In Brandon Sproat’s first year as a professional, the New York Mets’ right-handed pitching prospect has soared through the farm system. Club officials have cautioned that they’d like to see Sproat continue to check boxes in Triple A before holding serious conversations about promoting him to the majors. After all, he has made just one start with Triple-A Syracuse, and it did not go well (six earned runs, 4 2/3 innings).
Advertisem*nt
But if the recent past is any indication, then Sproat may soon quickly make adjustments and start to impress at the highest level of the minors. Sproat, who turns 24 in September, opened the season at High A, where he had a 1.07 ERA with 33 strikeouts and 16 walks. After Sproat, whom the Mets drafted in the second round of the 2023 draft, received a promotion to Double A, he had a 2.45 ERA with 77 strikeouts and 15 walks. Last week, he moved on to Triple A.
Below, the Mets’ pitching coaches from all three levels — Dan McKinney with High-A Brooklyn, A.J. Sager with Double-A Binghamton and Grayson Crawford with Triple-A Syracuse — weighed in on how Sproat was able to rise through the system so quickly, and what comes next.
What stands out the most about Sproat?
McKinney: The arm talent, the ability to reach 101 (mph), there’s a lot of hand speed there. So it’s that, but it’s also the ability to make the ball do a lot of different things. The fastball shape will vary some, but he’s shown the ability to ride it. He has the short slider. He now has the sweeper. He’s got a curveball that has a really good place in his arsenal. And probably his best stuff-pitch is his changeup. It’s kind of rare to see somebody that can make the ball do so many of those different things at a high level. And then you combine that with premium velo. You see a starter’s package.
Brandon Sproat records his first Triple-A strikeout for the @SyracuseMets!
The @Mets' top-ranked pitching prospect racked up 110 punchouts in 87 2/3 IP across two levels prior to his promotion last week. pic.twitter.com/alxP01xrGH
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 9, 2024
Sager: It’s not gonna be the most exciting answer, probably, but the stuff speaks for itself. So what impressed me the most was just the maturity and the ability to handle things, including expectations. He did have a couple innings here where they weren’t clean, but you never saw him blink, you know? You kind of want to see guys struggle a little bit just to see how they react to it because that’s probably what’s going to happen in the major leagues. And I couldn’t tell the difference. It’s always impressive from anybody, but especially a first-year guy.
Advertisem*nt
Crawford: He’s extremely confident in his own skin. He understands who he is and what makes him special, maybe as much as any guy that has come up from lower levels this year, but maybe as much as anybody that I’ve coached.
When did he first make you say, “Wow?”
McKinney: One of his first outings in spring training, his fastball was sitting 99-100 (mph). He broke out the new sweeper. And I already knew about the changeup being good. That day, it was like, “OK, this dude’s arm is clearly different than most people at this complex right now.” That was the first time where I got to see the premium stuff in person.
Then his last start for us was in Rome. That was the moment for me where I was like, “Oh, s—, this dude is doing it for real.” Brandon was 98, 100 (mph). The sweeper was by far the best. He had the changeup going. He was mowing guys left and right. That was the first time where I said, this dude is really showing what he can potentially be.
Sager: We’d start talking hitters, how we were going to attack hitters on the other team. I usually start with an open-ended question of, “OK, did you see anything? Have you seen anything?” And the first time I asked him that question, he starts talking about the lineup. And I’m looking at my notes, which I spend a lot of time on and I have a lot of resources to dig in on. And I’m looking at my notes, I’m like, “Yeah, that’s pretty much what I have.” Again, that’s not always the case. It’s certainly not always the case with the guy who’s just getting going. He knows his craft, and works his craft. He’s confident in what he does. You don’t see that a lot. You certainly don’t see that a lot from first-year guys. That’s when I said, “OK, he’s not just a stuff-guy; he’s also got the cerebral part of this down.”
Crawford: Everybody knew about the fastball velocity. The difference maker for him is, the changeup is an extremely good pitch. Watching the changeup from afar, talking to him a little bit about it once he got here, I think that has been kind of the separator. When you look at some of the guys just in baseball in general that have made quick moves, whether it be a Paul Skenes or somebody like that, sure, the fastball velocity will get talked about a lot, but there’s usually a second or third pitch that’s helping. And for Sproat, I think that’s definitely the changeup.
Advertisem*nt
Where did he most improve?
