NEW YORK — It was on the fourth question about a pitcher with 7 2/3 Triple-A innings to his name that David Stearns betrayed a little impatience.
“Here’s what I’ll say on (Brandon) Sproat,” Stearns said Friday. “Right now, he’s a Triple-A player. At the point when he’s not a Triple-A player, I’ll be happy to sit up here and talk about him. At the moment, he’s a Triple-A player.”
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Sproat is, indeed, a Syracuse Met. And as much as a fan base energized by Sproat’s rapid ascent through the farm system in his first full professional season is envisioning that fastball and slider mix making its way to Queens next month, Sproat is likely to remain a Syracuse Met for the rest of the 2024 season.
Let’s run through a few reasons.
Sproat hasn’t succeeded in Triple A, let alone “dominated the level.”
“Dominate the level” is the phrase Stearns and many others in baseball use to describe what earns a promotion. And Sproat did that at High A (1.07 ERA over six games) and Double A (2.43 ERA in 11 starts).
He has not done it yet with Syracuse. He allowed a season-high six runs in his Triple-A debut and was ejected from his second start after three innings.
Over his two Triple-A starts, Sproat has six strikeouts to five walks.
“He just needs experience,” Stearns said. “This is a very new player to professional baseball, and he has moved very rapidly through our system. He’s earned that and deserved that. But we also need to make sure he dominates the level he’s at now before we start talking about what comes next.”
Stearns talked Friday about a prospect promotion needing to be the right move for the player and the team. At this point, Sproat hasn’t proven a call-up is deserved.
The Mets want to maintain roster flexibility — in September and in the offseason.
Stearns revealed the primary plan for that extra roster spot on the pitching staff in September.
“Clearly your roster isn’t frozen in September,” he said. “So it’s highly likely that whoever we call up on Sept. 1, those positions could rotate as we get through the month of September.”
You can imagine the Mets using that ninth spot in the bullpen as a carousel of fresh relievers, especially with so many starters significantly exceeding their innings totals from previous years.
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Further, promoting Sproat to the big-league roster would require placing him on the 40-man roster. Because Sproat was only drafted last summer, he would not be eligible for this winter’s Rule 5 draft, and thus would not need to be placed on the 40-man roster in the offseason, either. Just last year, the Mets were hesitant to call up younger pitchers, like Mike Vasil and Dom Hamel because they wanted to keep their 40-man roster more open in the offseason, and Stearns looks at it much the same way.
“All of those types of extraneous factors play a part in a call-up decision at any point,” he said. “Roster constraints, roster crunches and roster numbers — all that is going to play a factor in the decision-making.”
It would be a very aggressive promotion compared to the track records of the Mets and Stearns.
Only six players from the 2023 draft have made it to the majors already, and the Mets haven’t called a player up to the majors in his first full pro season since 2015 and Michael Conforto. The Mets haven’t called up a prospect within his first two full pro seasons since Conforto. (The club has yet to call up anyone from the 2022 draft, and it hadn’t called up anyone from the 2020 or 2021 drafts until this season, with Eric Orze and Christian Scott, respectively.)
During his tenure in Milwaukee, Stearns never called up a prospect to the majors in his first full pro season.
There are counter-arguments here, of course. Sproat, who turns 24 on Sept. 17, is older than each of the other six members of his draft class who have already debuted in the majors. And the Mets’ cautious approach with their prospects hasn’t always been beneficial.
Of course, it’s Aug. 16, and the calculation for Stearns, Sproat and the Mets can change in the coming weeks. Sproat could start dominating at Triple A, the Mets could find themselves with a real need for the pitching staff, and the postseason could depend on them filling it properly.
But at least for now, don’t hold your breath in hopes of a September promotion for the right-hander.
(Photo Brandon Sproat: Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images)
Tim Britton is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the New York Mets. He has covered Major League Baseball since 2009 and the Mets since 2018. Prior to joining The Athletic, he spent seven seasons on the Red Sox beat for the Providence Journal. He has also contributed to Baseball Prospectus, NBC Sports Boston, MLB.com and Yahoo Sports. Follow Tim on Twitter @TimBritton
