New York Mets Swipe Top Scout From AL Playoff Team

The New York Mets are already making moves for 2025 and beyond, swiping one of the top scouts from this AL playoff team.

May 15, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; New York Mets logo on the sleeve of J.D. Martinez during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Dominated by Grimace imagery, the New York Mets might've pulled off a gambit that The Hamburglar would be proud of.

Per Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner, the Mets obtained lauded scout Ken Guthrie from the Baltimore Orioles over the weekend. Guthrie is described as "the scout who helped sign Jackson Holliday, Heston Kjerstad, and Creed Willems," thus helping Baltimore assemble one of the more dangerous and potential-packed lineups on the active American League scene.

Guthrie had been with the Orioles since 2012 and helped the team rise from a streak of 100-loss seasons into American League prominence, including consecutive showings on the postseason bracket.

Under his partial watch, Baltimore assembled the top farm system in the league, as chosen by MLB Pipeline prior to the first pitch of the 2024 season, retaining the spot they held on the in-season rankings during the 2022 and 2023 campaigns. The Mets ranked 13th on the same list at the start of the year.

Guthrie offered a glimpse of his scouting process when discussing the addition of Kjerstad, the outfielder/first baseman that became the second overall pick of 2020 draft out of Arkansas.

"I think it's important with every player that the strikeout-to-walk ratio stays in line," Guthrie said in an interview with Steve Melewski of MASN. "You know Heston, like any amateur player, every year there is a maturation process. He tries to get better at some facet of his game every day. We can definitely look at things with a player happening today and that happened in the past, but the most important thing is what is this player going to do in the prime years of his career."

While Guthrie should help the Mets' future fortunes, New York is currently tied 1-1 with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS with the series headed to Citi Field for Game 3 on Wednesday.