It was a pretty forgettable year for the Mets’ Double-A squad.
First Half Record: 35-32 (2/6, Eastern League Northeast)
Second Half Record: 34-35 (4/6, Eastern League Northeast)
For a time, Binghamton was “the place to be” in terms of local Mets minor league baseball. Affiliated with the team since 1991, Binghamton was the closest place to get certified, bona-fide Mets minor league action in the Tri-State area; Pittsfield was about three hours up the Taconic, Norfolk was a good six-hour drive down south, Columbia (AKA Capital City) and Kingsport were a bit further, and Port St. Lucie more a concept than an actual place to go to see non-spring training games.
In 2001, the Wilpons brought the Queens Kings—FKA St. Catharine’s Stompers—to Brooklyn and made the Cyclones the crown jewel of the Mets’ minor league portfolio. Years later, the team bought the Syracuse Chiefs, and beginning in 2019, the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate was within day-trip distance for the first time in over a decade.
As for Binghamton, after a great deal of success in the mid-2010s—resulting in four playoff appearances and the 2014 Eastern League Championship—the team fell off. Between 2018 and 2022, the Rumble Ponies posted four consecutive sub-.500 records. In 2023, though, the Rumble Ponies went 74-61, made the playoffs, and made it to the Eastern League Championship Series, where they were defeated by the Erie SeaWolves.
By and large, the players that broke camp with Binghamton this year underwhelmed and disappointed, which is partially why the season could be described as dull. Jett Williams, the Mets’ top prospect, got off to a slow start in April and then injured his wrist, missing the majority of the season. Matt Rudick, who was named the Mets’ 18th top prospect coming into 2024 on the power of a .271/.414/.449 breakout season in 2023, hit a forgettable .239/.352/.366. The once-exciting Alex Ramirez, who was 17 on Amazin’ Avenue’s 2024 top prospect list and put on the Mets’ 40-man roster last offseason, barely hit his weight with a .210/.291/.299 batting line, though to his credit, he did steal 40 bases. Kevin Parada, considered one of the best players in the 2022 MLB Draft class and the Mets’ 12th top prospect coming into the season, hit a suboptimal .214/.304/.359 and lost basically most, if not all, of his prospect cache.
It wasn’t all bad for those players—JT Schwartz was almost 50% better than league average, and Wyatt Young ran a 24-game on-base streak during the months of July and August—but generally speaking the players who were promoted to Binghamton later on that were the fun ones to watch. Brandon Sproat spent the summer in Binghamton and was just as dominant there as he was in High-A Brooklyn, posting a 2.45 ERA in 62.1 innings, allowing 39 hits, walking 15, and striking out 77. Nolan McLean was promoted to Binghamton in late-May, and while the two-way experiment may have ended not that much long after, he had a solid season on the mound, posting a 4.19 ERA in 81.2 innings with 76 hits allowed, 32 walks, and 80 strikeouts, and may just have a major league future as a pitcher. Another May promotion, Ryan Clifford, demonstrated that he was capable of going on nuclear hot streaks and carrying the entire offense for weeks at a time, ending the season at or near the top of basically every offensive category. And, while Jonah Tong only made two starts with Binghamton after dazzling in St. Lucie and Brooklyn, his Double-A debut was one of the best pitched games of any Mets minor leaguer in all of 2024, garnering an 81 game score—only Brandon Sproat and his 84 game score on June 2 was higher.
For a lack of better words, the 2024 Binghamton Rumble Ponies were just kind of boring. In the first half, they were just a little over .500. In the second half, they were a little under .500. All in all, the team went 69-67 and at least ended 2024 on the winning side.