Vitals: 24 years old (turns 25 April 28); 6-foot-1, 200 pounds; both hits and throws right-handed; drafted by the Mets in the 21st round out of the University of Texas-Arlington in the 2007 draft; ranked 23rd on this list last year.

Performance: After missing most of the 2009 season because of a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder, Gee made it through all of 2010 healthy. After going 13-8 with a 4.96 ERA with Triple-A Buffalo, in which he led the International League with 165 strikeouts in 161 innings, he earned a call-up to the Mets for the final month of the season. Gee was very impressive in his short stint in the big leagues, going 2-2 with a 2.18 ERA in five starts covering 33 innings.

Outlook: After his strong performance down the stretch for the Mets, Gee entered spring training with a good shot at locking down one of the open spots in the rotation behind Mike Pelfrey, R.A. Dickey and Jon Niese. If he fails to do that, either because of his own performance of because the Mets choose to go with a different option instead (perhaps Chris Capuano or Chris Young), Gee will head back to Triple-A Buffalo’s rotation in 2011.

tbontemps@nypost.com