Former Florida Gators ace [autotag]Brandon Sproat[/autotag] was named the New York Mets Minor League Pitcher of the Year on Monday by Baseball America and the Double-A Eastern League Pitcher of the Year on Tuesday.
Sproat also earned an Eastern League All-Star nod after posting a 2.45 ERA and a 77 strikeout-to-15-walk ratio for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies over 62 1/3 innings.
A 2023 draftee, Sproat rested for the second half of the 2023 minor league season after throwing a career-high 106 1/3 innings for Florida en route to a College World Series run that ended on the last day of the season.
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In his first Minor League season, Sproat spent time in High-A, Double-A and Triple-A, throwing more than 116 innings total. His longest stop was in Double-A Binghamton, but the now 24-year-old should begin next season in Triple-A Syracuse with a shot to make his MLB debut in 2025.
His numbers weren’t great with Syracuse, but many minor leaguers struggle with fatigue in their first year. Even Paul Skenes is kept on a pitch limit as a major leaguer.
MLB Pipeline ranks Sproat No. 37 among all prospects, No. 7 among right-handed pitchers in the minors and No. 1 in the Mets’ farm system.
Brandon Sproat as a Florida Gator
Sproat signed with Florida as a member of the class of 2020 and appeared in four games out of the bullpen as a true freshman before the COVID-19 pandemic shut things down.
He showed promise as a redshirt freshman over 16 appearances and two midweek starts, but a 6.65 ERA and poor metrics (13.8 BB%, 16.5 K%) gave some pause as he moved into the weekend rotation.
Sproat began the 2022 campaign as Florida’s No. 2 behind Hunter Barco, but a season-ending injury to the ace moved him into that role a year early. The results were surprising. Sproat ended the 2022 season with a 9-4 record and 3.41 ERA over 89 2/3 innings.
The New York Mets drafted him with the 90th overall pick in the third round, but Sproat opted to return to Florida and boost his draft stock.
Sproat’s numbers dropped in 2023, but he raised his strikeout rate to a career-high 28.8% (excluding 2020). The Mets took him again in the second round with the 56th overall pick.
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