Mets promote pitching prospect Brandon Sproat to Triple-A after he strikes out 11 straight
Brandon Sproat of the Mets pitches during the third inning of the All-Star Futures Game at Globe Life Field on July 13 in Arlington, Texas. Credit: Getty Images/Richard Rodriguez
ANAHEIM, Calif. — A.J. Sager has been in professional baseball far longer than any of his current players have been alive, from a career pitching in the majors to decades coaching across the country to now serving as the pitching coach for the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies.
And after all that, he actually witnessed something new Friday night: 11 consecutive strikeouts by Mets pitching prospect Brandon Sproat for Double-A Binghamton against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, a Blue Jays affiliate.
So impressed were Mets officials that they promoted Sproat to Triple-A Syracuse afterward, a source told Newsday.
“It was something you never see,” Sager said in a phone interview Saturday, highlighting specifically that Sproat fanned about equal numbers of lefthanded and righthanded hitters. “The linescore is great, but I thought it was against a good lineup, a balanced lineup. And the no walks — that tells you count control. He was getting ahead of hitters.
“And then he just got on such a roll with finishing them. It looked like they were on their heels when they got into the box. That’s a great feeling for a pitcher. It’s a great sight for the pitching coach to see that.”
Sproat, a righthander who turns 24 next month, finished with a career-high 13 strikeouts in five scoreless innings, the latest and greatest feat in a breakout year.
With his performance on the field and his work and demeanor off it in his first full season as a professional, Sproat is forcing Mets decision-makers to take notice, perhaps positioning himself as a late-season option in the majors.
He has earned the unofficial title of the organization’s top pitching prospect (especially with the injured Christian Scott graduating by virtue of his major-league body of work).
Sproat’s numbers after joining Binghamton in mid-May: 2.45 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 77 strikeouts in 62 1⁄3 innings. He issued only 15 walks in that span, a significant improvement over control issues early this season and in years past at the University of Florida. The Mets drafted him in the second round last year.
“We’re paying attention, especially after an outing like last night,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.
Sager repeatedly described Sproat as “beyond his years” in a variety of areas: staying unpredictable with a five-pitch mix, handling secondary pitching concerns such as fielding his position and controlling the running game, and understanding how to attack hitters.
On days he doesn’t pitch, Sager said, Sproat typically watches from the dugout railing, a willingness to observe and absorb that is “going to be very valuable for him.” Sager tries to get all of his pitchers to do that. Sproat doesn’t need to be told.
“The interesting thing to me is that when we’re going over hitters, I usually start the conversation with an open-ended question: Have you seen anything [worth noting]?” Sager said. “And he always gives interesting insight. And I’m sitting there looking at my notes, which I spend a lot of time on and have a lot of resources to dig into that. And I’m looking at it thinking, yeah, that’s pretty much what I had.
“So I think he really knows what he’s looking at as far as that feel of reading hitters and matching that up with his strengths. To me, that’s beyond the years of what you would normally see, certainly in a first-full-year guy.”
That extends to when he is on the mound. With a fastball that reaches triple digits and a changeup that he is comfortable throwing to hitters standing on either side of the plate — another uncommon ability — Sproat is the rare minor-league pitcher willing to shake off the catcher’s call. “You don’t see that a ton anymore, but he does it,” Sager said.
“He knows what he wants to do when he gets on the mound. A lot of superlatives, but that’s just what I’m seeing.”
The Mets have plenty of bullpen options to sort through down the stretch, from the newly arrived (including Alex Young, Huascar Brazoban, Tyler Zuber) to the currently injured (Sean Reid-Foley, Reed Garrett, Dedniel Nunez).
As for the possibility Sproat reaches the majors this year?
“I’m not going to get into details,” Mendoza said. “We just want him to continue to develop. Hopefully he continues to put himself in a position where he’s in the conversation to come here and help us.”
Merely continuing to pitch is what Sproat needs most, Sager said.
“He’s got big-league makeup, he’s got big-league stuff,’’ he said. “Now he just needs the experience.
“Where he’s pitching isn’t as important to me right now as the fact that he’s staying healthy and pitching. This is his first full year in pro ball, so it’s still relatively new to him. Even though it doesn’t look like it, it is. So wherever they decide to put him, I think he’s going to be fine.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
