Elian Peña

Week: 4 G, 10 AB, .600/.706/1.700, 6 H, 2 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 6 BB, 1 K, 0/0 SB (Rookie)

2025 Season: 18 G, 53 AB, .189/.366/.415, 10 H, 3 2B, 0 3B, 3 HR, 13 BB, 11 K, 5/6 SB, .171 BABIP (Rookie)

It’s very rare that Player of the Week goes to a hitter who does not play a full week’s amount of games (generally 5 or 6), but Elian Peña had the kind of week where that needs to get thrown out the window, and nobody playing on any of the Mets’ full-season teams really made a case for themselves, anyway.

Signed by the Mets on the January 15, 2025, Peña was the organization’s crown jewel for the 2025-2026 international free agent signing period. Considered one of the best position players available in the class, and potentially the best position player available, the Mets and Peña agreed to a $5 million dollar signing bonus, shattering the prior organizational record (Yovanny Rodriguez, $2.85 million) and eating up the majority of the $6,261,600 that the team had in their 2025-2026 pool.

Assigned to the Dominican Summer League, Peña has had an interesting start to his career so far. The 17-year-old shortstop started his career 0-26 before logging his first hit and has still yet to really get into a groove. Even though Peña hasn’t started his professional career off with a hot bat, he has been getting on base, walking at an exceptional 18.1% rate, resulting in a 105 wRC+ despite logging only 10 hits in 53 at-bats.

Listed a 5’11”, 170-pounds, Peña is almost certainly bigger and heavier than that now. He stands slightly open at the plate, holding his hands at the shoulders and wrapping his bat behind his head angled at 10:30. He swings with a slight leg lift but no real load or weight shift, primarily pulling the ball right now at a 50% rate and going back up the middle and to the opposite field at 25% rates each. His swing has natural uppercut but is a bit slow and stiff; whether or not it is just because he is still getting accustomed to professional baseball remains to be seen. Despite the current lack of explosivity, Peña still makes loud contact, with a high-water exit velocity mark of 99.8 MPH as per public broadcasts of DSL contests where data is available. He does not expand the zone much, either. Peña was marketed as a hitter with his advanced pitch recognition and plate discipline for his age, and while that may be true broadly, the level of pitching he has been facing so far may simply be too embryonic to really get a good gauge on whether or not he actually is, or whether or not he only is currently for his cohort, relative to their current pitching abilities.

Peña’s lower half has thickened since first being scouted professionally, and he seemingly is still far from being physically maxed out. Defensively, he has the tools and ability to play shortstop but may be better suited at third base in the future depending on how quick-twitch athletic he remains. His range at shortstop is not currently an issue, but it may be taxed if he slows down in the future. His plus arm, smooth hands, and strong instincts work at either position.

Wellington Aracena/Brandon Sproat

Week: 1 G, (1 GS), 5.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K (Single-A)

2025 Season: 13 G (5 GS), 47.0 IP, 29 H, 21 R, 15 ER (2.87 ERA), 28 BB, 60 K, .289 BABIP (Single-A)

Week: 1 G (1 GS), 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K (Triple-A)

2025 Season: 16 G (16 GS), 68.0 IP, 65 H, 42 R, 41 ER (5.43 ERA), 35 BB, 49 K, .290 BABIP (Triple-A)

With identical Gamescores of 71, Wellington Aracena and Brandon Sproat are our dual Pitchers of the Week. The last time we had dual winners was a bit over a year ago, when Blade Tidwell and Joander Suarez both won during the fifth week of the 2024 season, which fell between April 30th and May 5th.

This is the third time Aracena has been Pitcher of the Week and the second time in two consecutive weeks. Last week, I noticed that he had been a lot more effective as a starter than a reliever and identified that he was throwing his more effective cutter less as a reliever and his less-effective four-seam fastball more. Maybe he read my report, because the right-hander did more or less what I was suggesting and had his best outing as a reliever.

In his two prior relief outings over the course of the last month, he threw 63 four-seam fastballs, 51 cutters, 10 sliders, and a negligible number of other pitches, good for a 51% fastball rate, 41% cutter rate, and 8% slider rate, ignoring the small amount of changeups and other pitches he may have thrown.

