With the month of May complete, let’s take a look around the Mets minor league teams and see who was the most impressive over the last 31 days. For the first time this year, that includes the Florida Complex League, which kicked off play towards the beginning of May.

Jonah Tong. Photo Credit: Matt Kipp

Triple-A: Syracuse Mets
Hitter of the Month: Ronny Maurico

Stats: 8 G, .517/.559/.862/1.421, 3 HR, 1 2B, 7 RBI, 4 BB, 5 SO

Is it fair to include a player who played in just eight games here? Probably not. But that’s how otherworldly Ronny Mauricio was. If another Syracuse hitter really separated himself, it probably wouldn’t have been Mauricio, but no one really did. Donovan Walton and Joey Meneses led the team in total bases with 38, and Mauricio had 45% of that total in over 60 fewer plate appearances. He had three home runs, only two off of the team lead, and somehow managed to tie the team lead in stolen bases with three.

Mauricio will play in the big leagues this year—the only question is when. With Mark Vientos locked into regular playing time thanks to his performance last season and Brett Baty playing like one of the team’s best hitters, there’s really no room for Mauricio. He could eventually replace Luisangel Acuña, but that doesn’t solve the issue of where to find him playing time. The Mets wouldn’t call him up to ride the bench, and Acuña is faster and a better fielder, so he’s more suited to a bench role. He’s barely played since he tore his ACL in 2023, so the Mets are going to take it slow and get him a lot of at-bats in the minors. If someone on the infield gets hurt, that could open up playing time for him in the big leagues.

Pitcher of the Month: Blade Tidwell

Stats: 4 G (4 GS), 20.2 IP, 11 H, 7 R (6 ER), 24 SO, 9 BB, 2.61 ERA, 0.97 WHIP

It was a close one between Blade Tidwell and Nolan McLean, and while the latter had a slightly better ERA, the former’s strikeouts and baserunner prevention gave him the edge. Walks have always been a concern for Tidwell, but he’s gotten them down to a really manageable point, currently sitting under 10% for the first time in his career. Meanwhile, his strikeout rate, which had dipped at Triple-A last season, has returned to the level it was when he was carving up High-A and Double-A.

Tidwell made his MLB debut on May 4, and it was a rocky outing. He started out strong but got singled to death in the third and fourth, and by the end of his outing, the walk issues crept up again. It’s just one spot start, hardly enough to draw really any conclusions, and he’ll likely get at least one more chance at some point this season. He’s definitely earned it, and is probably the team’s best rotation depth right now. Brandon Sproat has been bad to the point where he’s not even in the conversation, and McLean is so fresh to Triple-A that while he’s been great, he has such little experience at the level that the Mets might be hesitant to have him take another step up to the big leagues.

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies
Hitter of the month: Ryan Clifford

Stats: 27 G, .267/.365/.478/.843, 5 HR, 4 2B, 20 RBI, 14 BB, 32 SO

It was a typical Ryan Clifford month. He led the team in home runs and OPS, walked a ton, and struck out too much. Clifford has all the power you could want in a prospect. But a 32.8% strikeout rate is not sustainable for an MLB hitter.

There are just eight current qualified MLB hitters who are striking out 30% of the time or more, and most are below average. Unless Clifford is going to be Oneil Cruz—the 99th percentile outcome of a hitter who strikes out that much—he needs to find a way to bring the strikeout rate down to just below average, not dreadful.

Pitcher of the Month: Jonah Tong

Stats: 5 G (5 GS), 26.2 IP, 11 H, 4 R (4 ER), 42 SO, 13 BB, 1.35 ERA, 0.90 WHIP

It was always going to be Jonah Tong. This is the same month that he threw 6 2/3 of a seven-inning perfect game. Tong has the second-best strikeout rate among all minor league pitchers with at least 40 innings, behind Trey Yesavage (No. 20 overall pick in 2024) and ahead of Chase Burns (No. 2 overall pick in 2024). Tong, picked No. 209 overall in 2022, doesn’t have the draft pedigree of his company on the leaderboards, but he’s pitched his way into conversation with them.

It’s almost unfair to Zach Thornton (2.00 ERA in 27 innings) and Jack Wenninger (2.25 ERA in 28 innings), who both would have likely been the player of the month if up against normal competition, but Tong is anything but normal. He might be the best prospect in the Mets system, and yes, not qualifying it with “pitching prospect” was intentional.

Jesus Baez. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones
Hitter of the Month: Jesus Baez

Stats: 25 G, .341/.456/.537/.993, 4 HR, 4 2B, 24 RBI, 17 BB, 12 SO

It was a tight race between Jesus Baez and Carson Benge, and while Benge has a very slight edge in OPS, we’ll give the nod to the 2o-year-old infielder. Baez might have the most power in the entire Mets system, and that includes Benge and some of the other sluggers like Ryan Clifford and Ronny Mauricio.

