Note on the Series: A tradition at 213 Miles From Shea is walking through Baseball America’s Top 30 Mets prospects, one year after the list comes out. The BA printed book is generally out of date immediately when it’s published, especially when BVW was at the helm trading away prospects. Our goal with this series is to check in with how the prospects are doing. Some of them have been traded away. Because of the pandemic, minor league games did not happen last year, so we are also missing stats. Staying on top of the Minor League camp was not something I did last year, so when appropriate, I’ll link to the actual experts.
Ryley Gilliam was picked in round 5 of the 2018 draft. Baseball America starts off their profile noting that the Mets were attracted to the Clemson Closer’s “electric arm speed and high – spin breaking ball” (I mean they’re not wrong – the Mets love pitchers with high – spin breaking balls). In 2019 he made it all the way to Syracuse and pitched in the Arizona Fall League.
He dominated lineups in 2019 in St. Lucie, putting up a 2.53 ERA over 7 games before being promoted to Binghamton where he he still did well, posting a 4.34 ERA over 12 games (WHIP went from a 0.94 to 1.18).
Baseball America ended their profile saying that they thought he might get some time in the majors in 2020. Things looked to be heading that way too pre-pandemic. He was invited to camp with an NRI. We wrote last year how he has performed well at every level besides Syracuse. He got added to the Mets 60 player pool last year but that’s pretty much the last that we heard from him last season. This year he’s in the same boat. He’s high on the Mets depth chart, depending on injuries. The Mets will be looking at his performance in spring and early in the minors. He’s not on the Mets 40-man yet, which will be a roadblock for him getting playing time in Queens.
