What Will Brandon Sproat Bring to the Mets Youth-Filled Rotation?

The New York Mets trifecta of young pitchers is now complete.

It is not often that a team promotes not one, not two, but three top pitching prospects to make their debuts within weeks of each other, much less in the heat of a playoff race. The Mets, however, are pulling that trigger.

On Thursday, Chase Ford of MiLB Central reported that the club is calling up its No. 6 prospect, according to Just Baseball, with starting pitcher Brandon Sproat set to make his big-league debut on Sunday against the Reds.

Last season, Sproat burst onto the scene by posting a 2.45 ERA in 62 ⅓ Double-A innings, showcasing a fastball that touches triple digits. However, he struggled after a promotion, owning a 7.53 ERA at Triple-A down the stretch in 2024 in seven starts.

Despite his problems at the tail end of last season, Sproat’s strong showing in Double-A netted him the top spot on JB’s preseason top-15 Mets’ prospects. 

Sproat’s 2025 season got off to a miserable start, as he pitched to a 5.95 ERA through his first 15 games. 

From there, the 24-year-old rounded into form. Since June 28, Sproat’s ERA is just 2.44. In 59 innings, he has struck out 70 batters. His most recent outing saw him strike out nine batters across seven scoreless, three-hit frames. 

While he has dropped in the team’s prospect rankings, it is more of a testament to his fellow rookie rotation-mates. Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong both enjoyed stellar minor league seasons before eventually getting called up in August. 

Now, it is Sproat’s turn.

Sproat’s Stuff

The pitch that put Sproat on the map is his four-seamer, which sits in the upper 90s, averaging 96 mph in 2025. Even with the high velocity, the fastball gets hit due to its lack of ride, causing him to slash the usage of the pitch this year.

During the ‘24 season, Sproat used his four-seam fastball a shade over 50% of the time. This year, it is at just 30.6%. 

To replace the mileage that he was previously getting from his heater, Sproat leaned more heavily into his sinker (2.6% → 17.7%) and slider (9.7% → 31.2%). Additionally, his curveball and changeup have remained valuable options, giving the righty a true five-pitch mix. 

Before the season, Just Baseball’s Aram Leighton compared Sproat’s change to Paul Skenes’ “splinker,” due to its strong horizontal break. Leighton graded both the changeup and fastball as 60. Fangraphs agreed, labeling the fastball as 60-grade and the slider and changeup both at 50. 

At times, Sproat’s command has gotten erratic. In those first 15 starts of his 2025 season, Sproat handed out 32 walks and drilled seven batters. Leighton tabbed Sproat’s propensity to lose the strike zone as the biggest concern, citing his lengthy arm action as the main culprit.

“The concern for the right-hander is his command, often struggling to time up his long arm action. He has looked more comfortable repeating his delivery and filling up the zone as he gets more pro innings under his belt, providing optimism for average command.”

Sproat’s ability to stay in the strike zone has improved throughout the season, as since his disastrous beginning, he has only walked 21 batters in 11 games.

One big change that allowed for Sproat’s improved command is a change in mindset. This coincides with when he turned his season around on June 28th. The change was relatively simple. It’s a mantra for Sproat, “Let it eat”.

As he described to Mets’ beat writer Anthony DiComo, “Let it eat” refers to throwing his pitches as hard and with as much conviction as he can. He began throwing his four-seam fastball a shade more than his sinker, and all of a sudden started to attack the zone with more regularity.

The results have been night and day, as Sproat’s strikeout rate skyrocketed, his walk rate dropped, and after only completing six innings twice across his first 15 starts, the flamethrower started to do so with regularity over his last 11 (five times).

If Sproat can keep this mindset and stay on the attack, his deep arsenal of pitches should allow him to effectively navigate through big league lineups multiple times over.

Sproat’s Impact on the Mets

With his promotion, all three of the Mets’ top pitching prospects will now slot into a rotation that is looking to make a playoff push. Before Sproat, the first two young arms that New York has called up have fared rather well in their brief big league careers. 

McLean has made four starts at the Major League level, taking the league by storm by winning all four decisions. Through 26 ⅓ innings, he has allowed just four runs (1.37 ERA) and owns a WHIP of 0.76. 

Two weeks after McLean’s debut, president of baseball operations David Stearns made the call again, bringing up Tong after just two Triple-A starts. While Tong’s debut was not as sharp as McLean’s, he fired five innings in a win over the Marlins, allowing four runs (one earned) and striking out six. 

Aside from those two and David Peterson (3.61 ERA in a team-high 152 innings), the team’s rotation has been in constant flux, brought on by the struggles of their two veteran starters.

Sean Manaea struggled once again on Monday, allowing five runs in  3 ⅔ innings after being staked to a big lead. While his season got off to a delayed start due to injury, the southpaw has sported a 5.60 ERA in 45 innings.

Kodai Senga, who spent effectively all of last season on the sidelines, has struggled in his own right since returning from the IL. After holding an ERA sub-2.00 through June 12, when he went down with an injury, Senga has pitched to a 5.90 ERA since, resulting in a demotion to Triple-A.

With Senga reportedly set to make “at least two” starts in the minors, it gives Sproat the opportunity to pitch in Queens beyond simply a spot start. 

If he can live up to the lofty standard set by McLean and Tong, the Mets will be well-positioned not only for the upcoming postseason but for years to come.