Aracena threw 44 cutters, 21 four-seam fastballs, 8 sliders, and a negligible 3 changeups I am going to ignore in his five-plus innings of work this week, a 60% cutter rate, 29% fastball rate, and 11% slider rate. That more closely resembles the 54% cutter rate, 31% fastball rate, 14% slider rate that he had in his two successful starts this past month.

Brandon Sproat, meanwhile, had his first good game in about a month. Coming into the season, the right-hander was ranked the Mets top prospect, but 2025 hasn’t really gone his way so far. Triple-A hasn’t really agreed with Sproat, in general. The right-hander looked equally great in his 25.1 innings with High-A Brooklyn and his 61.2 innings with Double-A Binghamton, but as soon as he was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse, he hit a wall. The hope was that Sproat would acclimate to the International League after posting a 7.53 ERA in 28.2 innings there last year, but that hasn’t really happened. Through 16 starts, Sproat has a 5.43 ERA in 68.0 innings, with 65 hits allowed, 35 walks, and 49 strikeouts, his H/9 rate up as compared to 2024, his BB/9 rate up as compared to 2025, and his K/9 rate massively down as compared to 2024.

Sproat has a large repertoire to work with, and that may play a part in why he has been struggling. Sproat throws a four-seam fastball (which, because of its naturally low spin rate and relatively flat or heavy shape, is often tagged as a two-seam fastball by statcast), gyroscopic slider, sweeping slider, curveball, and changeup.

Looking at his pitch data for the last calendar month, the right-hander threw 198 fastballs, 47% of his pitches, 69 sweeping sliders (17%), 59 gyro sliders (14%), 48 curveballs (12%), and 43 changeups (10%).

I am only spitballing here (not a pitch that Sproat throws), but part of Sproat’s problem may be that his pitch usage is all over the place. Looking at his latest start- his best start this season, as crazy as that sounds- he threw 39 fastballs, 20 curveballs, 8 gyro sliders, 7 changeups, and 4 sweeping sliders.

In his two starts against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp the week prior, he threw 36 fastballs, 17 gyro sliders, 10 curveballs, 10 changeups, and 8 sweeping sliders. The week prior to that, he threw threw 43 fastballs, 27 sweeping sliders, 15 curveballs, 3 gyro sliders, and 1 changeup against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. The week before that, he threw 36 fastballs, 24 sweeping sliders, 13 gyro sliders, 7 changeups, and 3 curveballs against the Buffalo Bison. The start prior to that, he threw 44 fastballs, 18 changeups, 18 gyro sliders, and 6 sweeping sliders against the Iowa Cubs.

International League batters are currently hitting .265/.384/.382 against his fastball for the season, with an 18.8% Whiff Rate and a 36% Hit Hard Rate. They are hitting .289/.372/.395 against his gyro slider with a 29.9% Whiff Rate and 45.2% Hit Hard Rate. Against his sweeping slider, they are hitting .200/.333/.51 with a 31% Whiff Rate and a 24% Hit Hard Rate. Against his curveball, they are hitting .143/.200/.143 with a 36.7% Whiff Rate and 33.3% Hit Hard Rate. Finally, against his changeup, batters are hitting .241/.290/.345 with a 21.7% Whiff Rate and a 40% Hit Hard Rate.

Obviously, a pitcher needs to adjust his gameplan based on the team and players he is facing and also needs to adjust his gameplan based on the feel that he has for each pitch on gameday, but it feels like Sproat doesn’t have a plan.

Players of the Week 2025

Week One/Two (March 28-April 6): Joey Meneses/Zach Thornton

Week Three (April 8-April 13): A.J. Ewing/Zach Thornton

Week Four (April 15-April 20): A.J. Ewing/Zach Thornton

Week Five (April 22-April 27): Jon Singleton/Jonah Tong

Week Six (April 29-May 5): Jacob Reimer: Felipe De La Cruz

Week Seven (May 6-May 11): Ryan Clifford/Jonah Tong

Week Eight (May 13-May 18): A.J. Ewing/Jonah Tong

Week Nine (May 20-May 25): Jesus Baez/Zach Thornton

Week Ten (May 27-June 1): Colin Houck/Wellington Aracena

Week Eleven (June 3-June 8): D’Andre Smith/Jonah Tong

Week Twelve (June 10-June 15): Jett Williams/Brendan Girton

Week Thirteen (June 17-June 22): Chris Suero/ Wellington Aracena