Top prospect on New York Mets’ ‘radar’

Gilbert, 24, was acquired alongside No. 7 prospect Ryan Clifford in the 2023 trade deadline swap that sent Justin Verlander back to the Houston Astros. He placed as high as No. 2 in the Mets’ farm system last year, according to MLB Pipeline’s rankings, but is now their No. 12 prospect.

Through 78 Triple-A games this season, Gilbert is batting .248/.351/.445 (.796 OPS) with 12 home runs and 46 RBIs. The 5-foot-9 outfielder has recently caught fire for Syracuse, posting a 1.102 OPS over the past 30 days. On Friday, his power surge continued.

During Syracuse’s 8-2 win over Omaha, Gilbert went 3-for-4 with two home runs. He has driven in 17 runs over 17 games in July, batting .338 with six home runs and a 1.126 OPS during that span.

New York’s outfield, much like its pitching staff, has been impacted by injuries. Jesse Winker, who mostly platoons at DH with fellow veteran Starling Marte but can also be an option in the corners, has spent the majority of 2025 on the injured list. Marte recently missed some time due to knee problems. And though a return for Siri has not yet been ruled out, he has yet to restart a running program.

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This has left New York relying on second baseman Jeff McNeil to help in left field and split time in center with Tyrone Taylor. Entering Saturday, Taylor is hitting .206 with two home runs and 18 RBIs to go with his .562 OPS across 92 games. McNeil is batting .248/.349/.449 with nine home runs and 32 RBIs in 69 games.

“I’m comfortable with the setup we have right now,” Stearns said about the platoon in center. “Mendy is doing a great job of finding the right days for Jeff to be out there and for Tyrone to be out there. It’s two skill sets that complement each other, so I’m comfortable with that. Like with the rest of the team, we’re going to explore areas of upgrades and that’s one of them.”