Graphic from St. Lucie Mets Via Twitter
St. Lucie Mets announce initial 2023 roster
First round pick Jett Williams, 2022 FSL home run leader Dominguez headline roster
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (March 31, 2023) – The St. Lucie Mets are pleased to announce their preliminary roster for the upcoming 2023 Florida State League season. The roster features five of the Mets top 30 prospects according to MLB.com, including last year's 14th overall draft pick Jett Williams.
Williams, 19, is the Mets No. 5 prospect. The Texas high school shortstop debuted in the Florida Complex League last year and slashed .250/.366/.438 with a .804 OPS in helping lead the FCL Mets to the playoffs. Jacob Reimer (No. 17), the Mets fourth round selection from Yucaipa High School (Calif.) in 2022, will join Williams on the infield. Remeir posted a .892 OPS in seven games with the FCL Mets in his organizational debut last summer.
Pitchers Layonel Ovalles (No. 16), Jordany Ventura (No. 20) and Javier Atencio (No. 25) will anchor the rotation. Ovalles and Atencio were key contributors down the stretch of the Mets 2022 championship run.
The Mets initial roster includes 17 pitchers, three catchers, six infields and five outfielders. The Mets will open the season at Clover Park on Friday, April 7th at 6:10 p.m.
Overall the Mets return 18 players who made it into a St. Lucie game last year and 11 who were on the postseason roster. Slugger Carlos Dominguez, who led the FSL with 20 home runs in 2022, is back for another stint in the outfield. Dominguez became the first FSL player since former St. Lucie Met Cory Vaughn in 2012 to hit 20 home runs and steal 20 bases in a season.
Joining Dominguez in the outfield are Rhylan Thomas (11th round USC), Jefrey De Los Santos, Adrian Hernandez and Dyron Campos. Campos was a mid-season Dominican Summer League All Star in 2022.
On the infield with Williams and Reimer will be Junior Tilien, Eduardo Salazar, Kevin Villavicencio and Luis Castillo. Tilien impressed over 84 games in St. Lucie in 2022. He hit .248 with a .718 OPS and slugged 12 home runs and 13 doubles. He became the first St. Lucie Met ever to hit three homers in a game, a feat he accomplished on May 29th at Dunedin. Villavicencio played 26 games with St. Lucie as an 18-year-old in 2022. He was the Mets Dominican Summer League Player of the Year in 2021.
In the pitching department, Jawilme Ramirez, Felipe De La Cruz and Douglas Orellana all logged time with St. Lucie towards the end of 2022 and will vie for spots with Ovalles, Ventura and Atencio in the rotation. Ramirez and De La Cruz combined for 7.1 scoreless innings and 13 strikeouts in limited action with the Mets last season. Christopher Vasquez and Saul Garcia are other rotation options.
The bullpen features a handful of returning pitchers and a host of newcomers. Benito Garcia, Miguel Alfonseca, Joe Joe Rodriguez and Robert Colina all took the mound for St. Lucie at various points in 2022. Garcia struck out 28 batters in 20.2 innings. Alfonseca was fourth on the team with 23 appearances. Lefty Luke Bartnicki, Jean Calderon, Joey Lancellotti, Elliot Johnstone and lefty Brian Gursky round out the pen.
The Mets are led by first-year manager Gilbert Gomez, who served as the team's bench coach in 2022 and was a St. Lucie Mets outfielder for parts of four seasons from 2011-2014. Dan McKinney joins the staff from the college ranks as pitching coach. Eduardo Nunez is the hitting coach, Yucarybert De La Cruz is the bench coach and Regan Saulnier is the development coach. Saulnier is the first female coach in St. Lucie history.
The Mets open the season with a three-game home series against the Daytona Tortugas (Reds) next Friday-Sunday. Tickets are available on stluciemets.com/tickets.
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