New York Mets Send Message to Minor League Pitchers: Your Time Probably Isn't Now

“We're going to make those decisions based exclusively on who and what group of players gives us the best chance to win," Stearns said. "If we have a prospect that we believe gives us the best chance over someone else, we are going to strongly consider that.

“That being said, the volume of established major league pitchers we have makes that a steep hill to climb. We have pitchers at the majors we really believe in, who have proven to pitch at a high level. For a prospect to jump that, especially in a pennant race, is a high bar.”

The Mets have two pitchers ranked in the MLB Pipeline Top 100: 24-year-old Brandon Sproat (No. 54/No. 2 Mets), who is at Triple-A, and 21-year-old Jonah Tong (No. 96/No. 4 Mets) pitching at Double-A.

Sproat (3-5, 5.31 ERA) has struggled at Syracuse, with batters averaging .256 against him, but Stearns noted recent progress.

Tong (5-3, 1.99), at Binghamton, has been the opposite and almost impossible to hit. He’s held opponents hitless in two of his past six starts – one that lasted 5 innings and another 6.1.

Tong has made 11 starts, giving up just 27 hits in 54.1 innings, with opponents batting .143.

Other Mets pitchers making waves in the minors include right-hander Nolan McLean (5-3, 1.98), a former two-way player who has switched to pitching exclusively. Now assigned to Syracuse, he began the season at Binghamton and has thrown in 11 games (nine starts) and struck out 62 batters in 59 innings.

Baseball America ranks him as the No. 67 prospect in the game.

The Mets are having a special season, indeed, entering their weekend series with the best record in baseball at 45-24 and a 5.5 game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East. Every move will be weighed carefully for a team that has World Series aspirations.