How Jonah Tong's call-up impacts another Mets' top pitching prospect

But the timing of Tong's call-up begs another question: Will we see Brandon Sproat in the big leagues this year?

Nolan McLean became the first of the big three pitching prospects to debut, and he immediately impressed. In his first two major league starts, McLean (1.46 ERA) fanned 15 batters and allowed just six hits across 12.1 innings.

Following McLean's success, rumors swirled about whether the club would be eager to promote another top pitching prospect. In an appearance on SNY on Monday, beat reporter Anthony DiComo indicated that the Mets were deciding between Tong and Sproat.

"The interesting thing is Sproat v. Tong," DiComo stated. "Because a week ago it would have been very obviously Brandon Sproat. But in addition to getting hit around in that minor league relief appearance - that's two out of three bad ones for Sproat - meanwhile Jonah Tong has come up and just lit the world on fire at Triple-A."

As DiComo notes, Sproat came out of the bullpen for Syracuse rather than making his scheduled start. At the time, it appeared the 24-year-old was in line to make his MLB debut as a reliever rather than a starter.

However, Sproat struggled in this appearance, allowing seven hits and seven runs (five earned) across 3.2 innings. The outing seemingly hurt his case to be called up and instead indicated that the right-hander needs more time to adjust to working out of the pen.

But according to manager Carlos Mendoza, the decision had less to do with Sproat's struggles and more to do with Tong's undeniable emergence.

"This has got nothing to do with Sproat, I think it's just more how dominant Jonah's been," the Mets' skipper said.

David Stearns was also quick to praise Sproat, emphasizing how difficult the decision was.

"Brandon has done a tremendous job, and he's probably had as good a second half of a season as anyone in minor league baseball," Stearns said. "We've talked about Brandon a lot, and this was really just [about] what Jonah has accomplished, plus the timing of this lining up."

While neither Stearns nor Mendoza revealed a clear plan for Sproat, they did not dismiss the idea that he could join the club this year. They both emphasized that the timing of starts and ensuring full rest is crucial in making the promotion, which could indicate Sproat's call could be coming as soon as the timing works out.

But with two prospects in the rotation and Sproat acclimating to relief work, it is far more likely that this is the avenue that brings him to the big leagues. As evidenced by McLean and Tong's call-ups, the Mets are not afraid to use their young talent, and a logjam of pitching prospects is certainly a good problem to have.

If Tong can provide the same spark that McLean did, it wouldn't be surprising to see Sproat join the team next.