Despite numerous trades over the last few seasons that have shipped off prospects -- including some top-shelf ones -- the Mets' farm system is in solid shape heading into the 2021 season.
Per Keith Law of The Athletic, the Mets' system ranks 19th out of 30 teams, with Law saying the Mets "would have had a top-10 system had they not traded away so many prospects in the last three years."
Law added:
"It’s still a decent system despite all of those departures thanks to some shrewd draft strategy and big-ticket international signings that all look good in the early going. Their pool of talent aged 20 and under is impressive, just from a scouting standpoint, although those players have little to no track records on the field so far."
The "shrewd" draft strategy Law is referring to includes the selections of right-handed pitchers Matt Allan and J.T. Ginn in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Those aggressive picks, made under the Brodie Van Wagenen regime, added first-round talents in the third (Allan) and second rounds (Ginn) of the MLB Draft.
In addition to Allan (No. 2) and Ginn (No. 6), the Mets' top six prospects per SNY contributor Joe DeMayo's top 20 list are catcher Francisco Alvarez (No. 1), shortstop Ronny Mauricio (No. 3), outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong (No. 4), and third baseman Brett Baty (No. 5).
The Mets' trades of right-handed pitcher Josh Wolf (No. 8 on SNY's top 20 list) and outfielder Isaiah Greene (No. 9) hurt, but were clearly worth it in order to add Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco.
Meanwhile, the inclusion of Jarred Kelenic -- now viewed as a top 10 prospect in baseball -- in the trade for Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz before the 2019 season continues to haunt the Mets. The success of Diaz in 2020 and potentially beyond provides at least a little solace, but Kelenic never should've been included in that deal.
Going forward, while most of the Mets' higher-end talent is in the lower levels of the minors, they have a solid foundation developing.