Brandon Sproat will debut for the Mets at Great American Ball Park, joining Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong in a rookies-in-rotation moment as New York fronts a promising, youth-heavy push. The trio faces a Reds squad fighting in a playoff race, while the Mets lean into a future built around Mauricio, Vientos, Baty and Alvarez.

The front office has stressed series-by-series development, but the velocity and evolving secondaries of Sproat, plus the immediate contributions from McLean and Tong, signal a high-ceiling axis for a team hoping to turn prospect hype into sustained momentum.