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Try it freeSteve Cohen’s plan is reaping rewards.
When he took over as majority owner in 2020, he made it a mission to rebuild the Mets’ farm system so that they could have a sustainable pool of talent for the big league roster.
He spent at historic levels in free agency so that the Mets would not have to part with valuable prospects to acquire talent via trade, as they so often did before his tenure.
And now, the Mets have the No. 1-ranked farm system in MLB in ESPN’s latest hierarchy released Tuesday.
They were No. 9 in the outlet’s preseason rankings.
They have four prospects ranked in MLB Pipeline’s top 100, all either at Triple-A or having already made their MLB debut — outfielder Carson Benge (No. 20), utilityman Jett Williams (No. 30) and pitchers Nolan McLean (No. 37) and pitcher Jonah Tong (No. 44).
McClean was called up to the big league roster recently and has made two starts, giving up two runs in 12 1/3 innings pitched.
The Mets have shifted their stance and are open to calling up Tong this year, The Post’s Mike Puma reported.
Pitcher Brandon Sproat, the Mets’ No. 5-ranked prospect, could also be called up this year, though he is not in top-100 rankings across the league.
The pitchers are the most likely to make an impact sooner than the top-ranked position players, but the latter are still considered ready to contribute in the near future.
“[Benge and Williams] are two elite position player prospects at the top level of our system,” President of baseball operations David Stearns told The Post’s Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman on the latest episode of “The Show” podcast.
“Both taken pretty significant steps forward in their development. Both are valued very highly in the industry, clearly, so it’s not just our internal evaluations of them that speak to that. So, it’s great to see.
“ETA’s? I don’t really know. I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t both be contributing to our team at some point next year.”
Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Ronny Mauricio and Luisangel Acuna are former highly regarded prospects who have already earned spots on the big league roster.