After a really, really rough April, Baez exploded in May. His four homers led the team, as did his ludicrous 1.417 walk-to-strikeout ratio. The swing decisions have been improving year to year, and that only helps his power play in-game even more. Coming off a torn meniscus, Baez will likely spend most of 2025 in High-A, but there’s a chance he makes it up to Double-A by the end of the year if all goes well.

Pitcher of the Month: Brendan Girton

Stats: 5 G (5GS), 21 IP, 15 H, 10 R (6 ER), 29 SO, 9 BB, 2.57 ERA, 1.14 WHIP

Four Cyclones pitchers threw at least 20 innings in May with an ERA of 3.18 or below, and Brendan Girton was the best of the bunch. A 10th-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, Girton throws hard and has a pair of plus breaking balls, and his issue has always been command. Walks plagued him in college, and while they haven’t exactly been eliminated, they’ve come down.

Girton has one of the highest strikeout rates in the organization. Among pitchers with at least 30 innings pitched, Girton’s 30.8% strikeout rate is third, only behind Jonah Tong and Jonathan Pintaro. As long as his command can keep improving, he has the stuff to turn into a legitimate starting pitching prospect in this organization.

Single-A: St. Lucie Mets
Hitter of the Month: Trace Willhoite

Stats: 16 G, .275/.387/.608/.995, 4 HR, 5 2B, 13 RBI, 10 BB, 14 SO

A 24-year-old first baseman signed as an undrafted free agent out of Lipscomb, Trace Willhoite is your typical power-hitting first baseman. He’s got a lot of pop, evidenced by his nine extra-base hits in just 16 games in May, and he also has a lot of swing-and-miss. He struck out at a 26.4% clip in May after doing so at a 36.5% clip in April.

But when he hits the ball, he hammers it. His 94.6 mph average exit velocity is in the 100th percentile among Single-A hitters and would be No. 6 in MLB right now, just one tick ahead of Pete Alonso at 94.5 mph. Obviously, Willhoite is doing it against Single-A pitching, so it’s not exactly a fair comparison, but it just goes to show how much power he has in the tank. The whiff has to come down and he’s old for his level, but it was a positive month for the slugger.

Pitcher of the Month: Edgar Moreta

Stats: 6 G (5GS), 25.2 IP, 18 H, 11 R (8 ER), 28 SO, 12 BB, 2.81 ERA, 1.17 WHIP

A 21-year-old right-hand pitcher, Edgar Moreta has thrown seven different pitches this season: a four-seam, slider, sinker, cutter, splitter, curveball, and changeup. The splitter has been his best pitch, albeit in limited use, racking up a ridiculous 72.7% whiff rate, but his slider has gotten good results as well in much more consistent use.

Moreta was featured in an article on The Athletic this offseason about potential Mets breakout prospects. The article highlighted his control and noted that he’s added some significant velocity, seeing his heater go from around 91 mph last year to the mid-90s during the offseason. He got off to a rocky start in April, but May looked more like the pitcher who was listed as a potential breakout candidate.

Florida Complex League: FCL Mets
Hitter of the Month: Julio Zayas

Stats: 15 G, .313/.411/.458/.869, 1 HR, 4 2B, 6 RBI, 7 BB, 6 SO

A 19-year-old right-hand hitting catcher, Julio Zayas posted the highest batting average and on-base percentage among FCL Mets qualifiers in May and was second in slugging. He’s top-20 in wRC+ and OPS among all qualified players in the Florida Complex League.

Zayas is repeating the Florida Complex League after hitting .239 with a .721 OPS there in 35 games last season. He burst onto the scene after his first season in the Dominican Summer League in 2023, where he hit .307 with an .885 OPS. He even snuck onto the back end of some prospect rankings, but slowed down in 2024. He’s always been a player who has run a pretty good strikeout rate and is also walking at a good clip for the second straight season, and is expected to hit for some pop as he gets older.

Pitcher of the Month: Jose Chirinos

Stats: 4 G (3GS), 15.1 IP, 11 H, 5 R (4 ER), 22 SO, 6 BB, 2.35 ERA, 1.11 WHIP

Like Zayas, Jose Chirinos is repeating the Florida Complex League after appearing in 12 games there last season and putting up a 6.14 ERA in 36 and 2/3 innings. He made it to Single-A briefly, giving up one run in one inning of work in his lone appearance. However, that 6.14 ERA was accompanied by a 3.60 FIP, maybe an indication that greener pastures were ahead of Chirinos.

The 20-year-old right-hand pitcher is likely a long-term reliever, but as with all minor league pitchers, he’ll keep getting shots to stick as a starter as long as he proves he can handle it.