Jul 30, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns speaks to the media about the MLB trade deadline before a game against the Minnesota Twins at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images Brad Penner-Imagn Images

David Stearns explains why Mets aren't calling up top pitching prospects

Originally posted on New York Mets on SI | By Grant Young | Last updated Jul 4, 2025 8:00 AM ET

The New York Mets are in dire need of reinforcements for their starting rotation right now. This is owed to Griffin Canning, Kodai Senga, Tylor Megill, and Paul Blackburn, all of whom have suffered injuries over the past few weeks.

While one obvious potential fix for this is by trading for more arms before the July 31 deadline, the Mets could also dig into their farm system to give young prospects a chance to prove their worth. And given that Jonah Tong, Nolan McLean, and Brandon Sproat (the No. 2, No. 3, and No. 5 top prospects, according to MLB.com) are all at least close to knocking on the doorstep of being MLB-ready, many fans are clamoring for the front office to give them a shot.

It was the June of Jonah.

In five June starts, Jonah Tong went 3-0 with an 0.93 ERA and struck out 43 batters.

For the second-straight time, he has been named Eastern League Pitcher of the Month! pic.twitter.com/UD05wXOJyP
— Mets Player Development (@MetsPlayerDev) July 3, 2025

However, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns conveyed why none of these young arms (most likely) will be making an appearance on the Mets' big league roster anytime soon when speaking with the media on July 3.

"I'd say my preference is to not bring up a top prospect for a spot start," Stearns said, per an X post from SNY. "I also understand it's a unique circumstance, and I can't take anything off the table right now. But my preference would be to figure out a way to do it without doing that."

David Stearns was asked if he would consider calling up one of the Mets' top pitching prospects for a spot start:

"My preference is to not bring up a top prospect for a spot start." pic.twitter.com/A6bfUUFg8H
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) July 3, 2025

While Stearns didn't elaborate on why this is his preference, one would imagine that he doesn't want to force these young studs to appear in the show before they're ready, given how a poor performance could potentially hinder their development.

However, Stearns leaving the door open for promoting a prospect makes it sound like there's still a chance one of these three prospects could appear in MLB by the end of this season.

This article first appeared on New York Mets on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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