Brandon Sproat: Mets 2024 Minor League Player Of The Year
Righthander Brandon Sproat took his time last year signing the consent form for the Mets to draft him for a second time.
The organization wasn’t deterred and continued to scout Sproat, who eventually granted that approval, allowing the Mets to draft him in the second round in 2023. They had taken him in the third round the year before, but he opted to return to Florida for his senior season.
Sproat’s performance this season suggests the Mets’ persistence was justified. The 24-year-old pitched at three levels, reaching as far as Triple-A Syracuse, and showed streaks of dominance.
Overall, he pitched to a 3.40 ERA with 131 strikeouts in 116.1 innings, with a fastball that touches triple digits as his biggest asset.
“He has exceeded our expectations this year and he’s been fantastic,” Mets farm director Andrew Christie said. “One of the interesting things has been the trend line in his walk rate over the last few months. He keeps getting better.
“There is a lot of work he’s been doing on his delivery that he’s been super willing to do and very engaged in.”
Sproat walked nearly 16% of batters in 25.1 innings at High-A Brooklyn. He shrunk that to about 7% in 89 total innings at Double-A Binghamton and Syracuse.
“At Florida some of the results were not there, relative to the other guys drafted ahead of him, and a lot of it was because his breaking balls were not particularly effective and his fastball was less effective than you would expect for a 100 mph arm,” Christie said.
“In terms of the fastball improving, his four-seam fastball shape was really important for us, and that is not something that is easy to do.”
Sproat forced his promotion to Triple-A with a 13-strikeout performance—including 11 straight to conclude his outing—over five innings for Binghamton on Aug. 2.
“This guy is very adaptable and willing to work at his craft,” Christie said. “You don’t know that until you are working with the guy, and you are hoping, but he has really shown that and it’s been fun.”