McKinney: He has the stuff. The stuff was never the question. It was just going to be the consistency of execution. His first outing with us, he went two-plus innings, and it just wasn’t a great outing (five walks). So that really was the big focus — just trusting his stuff to play in the zone. It wasn’t always pretty, but it got better over his time in Brooklyn. His walks tended to come in spurts. If he threw five innings, four of the innings, his execution would be great. And then he’d have one inning, he’d walk two or three. From a mental game side, that was the big focus, having the ability to process things in real time and understand what’s happening on a pitch to pitch basis so he can be a little bit quicker with his adjustments.
He also added the sweeper, which was a new pitch for him. That was a pitch he gained more feel for, started to have more success with at the High-A level and took it to Double A.
From High A to Double A, he has cut his walk rate in half. So, to me, that’s the stuff more or less being the same — his velo has probably ticked up a little bit — but the execution being consistent. His zone percentages are much improved. He’s trusting his stuff, and executing at a much higher rate.
Brandon Sproat cannot be stopped … or hit!
The @Mets' No. 5 prospect strikes out ELEVEN batters in a row — something that's never been done in MLB history — for @RumblePoniesBB. pic.twitter.com/ZqO61LtqJr
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) August 3, 2024
Sager: He was really good with us pretty much from the time he showed up. I would say the biggest improvement he made — and it wasn’t after he got here, it was for whatever reason, he just started picking it up — was his walk rate. I believe he cut it almost in half. He just was really good at putting the ball in the strike zone. I saw him in spring. You knew the stuff was there. You just never know how first-year guys are going to react to a lot of things that are different in the professional game.
I just like to try to give guys space when I get here to show me why they’re here, and not try to change something. I just try to watch and see if they need anything. But I do spend a lot of time stressing (throwing strikes) here. Over the years, just look at the stats, it’s just so obvious, walks, three-ball counts, pitching behind in counts, any number you want to pick, any offensive number is so dramatically affected by the counts. And so I do hit them with that a lot, including when they first get here, to give themselves a chance in the strike zone. And that way, if it’s not working out, we can try to help him as an organization, help them. But if you’re pitching behind in the count, I can’t really help you. So I just try to stress that. Did that have an effect on him? I don’t know. He pretty much got in the zone right away, and stayed there. That, to me, was a large part of why he had success here.
What are the next steps for Sproat’s development?
McKinney: In Triple A, it’s a tough run environment. So you’re having to deal with that. In High A, it was, “Hey, I am not worried about the guy in the box; I have to be able to zone my stuff.” Then he got to Double A, and the consistency got really, really good. He made a lot of strides there in understanding the guy in the batter’s box, being able to read swings and knowing when to leverage his stuff. The wheels started turning there. And Sager did a really good job of that. So, for me, it’s going to be a continuation of that, and understanding that you’re one level away from facing the best hitters in the world. Now that he can throw his stuff for strikes, it’s understanding how, when and why to leverage his strengths based on the information that he is getting from the hitter in real time.
Sager: I think he just needs to keep getting experience with the secondary stuff, holding the runners, fielding his position, reading swings, watching the game, and learning hitters. He’s really good at all that stuff. So to me, the big thing is just allow him to have experience, and him understanding, and also other people understanding, that there’ll probably be some dips in the road because the other guys are getting much better that he’s facing. But I go back to the makeup and the stuff and the emotional maturity. He has all the ingredients to handle the bumps in the road. I think he’s just gonna keep going onward and upward.
Advertisem*nt
Crawford: Just continue to monitor shape consistencies. Anytime you get younger pitchers or pitchers that are new to pro ball — it’s something that’s probably not talked about a lot — you’re changing baseballs, going from the minor-league baseball to the major-league baseball and Triple A. It’s just seeing what the big-league baseball is going to do. I think we need to give him a couple of starts to see. It affects different guys differently. Some guys don’t see any change whatsoever. Other guys see drastic changes with shapes.
And then the other thing would just be the game-planning aspect, and the aspect of just facing more mature hitters to where you may not always be able to just overpower people. He knows himself as well as anybody. The second key is starting to see hitters’ weaknesses or things you want to attack. A lot of that really starts to happen at this level.
(Photo of Brandon Sproat: Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images)
Will Sammon is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering the New York Mets and Major League Baseball. A native of Queens, New York, Will previously covered the Milwaukee Brewers and Florida Gators football for The Athletic, starting in 2018. Before that, he covered Mississippi State for The Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi’s largest newspaper. Follow Will on Twitter @WillSammon
