns, skip a start, or craft a side-session heavy week to rebuild shape and conviction. No matter the path, Sundays start lets the Mets make that decision from a position of information instead of hope.
The Mets also have to navigate the roster piece. A corresponding move is due Sunday morning. That could be a reliever optioned, an injured list move if someone is banged up, or a short bench for a day with a quick reversal after the finale. With three rookies cycling through, option flexibility is currency. Expect more movement in the coming week.
One more layer: this is happening in a Wild Card scrum where one game can swing playoff odds. The Reds play fast and push pressure. The Mets have leaned on power arms to blunt that style. Sproat fits the profile. If hes in the zone early, the Reds chase for extra bases turns into a chase off the plate.
What would a successful debut look like? Not perfection. Its something like five innings, fewer than three runs, and the slider landing enough to keep righties honest. A couple of strikeouts with the changeup against lefties would be a bonus sign that the pitch is ready at this level. If he avoids the one crooked inning that knocked him around in May, the Mets will take it.
Zooming out, this run of call-ups has changed the clubhouse tone. Veterans like seeing young arms arrive prepared. Rookies feed off quick success. And managers sleep better when a starter gives them 15 outs. The first wave did its job. Now comes the arm many scouts tabbed as the best of the group before the season ever started.
The box scores will tell part of the story Sunday night. The other part will be how the outing looked: did the fastball carry at the top of the zone, did the slider finish in front of the plate instead of in it, and did he hold his delivery from the stretch when the Reds tried to run. Those are the markers that travel beyond one game in Cincinnati.
However it goes, the Mets have made their bet clear. Theyre going to solve a 162-game problem with homegrown answers. McLean bought time. Tong added cover. Sproat brings another high-octane shot at stability, with a track record that suggests the stuff is ready and the adjustments took.
Sundays stage is straightforward: a hitters park, a fast opponent, a playoff race that keeps inching closer to the wire. The Mets dont need Sproat to be an ace right away. They need a starter who throws strikes, misses a few bats, and walks off the mound with the lead. If the last two months at Syracuse are any guide, hes in position to do exactly that.