Mets prospects excited to showcase in Spring Breakout: 'It's a great idea'

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- About a month before the start of Spring Training, Nate Lavender’s wife noticed a headline about Spring Breakout, the new MLB initiative that will pit teams of each organization’s top prospects against each other for an exhibition game in March. She told her husband, a left-handed pitching prospect in the Mets’ system, who was understandably intrigued.

“I think it’s cool,” Lavender said. “I like it. I think it definitely shines some light on the farm systems. You see top prospect lists, this and that. But I do think it’s a great idea. I mean, bring out your top guys from each org, the younger guys, and have them go head to head. I think it will be cool to bring a lot of positive attention to each club.”

MLB announced new details Thursday regarding the event, including:

• The league will carry at least 10 Spring Breakout games live without blackouts on digital platforms, including MLB.com
• MLB Network will air five games live
• Rosters will be revealed during a March 7 episode of MLB Tonight at 11 a.m. ET
• Tickets for all games are on sale now at MLB.com/spring-training/spring-breakout

The Mets’ Spring Breakout game, scheduled for 3:10 p.m. ET on March 15 against a team of Nationals prospects at Clover Park, will be broadcast live on SNY and MLB digital platforms.

Rosters will include many of MLB Pipeline’s top prospects from each organization -- think players like Luisangel Acuña and Drew Gilbert for the Mets. It has created some level of conversation around the spring clubhouse, where the team is slated to have seven of its Top 30 prospects -- Acuña, Gilbert, Jett Williams, Kevin Parada, Mike Vasil, Christian Scott and Dominic Hamel -- as healthy participants in camp.

“It’s a cool little event for people to watch,” Hamel said. “It’s like a younger Major League Spring Training. It’s very high-level talent, but it’s all the young [guys] in the org.”