The 2024 St. Lucie Mets open the year hoping to move on from their debacle of a 2023 season and return to what they accomplished in 2022: a Florida State League championship. The St. Lucie squad will have their third manager in as many seasons, with former Mets farmhand Yucary De La Cruz set to […]
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The 2024 St. Lucie Mets open the year hoping to move on from their debacle of a 2023 season and return to what they accomplished in 2022: a Florida State League championship. The St. Lucie squad will have their third manager in as many seasons, with former Mets farmhand Yucary De La Cruz set to grab the reigns for his first managerial season.
De La Cruz’s staff is led by bench coach Jeremy Cologna, hitting coach Alejandro Diaz, pitching coach Jordan Kraus, and development Bree Nasti.
De La Cruz will look to lead an offense-heavy squad into Florida State League play. Headlined by multiple top Mets draft picks and prospects, including the likes of 2023-first round pick Colin Houck, infielders Jesus Baez and Marco Vargas, catcher Ronald Hernandez, and outfielder Nick Morabito, the strength of the St. Lucie squad figures to be their offense. Both Vargas and Hernandez came to the Mets in the trade that sent David Robertson to the Marlins.
The Mets’ pitching will be looking to improve on their lackluster results from 2023. St. Lucie’s 5.62 ERA was easily the worst in the Florida State League. The Mets finished 0.66 points higher than the 9th-place team in terms of staff ERA. The Mets struck out the third fewest batters, had the worst staff WHIP, and allowed the highest batting average as a staff. Overall, the staff needs to take a major step forward.
The group of arms that De La Cruz will manage in 2024 will be led by the likes of 2023 draftees Kade Morris, Austin Troesser, and Wyatt Hudepohl, righties Layonel Ovalles and Jawilme Ramirez, and other intriguing arms such as 2022 draft selection Jonah Tong.
The Mets staff lacks the firepower and top prospects of their lineup, but their pitching also figures to benefit from some more names as the season goes on.
The staff is led by a handful of 2023 draft picks. Beyond the likes of Morris, Troesser, and Hudepohl, pitchers Brett Banks, Zach Thornton, and Jack Wenninger are all on the Opening Day roster for St. Lucie. The team announced on Thursday afternoon that Wenninger will be the team’s Opening Day starter. Also of note, reliever Ryan Ammons, who the Mets received in a Rule-5 Draft day deal from the Boston RedSox for the selection of Justin Slaten, makes his organizational debut with St. Lucie.
Beyond the 2023 draft selections, St. Lucie will run out some familiar names on the bump. Reliever Saul Garcia is back with St. Lucie after logging 67 innings with the squad last season. Ramirez and Ovalles are also set for another run with the team, but their stays could be quick, with them jumping up to Brooklyn relatively early into the new season.
The St. Lucie staff is fairly inexperienced, which could lead to another season of pitching struggles for the Mets. However, the room for upside is definitely there at Clover Park, and if Ramirez and Ovalles can return to form, they might log some important innings for De La Cruz’s staff early on.
St. Lucie will have a strong catching group led by Hernandez. The 20-year-old logged a .875 OPS last year, slugging four homers and having a .452 on-base percentage. Hernandez also logged five games at first base. Perozo, 21, had eight home runs and 46 RBIs last season in 88 games for St. Lucie. The 20-year-old Suero hit an impressive .281/.422/.469 in 21 games for the FCL Mets last season.
Marco Vargas, Photo by Ed Delany of Mets Minors
Houck is the Mets’ ninth-best prospect, per MetsMerized Online. Houck has 29 at-bats in his professional career and posted a .699 OPS in that sample size for the FCL Mets. Houck was the Mets’ first-round selection last year, going off the board at 32nd overall. Many in the baseball draft circles expected Houck to move before that spot, but his desire for a larger bonus than some teams were willing to offer and a strong enough commitment to Mississippi State, one of the best college baseball programs in the country, worked him to the back end of the first round for the Mets.
Vargas, MetsMerized’s sixth-ranked prospect, figures to be just outside baseball’s top 100 prospects. Vargas is a slick-fielding middle infielder who posted a .821 OPS between the Mets and Marlins organizations in 2023. He posted an incredible .432 OBP on the season, mainly playing shortstop with second and third base sprinkled in.
Despite posting strong numbers the year before, Báez struggled to a .639 OPS and just two homers last year in the FCL. The 19-year-old is known for always being among the league leaders in exit velocity and having a cannon for an arm.
Cuevas posted a 1.022 OPS in the FCL last year, Mosquera is a glove-first infielder and Antonia was selected in the Rule 5 this offseason.
Morabito, MMO’s 26th-ranked prospect, is cracking an opening-day full-season roster after being the 75th overall selection in the 2022 Amateur Draft. The outfielder put together a strong 2023 campaign, ending with a .780 OPS between the FCL and St. Lucie. Morabito profiles as an incredibly athletic defender who will make plays in the outfield.
The St. Lucie Mets kick off their season on Friday, with Jack Wenninger on the mound.
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