Mets Arizona Fall League Week In Review: The Cole Mathis Experience Continues, Irving Cota Shines

With the first full week of the Arizona Fall League concluding, the eight New York Mets prospects sent to the desert got the opportunity to get their feet wet in the AFL.

This year, only two of those sent did not miss most of the season due to injury. Some player have played very little in the Mets' system, so the team will hope to use the AFL to see what they have in these prospects. However, the results were not great in week one.

Position Players

Bruin Agbayani: Slashed .245/.375/.321 across 53 ABs in A-ball this year. Missed most of season with shoulder injury. Son of Former Met Benny Agbayani

Boston Baro: Slashed .241/.333/.310 in 29 ABs this season. Missed most of the season with a shoulder injury. Struggled in 2025, slashing .224/.282/.321 with a .602 OPS.

Cole Mathis: 10 HRs, 42 RBIs in 189 ABs. Had Tommy John surgery prior to last season. Hit below .100 when called up to A+ Brooklyn.

Pitchers

Irving Cota: Posted a 0.73 ERA in 24 2/3 innings as a starter for A+ Brooklyn, however, he went down with injury and barely worked after that.

Brenden Girton: 6.72 ERA in 83 Innings for AA Binghamton, with an 81:57 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Allowed 81 hits including 16 HRs.

Ryan Lambert: In 25.2 Innings in AAA, he posted a 7.71 ERA with a 32:28 K-to-BB ratio. He had a 1.71 ERA with 64 strikeouts in 2025 in AA.

Peyton Prescott: 5.15 ERA in 36.2 innings in 2025 for Florida State. Had UCL surgery shortly after he was drafted, managed one inning for St Lucie with two strikeouts and a walk.

Calvin Ziegler: 7.00 ERA in nine innings in A+ Brooklyn. Bounced around RK/A/A+/AA this year due to injury. He pitched to a scoreless inning in his lone Double-A outing.

The eight New York Mets prospects will be home to the same team the 2022 Mets prospects played for, the Surprise Saguaros. These prospects, along with those from the Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers, Cleveland Guardians and Philadelphia Phillies, will make up the roster for Surprise this season.

Following one week of action, the Saguaros are 4-3 headed into their game today versus the Peoria Javelins. Here is a breakdown of how each of the eight have played through the first week of the season.

Bruin Agbayani 2B/SS/3B

Bruin was one of the prospects handed over for Freddy Peralta, while also serving as a legacy prospect due to his father being Benny Agbayani. It is safe to say the Mets would love for Bruin to have a positive AFL season. So far, in five games played, Bruin is slashing .063/.167/.125 with seven strikeouts. On the positive side, Bruin has recorded a double, RBI and two walks and two runs scored so far. The Saguaros will hope that he can cut down on the strikeouts.

Boston Baro SS/3B/2B

In four games played, Baro is 1-for-10 with three walks and his lone hit being a RBI single. In Sunday’s game, Baro went 0-for-2 with two walks to end his week, Coming off of a slow season due to injury, and with the Mets having a surplus of middle infield prospects, Baro will need to show his worth to keep his name off the developmental list or worse, off the roster.

Cole Mathis 1B/DH

Mathis definitely fared the best of the position players, despite slashing .133/.316/.333. In Sunday’s game versus the Desert Dogs, Mathis took a sinker in the middle of the zone 395 feet over the left field fence, a no-doubt shot. The solo home run tied the game in the eighth inning, which Surprise would go on to win.

Mathis was sent over to Queens in a one-for-one deal for starting pitcher David Peterson during the summer. Mathis, always a home run or strikeout kind of hitter, recorded 56 strikeouts and 45 hits this past season. He was a former two-way player before giving up pitching due to TJS. With nobody waiting in the wings for the Mets first base spot in the minor leagues, Mathis could push his name to the front of the list with more home runs like that during the rest of the AFL season.

RHP Irving Cota

In two appearance so far for Surprise, Cota has given up two earned runs in 4.2 innings. The part of his outings that the Mets will be the happiest about Is the seven strikeouts (and only one allowed hit). In Cota’s second outing, he struck out six in two innings of work, a very positive showing of what could come in his young career.

Cota was at his best when he was a starter in A+ ball, posting an ERA under 1.00 with 14 strikeouts. Injuries reduced him down to a relief role down the stretch, but with ridiculous spin rates seen so far in his Mets tenure and scarce pitching depth in the system, Cota has a good opportunity to get his name out there this fall.

RHP Brendan Girton

Girton has not given up a run through two appearances thus far. He has always been a strikeout pitcher but has not recorded one thus far in 1.1 innings pitched. In 2025, Girton recorded 81 strikeouts and gave up 81 hits, which is a ratio he'll need to skew in favor of the former going forward.

Girton’s fastball has so far topped out at 92.5, a small tick down from his usual 93-94 he was at last season. In his last outing on Friday, Girton gave up a hit but got through a full inning with letting the run score.

RHP Ryan Lambert

In two appearances, Lambert has gone two full innings with two strikeouts. His most recent outing came on Friday where he struck out two, topping out at 98.6 mph.

Lambert’s first strikeout came on a 2-2 breaking ball vs a lefty, which is always encouraging (seeing a struggling righty striking out a left-handed hitter). Lambert’s second strikeout came on a 2-2 upstairs fastball that registered 98 mph.

He is no stranger to generating whiffs, but he needs to be better at limiting his walks and getting himself into better early counts. Many fans were calling for Lambert to be called up during his dominant 2025 campaign where he and his 100 mph heater were striking guys out left and right, but a step back this year delayed those plans. A strong AFL showing can get him right back on track.

RHP Peyton Prescott

Because of injury, Prescott’s minor-league career has only featured one inning of work. It's no surprise, then, that he hasn't looked great in three inning in the AFL; six hits, four walks and three earned runs rest on his ledger. His most recent outing came on Friday where he gave up four hits, three earned runs, and two walks while also recording a strikeout.

Prescott features a fastball, sweeper, and splitter primarily. He uses his sweeper more towards the beginning of the count to set up for his fastball, with the splitter being the out pitch. It's good to see him out there and hopefully he'll record better results in his next couple outings.

RHP Calvin Ziegler

Ziegler floated through his first outing last Sunday, throwing one inning of work while not giving up a hit and topping out at 95.1 mph, However, his second outing on Friday was not as kind; he was only able to get one batter out by way of the strikeout after giving up three hits, three walks and three earned runs.

Ziegler was drafted in 2021 but has not seen recent minor-league action due to major injuries including a torn UCL and a torn quad. This fall is all about the Mets seeing if he still is the guy they drafted in the second round five years ago.

Do you approve of the job Andy Green is doing as Mets manager?

Do you approve of the job Andy Green is doing as Mets manager?

• Do you approve of the job Andy Green is doing as Mets manager? Required
  

  
• Save

See All Mets Polls >

Interested in learning more about the New York Mets' top prospects? Check out our comprehensive top prospects list that includes up-to-date stats, articles and videos about every prospect, scouting reports, and more!