In this four-part series, we look back on the minor leaguers that the Mets released or traded over 2025. Today, we focus on the infielders.
02/01/25: DSL Mets Orange released SS Starling Fernandez.
02/01/25: DSL Mets Orange released SS Leiner Ramirez.
02/04/25: DSL Mets Orange released C Yerlin Garcia.
06/16/25: Syracuse Mets released 1B Jon Singleton.
07/12/25: Syracuse Mets released C Chris Williams.
07/17/25: Syracuse Mets released C Jakson Reetz.
07/30/25: Mets traded INF Jesus Baez.
• Coming into the
season, Amazin’ Avenue ranked Jesus Baez the Mets’ 9th top prospect, but a lot of that goodwill was based on his age and physical tools, as he came into the season limited to just 64 Single-A games where he hit .262/.338/.444 before having his season end thanks to a right knee meniscus tear. Promoted to High-A, Baez put up very similar numbers before being traded, hitting .244/.337/.406 in 70 games with Brooklyn.
In exchange for Baez (and others), the Mets received Ryan Helsley. At the time, it seemed like a great move. The Mets were receiving an experienced high-leverage arm to bolster an ailing bullpen. The process was still right but given that Helsley turned out to be an unmitigated disaster who has since signed elsewhere, the results are not looking great. There’s a very good chance Baez does not develop into anything, but given how the 2025 season turned out, with Helsley maybe not being the cause for the Mets’ slow collapse but being unable to stop it, it’ll especially sting if he does.
08/04/25: FCL Mets released 3B Jake Zitella.
• This release came as a little bit of a surprise, but given that Zitella had only appeared in in five games at the beginning of the Florida Complex League season, something obviously was up. Though he was never placed on the injured list, Zitella reaggravated a lingering back injury that he had been ignoring and playing through since his 2023 senior season at St. Charles East High School and the issue required a surgical procedure to fix it, leading to his request to be released. A little odd that it was a release and not a retirement, but I’m sure there are reasons that a player and/or sports agent would understand better.
08/11/25: Syracuse Mets released 1B David Villar.
08/16/25: DSL Mets Blue released SS Keiver Garcia.
• Garcia was signed by the organization in January 15, 2023 for just $10,000, but his defensive ability earned praise from scouts and evaluators. The undersized middle infielder unfortunately never took the necessary steps forward to improve his offense in two-and-a-half seasons in the Dominican Summer League, and despite still being just 18-years-old, was given his release.
11/06/25: SS William Lugo elected free agency.
11/06/25: DSL Mets Blue released IF Alvaro Matos.
11/06/25: 1B Joey Meneses elected free agency.
11/06/25: 3B Nick Madrigal elected free agency.
11/06/25: C Matt O’Neill elected free agency.
• O’Neill was a local kid, a Morristown native.
11/06/25: 2B Luke Ritter elected free agency.
• It was a strange career arc for Luke Ritter, who had one of the longest Mets tenures of any player released or not re-signed by the organization this year. When he was drafted way back in 2019, he was a light-hitting infielder from Wichita State. Returning to baseball following the loss of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ritter morphed himself into a power-hitting first-baseman, leading the minor league system in 2023 and 2024 in home runs (27 and 26, respectively). Given his red flags as a player, he was unlikely to ever be called up to the majors, but the power improbably dried up in 2025 and that was all she wrote for Luke Ritter’s Mets career.
