State of the Mets' farm system: Has Steve Cohen done enough to fix the organization's lack of depth?

It was only a month ago that Mets owner Steve Cohen described himself as “extremely worried” about the state of the team's  farm system.

“We’ve had regression,” he told "The Show" podcast. “It’s really concerning to me, but development isn’t linear and we’ll have to figure it out.”

By last week, though, the tune had changed. The Mets, it appears, have made a strong swing at figuring it out.

“Now it looks different, it looks better,” Cohen said at Citi Field on Wednesday. “We’ve seen some good performance from the players that were already there beforehand and . . . then with the infusion of new talent, you can kind of get excited by it.”

It’s a big leap from “worried” to “excited,” and there's a reason behind it.

Going into the trade deadline, the Mets had only one prospect in Baseball America’s top 100 — pitcher Jonah Tong, coming in at No. 94 — and none in MLB Pipeline’s assessment. After it, they had only two, according to Baseball America — Tong and Jefferson Rojas (No. 96), the shortstop acquired in the trade that sent Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor to the Cubs.

That, though, belies the depth they acquired: Going into the season as Baseball America’s seventh-ranked farm system, the Mets dropped to 24th at midseason because of the graduation of players such as Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing, but also significant underperformance from some of their top young players. After the deadline, Baseball America bumped them up to No. 16, with eight of the 12 prospects acquired immediately slotting into the team’s top 30.

This is further supported by immediate strong returns, such as Double-A Binghamton entering Sunday having gone 18-3 in August with contributions from six players acquired at the deadline. Infielder Mitch Voit, who was promoted to the Rumble Ponies on July 29, went into Sunday batting .433 in 17 games in Double-A, with a homer, a triple, 10 doubles, 10 RBIs, 27 runs and six stolen bases.

How to turn this potential into MLB results

The infusion of talent means two things: A chance for a bright future, or trade chips as baseball enters an uncertain offseason that may very well end in a lockout.

Andrew Christie, the team’s director of player development, was high on the farm system’s recent developments. Asked about some of the newer acquisitions, he pinpointed some standouts.

“I think Jefferson [Rojas] for sure is one” he’s excited about, he told Newsday last week. “I’ve been really impressed with [shortstop] Emilien Pitre. He’s got a really good offensive skill set and some really interesting defensive tools that we think can play up the middle.”

Pitre, acquired from the Rays in the Freddy Peralta trade and the Mets'  No. 13 prospect, according to Baseball America, spent all of 10 games raking in Binghamton before his promotion to Triple-A. He hit .375 with the Rumble Ponies.

Pitre has taken an unconventional path to professional baseball. Baseball America describes the Quebec native as having arrived at the University of Kentucky “a scrawny 135-pound defensive whiz [that left] as a 175-pound on-base machine.”

Christie also had good things to say about Sammy Stafura, whom the Mets received from the Pirates in exchange for Luke Weaver.

“He’s an awesome kid and thrilled to be a Met,” Christie said of Stafura, who grew up a Mets fan. “You love guys that want to be here . . . He’s a freak athlete — I mean, a really, really impressive athlete. He’s only 21, but he’s physical, strong. He can run, he’s got exceptional range at shortstop and he’s got real power. He’s a really exciting, athletic player that I think will really pop.”

An intentional approach

Beyond the talent, though, the Mets have shown themselves adept at finding players with the mental makeup to rise up to the considerable challenge of essentially learning on the job, undergoing hardship and, in some cases, both.

It’s been evident in Benge, Ewing, Nolan McLean and Zac Thornton, who were given little runway before being tossed into the fire, and in Christian Scott, who bounced back from Tommy John surgery.

It’s intentional, Christie said, and something they hope they can continue to foster in the new crop.

“That’s been a concerted effort for a while,” Christie said, crediting  vice president of amateur and professional scouting Kris Gross,  director of amateur scouting Drew Toussaint and the rest of the amateur group.

Coordinator of amateur and international scouting Cole Jaskoviak “really prioritized this as something we should continue to push the boundaries on evaluating,” he said, referencing players’ mental makeup. “We’re not going to turn away any really talented player. We’ll take them all, but when a guy is bought in, it certainly makes our job easier.”

It’s more of an art than a science — a web of interconnected networks that help in identifying certain traits. It’s a little easier at the national level, where the organization can rely on local scouting industry professionals and travel and college coaches. At the international level, it takes more legwork, because players often are scouted at a younger age.

“It can be difficult to have the same level of conviction [with younger players] that we do with some of the college players, but a lot of work” is put into it, Jaskoviak said. “A lot of the work of scouting isn’t just doing the player evaluation, but also the evaluation of 'is this player going to put the effort in that’s required.' ”

It’s an informed gamble, but one that can pay big dividends. And any time something like that has a billionaire hedge fund manager going from “concerned” to “excited” — well, that’s worth paying attention to.