The Mets have already called up top pitching prospects Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong with impressive early results. Now, the club is turning to the arm who was ranked above them in the preseason for further rotation reinforcements.
Before this news, the 24-year-old right-hander had spent the entire 2025 season with Triple-A Syracuse, picking up 121 innings (eighth-most among pitchers at the Minors’ top level). His overall numbers are fairly pedestrian: 4.24 ERA, 4.20 FIP, 1.24 WHIP, 22.1 percent K rate, 10.4 percent BB rate. But over his last 11 appearances, he’s been one of Triple-A’s most effective pitchers. His 70 strikeouts and 0.93 WHIP in 59 innings since June 28 each lead the level in that span, while his 2.44 ERA ranks fourth and his .163 average-against ranks second. In his most recent outing, Aug. 30 at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he matched season highs in strikeouts (nine) and innings (seven) in a scoreless 91-pitch effort.
There have been some inconsistencies mixed in – he gave up seven runs in 3 ⅔ frames as a reliever in the outing before his most recent gem in a brief bullpen experiment – but diving into the data, there are a few explanations for why the 6-foot-3 hurler has jumped in recent months.
For one thing, his average four-seam fastball velocity has improved a tick from 95.9 mph before June 28 to 97.1 mph afterward. He’s touched 100 mph four times in ’25, and three of those instances have come in this 11-outing stretch. The movement on the pitch has changed slightly, too, with Sproat trading a little armside run for increased induced vertical break.
But the velo change has been the biggest highlight. With the extra heat, Sproat has improved his whiff rate on the four-seamer from 18.8 percent to 30.3 percent and cut the slugging percentage against it from .467 to .390. As such, he’s gone to the pitch even more against right-handed hitters, and it’s usurped his 95-98 mph sinker as his most-used pitch against same-side bats, albeit only slightly (24.5 percent usage vs. 22.3).
“Really, that’s the only thing that’s changed,” Sproat said of his mantra. “It sounds simple, and it is simple, but it’s really not at the same time. I can sit there and tell myself to ‘let it eat’ all day long, but I actually have to go out there and do it.”
Secondly, he’s become more effective at throwing his 89-92 mph changeup. While he’s thrown his four-seamer harder, the velo on the cambio has remained consistent, leading to a bigger gulf between the two pitches. The changeup still comes with 13-16 inches of armside movement on average and 30.7 inches of drop, and with the added velo separation, it generated a 35.9 percent whiff rate and 40 percent chase rate during his hot 11-appearance run. Lefties have slugged only .294 against it in that stretch, while righties haven’t picked up a hit against it at all.
Overall, one of the overall greatest advantages Sproat will have as he heads to The Show is the diversity of his pitch mix.
Alongside the aforementioned four-seamer, sinker and changeup, he also sports a mid-80s sweeper, a shorter 89-91 mph slider and an 80-82 mph curveball. The curveball and sweeper each come with 13-15 inches of average gloveside break – a little less than the sinker and change display going the other way – with the former adding an extra 17 inches of drop. The slider and sweeper are bigger options for righties while the deuce has been a steadier option for lefties of late, though he’ll mix in all three against batters from both sides.
Despite having pitches moving in multiple different directions, Sproat hasn’t walked more than three batters in an outing since June 22, though his 9.0 percent walk rate since then is only slightly better than Triple-A average.
Much will come down to whether Sproat can blow those four-seamers by Major League hitters in the same way he could against Triple-A bats. He lacks the funky mechanics and exceptional ride that Tong used to rocket to Queens. He also lacks the incredible spin rates that McLean has leaned on in his dominant early MLB run. The more ordinary movement of the fastball won’t make it pop in any models, but if it can hold the velo gains and set up his panoply of other pitches, that could be enough.
The Mets liked Sproat enough to draft him twice out of the University of Florida – first in the third round of the 2022 Draft and second, with his permission, in the second round of the 2023 Draft. After a dominant first full season in 2024, it’s been more of a roller-coaster ride in ‘25. But with New York’s rotation struggling outside of the other two rookies, it’s time to see which version of Sproat the organization will get in The Show for the stretch run.
