Quattlebaum will be joined in the hitting department by new hitting coordinator Tim LaMonte comes to the Mets from the Astros organization. On the pitching side, the operations are now led by Jono Armold, who held the pitching coordinator title with the Texas Rangers over the last two seasons.

The Future is Almost Here

The refrain over recent years has been that the Mets’ top prospects had bright futures that were just that — shiny twinkles that weren’t quite close enough to reach out and grab. Only six teams have had fewer players aged 24 or younger make their debut since 2019.

This year should be the start of what had been considered the future for the last four to five seasons. No longer are the top levels of the organization completely bereft of exciting young prospects.

Starting with a pair on the 40-man roster (and thus theoretically eligible to be recalled to the majors), Mark Vientos will be manning third base at Syracuse to open the season, while Ronny Mauricio should get the bulk of the shortstop reps at Binghamton.

It’s more likely that Vientos, fresh off an organization-best 25 home runs in 2021, sees big league time this season, but as long as Mauricio, 21 next week, continues to make gains in the power and plate discipline departments, he’ll enter the conversation sooner rather than later.

Joining Mauricio in the Rumble Ponies lineup will be catcher Francisco Álvarez and third baseman Brett Baty. The latter once again starts a level below Vientos to allow both adequate innings in their primary position. Neither Álvarez nor Baty has to be added to the 40-man roster until after this season, but it isn’t impossible to envision either knocking on the door before the end of the year.

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