Spring Breakout Game Chat: Rays vs Mets, 7:10

Thursday, March 19, 2026 • 7:10 PM
Clover Park • Port St. Lucie, FL
LHP Name (0-0, -.–) vs. RHP Jack Wenninger (0-0, -.–)
SNY • MLBN

In 2024 MLB started the Spring Breakout game, an exhibition for teams to showcase players with rookie eligibility for the upcoming season. The Mets prospects beat the Nationals prospects 4-2 with Nolan Mclean the pitcher of record (1 IP, H, K) and Ryan Clifford with the lone extra-base hit (1-for-1, 2B, R). The Mets beat the Nationals again last year behind Jonah Tong (2 IP, H, 2 BB, 3 K), Ryan Clifford (1-for-4, HR, R, 2 RBI, 2 K), Kevin Parada (2-for-3, R, K) and Carson Benge (1-for-2, 2B, BB).

Seeing the game in its third iteration highlights why this game is different than the Futures Game each summer before the All-Star game. Players are going to play in multiple breakout games, year over year. Ryan Clifford is going to play for the third consecutive year. There’s also a significant chance that he makes his major league debut this season. Players like Clifford have kept up their prospect hype as they continue to grow. The 2024 game was started by Dom Hamel , who was one of the top prospects in the Mets system at the time, he’s now trying to find his way with the Yankees. Blade Tidwell was another emerging pitcher for the Mets in that game. He just got optioned to minor league camp by the Giants this week. Taken over multiple years, the Spring Breakout games show interesting snapshots into the organization.

Mets Lineup

1. A.J. Ewing – CF
2. Elian Peña – SS
3. Jacob Reimer – 3B
4. Ryan Clifford – 1B
5. Eli Serrano III – RF
6. Chris Suero – C
7. Mitch Voit – 2B
8. Nick Morabito – LF
9. Randy Guzman – DH

Starting Pitcher: Jack Wenninger

Opposing Lineup

1. Austin Overn – LF
2. Theo Gillen – RF
3. Jacob Melton – CF
4. Xavier Isaac – DH
5. Tre’ Morgan – 1B
6. Brayden Taylor – 3B
7. Nathan Flewelling – C
8. Adrian Santana – 2B
9. Daniel Pierce – SS

Starting Pitcher:

Three Things To Watch For

1. The next batch of top prospect pitchers. The Mets’ top pitching prospects in the first spring breakout game included Dom Hamel, Blade Tidwell (and Mike Vasil/Christian Scott, who didn’t play in the game). Only Christian Scott is with the Mets now. Last year’s top group included Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat. This year, we are looking at Jack Wenninger and Jonathan Santucci. Wenninger is coming off an excellent season with Binghamton, where he had a 2.92 ERA over 26 starts and 135 2/3 innings. Santucci was drafted in 2024 and is coming off of his best season in the Mets system. Over 25 games across Brooklyn and Binghamton he had a 3.06 ERA over 117 2/3 innings.
2. Elian Peña. Peña was one of the top international free agents when the Mets signed him in January 2025 to the largest signing bonus ever in the organization ($5 million). He had a notably rough start in the Dominican Summer League, going hitless in his first 26 at-bats over nine games, but turned it on for the rest of the season, hitting .292/.421/.528 by the end. The 18-year old slated to play in the States this season and has a 2030 ETA according to MLB Pipeline.
3. Spring training standouts. A.J. Ewing has seized every moment this spring to make an impression. Over 10 games, he has gone 8-for-21 with three doubles, a home run and four stolen bases (.381/.423/.667). After slashing .233/.361/.390 in 2024, he rocketed up prospect charts after his .315/.401/.429 in 2025. While Ewing has become a prospect darling, being noticed by multiple national outlets, Jacob Reimer was only being lauded by Baseball Prospectus. This spring he has gone 4-for-16 with two doubles and four walks (.429 OBP). He’s always gotten on base at a healthy clip, but last year he also started hitting for power, knocking in 32 doubles and 17 home runs.

Let’s go Mets!

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