Brandon Sproat is joining the party. The Mets' No. 5 prospect will join Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong in the Major Leagues and will make his MLB debut on Sunday in Cincinnati, a source told MLB Pipeline's Sam Dykstra. The team has not confirmed the news.
Kodai Senga was previously lined up to pitch on Sunday, but the Mets had not committed to the right-hander making the start and were reportedly considering asking him to accept being optioned to the Minor Leagues. Senga has a 5.90 ERA since returning from the injured list on July 11, and the Mets have lost four of his last five starts.
Sproat, a third-round pick out of the University of Florida in 2023, entered the year as the Mets' top prospect and No. 46 on MLB Pipeline's Top 100 list following an impressive first professional season in 2024 that saw him dominate High-A (1.07 ERA) and Double-A (2.45 ERA) before running into a wall in his first taste of Triple-A (7.53 ERA in seven starts).
"This is a guy that, stuff-wise, is right there with anybody,” manager Carlos Mendoza said during Spring Training. "Now he's learning how to pitch, learning how to get through a lineup, not only once, but three times through an order, because hitters will adjust to it."
His Triple-A scuffles resurfaced early this year, with a 6.02 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP through May 31, and his prospect standing took a commensurate hit amid McLean and Tong's ascension. But the 24-year-old found his groove in June, going 6-2 with a 3.13 ERA and .189 batting average against in his final 15 games, including pitching seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts in his last start on Saturday.
Sproat sits in the high 90s and occasionally hits triple-digits with his four-seam fastball, and scouts laud his upper-80s changeup, a pitch he leaned on more to overcome his early 2025 struggles. He also boasts an upper-90s sinker, a mid-80s sweeper, a 89-91 mph slider and an 80-82 mph curveball, a varied pitch mix that will help him keep Major League hitters on their toes as he tries to blow them away with his heaters.
Sproat's arrival to the Majors furthers the youth movement in the Mets' rotation that began with McLean's debut on Aug. 16, followed by Tong's first start last Friday, which has invigorated New York as it competes for a postseason spot. Tong will precede Sproat in Cincinnati, pitching on Saturday in his first road start.