Mets set for Top 100-heavy Spring Breakout game

This story was excerpted from Anthony DiComo’s Mets Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Combined, the Mets and Nationals organizations feature seven Top 100 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline’s industry-leading list. If those two franchises have their way, the likes of Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert and Luisangel Acuña will spend much of the next decade battling against Dylan Crews, James Wood and company for National League East supremacy.

Why not start now?

Those organizations will oppose each other Friday in the inaugural edition of Spring Breakout, a new MLB initiative designed to give fans a closer look at some of the game’s brightest prospects. Unlike the Futures Game in July, which features only one or two prospects from each organization, or standard-issue Grapefruit League games, which might only include a prospect cameo here and there, Spring Breakout is a full-on, seven-inning prospect bonanza.

“It’s just going to be as close to a big league Spring Training game as we can possibly have, and it’s a great opportunity for them to compete on the bigger stage,” Mets senior vice president of player development Andy Green said. “It’s another step forward in the development.”

The Mets’ Spring Breakout game against the Nationals will be aired live at 3:10 p.m. ET Friday on SNY, ESPN+ and MLB digital platforms. It will feature some of the brightest names in both organizations, including 20 of the Mets’ Top 30 prospects and 22 of the Nationals’ Top 30.

For the Mets, that includes relatively new additions to the organization such as Colin Houck, Brandon Sproat and Marco Vargas, who are making waves in the Minors but didn’t appear in big league camp. It will also include a slew of close-to-the-Majors players like Williams, Gilbert, Acuña and Dominic Hamel.

“It should be a fun game for a lot of fans to watch,” Green said.

Added Hamel: “It’s a cool little event for people to watch. It’s like a younger Major League Spring Training. It’s very high-level talent.”

Part of the reason why teams bring prospects to big league camp is to expose them to Major League situations, so that when they arrive for real, they won’t be overwhelmed. Spring Breakout includes an element of that as well. The Major League Mets are scheduled to play the night half of a doubleheader immediately following the Spring Breakout game, which should make for a solid weekend crowd at Clover Park.

Those fans will be able to see matchups such as Hamel versus Crews, or Blade Tidwell against Wood -- realistic showdowns that could occur in the NL East in future seasons. The results of such at-bats might not necessarily be instructive for Mets evaluators, but they should be plenty entertaining for those in attendance.

“I don’t think we’re going to read too much into what happens in seven innings in the middle of March,” Green said. “We know where these guys are on their journeys. Nothing’s really going to be impacted developmentally. It’s just a great showcase opportunity for them. The more times you get to play in front of fans, it makes New York a little bit of a smaller jump.”