Despite a bevvy of encouraging performances, the Mets’ prospects were defeated by the Rays’ prospects 2-0 in the 2026 Spring Breakout. The outcome is not what you want and the objective viewing experience was a bit dull (it was a sleepy, drizzly affair). But that’s not the point of this event really, it’s all about the prospects we get to see.
Jack Wenninger got the start for the Mets and looked quite good. His splitter was his clear best offering, befuddling hitters and inducing several truly ugly swings. His fastball was at times excellent as well, touching 97 and featuring 20” of vertical break in several instances. Those high-end traits didn’t manifest consistently – the velocity wavered and the shape fluctuated a bit – but the potential is there. The slider is the clear third offering but isn’t a bad pitch by any means. All-in-all, Wenninger racked up six strikeouts in 3.2 innings while allowing only one run, mixing in a slick defensive play to boot.
Jonathan Santucci wasn’t quite as impressive as Wenninger, but looked quite good in his own right. He struck out five in his 3.2 innings of work and allowed only a single run which scored on an error. Like Wenninger, he flashed 20” of IVB on his fastball a couple times. He also mixed in his two breaking ball shapes, but struggled badly when trying to throw his changeup. This is about what I’d expect a back-end starting prospect with frustratingly good stuff to look like. We’ll see if he can learn to harness the raw ingredients a bit more effectively this season.
It’s a lot harder to have any strong takeaways from one-game worth of plate appearances, but several Mets hitters did fun things with the chances they had. Elian Peña ripped a 100 MPH single (thought it was to the opposite field) and worked a walk in his third plate appearance of the day. Randy Guzman had four hard-hit balls, one of which went for an opposite field double and another which missed being a grand slam by about ten feet. Eli Serrano had the hardest batted ball of the day, a 105.4 MPH single. Jacob Reimer and A.J. Ewing had quieter games but each had a single as well.
So yes, despite the score, there was a lot of exciting stuff here. You can look forward to more from these names and others throughout the 2026 season.
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