The Mets’ second half is about one thing: figuring out who can matter in 2027 and beyond. With David Stearns, Andy Green, and the rest of the decision-makers sorting through that question by October, September call-ups become more than a reward. They become tests.
New York has already started that process by bringing up prospects like Nate Lavender and Jefry Yan to help cover for the pieces moved at the deadline. Now the focus turns to a few more names who should get a look before the season ends.
One of them is Franklin, a deadline addition who came over with Gabe Davis in the trade that sent Huascar Brazobán to the White Sox. He sits outside the Mets’ top 30 prospects, but among the players acquired at the deadline, he may be the closest to the majors.
The 27-year-old right-hander was strong in both 2024 and 2025, though he did it against younger competition. This year has been a different story.
In his first full season at Triple-A, he had a 4.37 ERA at the time of the trade deadline, and the home run ball has been the biggest problem. He gave up 12 homers in just shy of 50 innings.
Even so, Franklin brings bat-missing ability. He has a career 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings in the minors, and his 2026 mark is still strong at 11.7.
He’s also kept his walks down, allowing fewer than three per nine innings this season. The ceiling is capped by age and a lack of velocity, but he still looks like a bullpen arm worth seeing in Queens before September is over.
At minimum, he’d get his first big-league taste and give himself a shot at a relief job next year.
Morabito is another player who deserves another turn. He already got a very short major league look earlier this season and it went badly: 0-for-11 with nine strikeouts in five games. After that, he was sent back to Triple-A Syracuse.
Still, there’s a reason to revisit him, especially with Luis Robert Jr.'s future with the Mets uncertain. Morabito’s game is built on contact and speed.
He has a career batting average in the .280s and has swiped nearly 150 bags over the last three minor league seasons. Power is not part of the package; his 10 home runs this season are already a career high.
That lack of slugging limits him. Morabito has posted a sub-.750 OPS both this season and last season, even with the contact and on-base ability.
But those tools can still play, and the Mets want to know whether they translate when the pitching gets tougher. If he gets another call, the results may not be pretty right away.
That’s beside the point. The important part is getting him more exposure to major league pitching.
It also wouldn’t hurt for him to tap into what Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing have done, since both outfield prospects have performed well in the majors this year.
Then there’s Santucci, who may be the next pitching prospect in line for a promotion. The Mets already have a young rotation led by Nolan McLean, Christian Scott, and Zac Thornton, but there’s plenty still unresolved.
Scott is only returning from Tommy John surgery, and Thornton’s big-league sample is tiny. The 2027 rotation is still very much up for grabs.
Santucci, the Mets’ second-round pick in the 2024 draft, had a strong first pro season in 2025. He has taken a modest step back in 2026, but a recent move to Triple-A has put him right on the doorstep.
He works with four pitches, though the fastball and slider are his best weapons and the ones he leans on most. The strikeouts have followed him, with more than 12 per nine innings this season, and he’s also kept the ball in the park, allowing only four home runs in 94 2/3 innings.
He has only two Triple-A starts so far, but that wasn’t a dealbreaker when the Mets called Jonah Tong up for his first big-league chance a season ago. New York needs arms, and giving Santucci a look before the year ends would help the club learn whether he can be part of the picture in 2027.
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