St. Lucie Mets announce initial 2024 roster

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (April 1, 2024) – The St. Lucie Mets are pleased to announce their preliminary roster for the upcoming 2024 Florida State League season. The roster features six of the Mets top 30 prospects according to MLB.com, including last year’s 29^th overall draft pick Colin Houck.

Houck, 19, is the Mets No. 7 prospect. The Georgia high school shortstop debuted in the Florida Complex League last year and played in nine games. He collected seven hits, walked seven times and posted a .389 on-base percentage.

Infielder Marco Vargas and catcher Ronald Hernandez – the two players who the Mets acquired in the David Robertson trade with Miami last year – will begin the season with St. Lucie after getting a brief introduction to the FSL at the end of 2023.

Vargas, 18, is the Mets No. 8 prospect. He was a Dominican Summer League All Star in 2022 then posted a .275/.432/.389 line with two homers, 53 walks and 38 strikeouts over 54 games between the FCL Marlins, FCL Mets and St. Lucie in 2023. Vargas was the only minor leaguer aged 18 or under with at least 250 plate appearances who walked more than he struck out.

Hernandez, 20, slashed .295/.476/.460 with four homers, 47 walks and 37 strikeouts with the FCL Marlins and FCL Mets before playing the final eight games of his 2023 season with St. Lucie.

Jesus Baez, 19, will make his full season minor league debut. Baez is the Mets No. 21 prospect. He was the Mets Dominican Summer League Player of the Year in 2022 and spent the 2023 season with the FCL Mets.

Nick Morabito, the Mets No. 26 prospect, returns to St. Lucie after finishing with a strong final month of the season with the club in 2023. Morabito homered in his first at-bat for St. Lucie last year and slashed .286/.403/.378 with a .781 OPS in 27 games for the team. Morabito was a second round compensation pick by New York in 2022.

Houck, Vargas and Baez all started for the Mets’ Spring Breakout team vs. the Washington Nationals prospects on March 15^th. Morabito and Herandez came off the bench.

On the pitching side, the Mets return quality starters in Saul Garcia (Mets No. 29 prospect), Layonel Ovalles and Jawilme Ramirez. All three began last year in St. Lucie before earning late season promotions to Brooklyn.

Kade Morris (3^rd round), Wyatt Hudepohl (4^th round), Austin Troesser (4^th round) and Jack Wenninger (6^th round) from last year’s draft will start the season on the pitching staff. Lefty Ryan Ammons was acquired in an offseason trade with the Boston Red Sox and Alan Perdomo was taken in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft from the Colorado Rockies.

Other pitchers are Juan Arnaud, Candido Cuevas, Jimmy Loper, Wilson Lopez, Ernesto Mercedes and Jonah Tong. All but Arnaud pitched for St. Lucie at one time in 2023.

Rounding out the position players are catchers Vincent Perozo and Christopher Suero, infielders Donovan Antonia, Yohairo Cuevas and Diego Mosquera and outfielders Kellum Clark and Fabian Machado.

The Mets initial roster includes 17 pitchers, three catchers, six infielders and three outfielders. Overall the Mets return 16 players who made it into a St. Lucie game last year.

The Mets are led by first-year manager Yucary De La Cruz, who served as the team’s bench coach in 2023 and was a St. Lucie Mets player in 2013. Jordan Kraus is the pitching coach, Alejandro Diaz is the hitting coach, Jeremy Cologna is the bench coach and Bree Nasti is the development coach.

The Mets will open the season against the Daytona Tortugas at Clover Park on Friday, April 5^th. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. Tickets are available at www.stluciemets.com or at the Box Office on gamedays.