This 'freak athlete' Mets prospect is creating a buzz

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NEW YORK -- Earlier this week, Mets director of player development Andrew Christie was chatting with JT Schwartz, a longtime Mets farmhand who was rehabbing at the team¡¯s Spring Training complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla. While in Florida, Schwartz had a firsthand look at A.J. Ewing, the buzziest Mets prospect of the early Minor League season.

¡°Damn, A.J. is so twitchy, man,¡± Schwartz told him. ¡°He is so twitchy.¡±

¡°And he really is,¡± Christie later said in a telephone interview. ¡°He¡¯s a freak athlete.¡±

Selected with the 2023 compensatory pick the Mets received for losing Jacob deGrom in free agency, at 134th overall, Ewing entered the year as Pipeline¡¯s No. 28 Mets prospect. But he may soon rise quite a bit higher. Playing Wednesday for Single-A St. Lucie, Ewing went 3-for-4 with a stolen base, finishing a homer shy of the cycle to raise his batting average to .459 -- tops of anyone at that level. At the start of Thursday¡¯s games, he ranked Top 5 in batting average in the entire Minor Leagues.

Christie compared Ewing, who hails from Ohio, to Nick Morabito, another smallish, athletic high school hitter who came from a cold-weather state (Virginia) and was never on the national scouting radar as a first-round pick, but who nonetheless featured enough talent to land in the first five rounds. After a slow start to his career, Morabito broke out last year to win the Mets¡¯ organizational Player of the Year award and become their No. 18 prospect.

Ewing, with a few more good months, could follow that path.

¡°It just took him a little bit to get acclimated to pro ball,¡± Christie said. ¡°But man, he hits it hard. He can run. He steals bases. He¡¯s playing some second and some center. He¡¯s got a really good idea of the strike zone. There¡¯s a lot of things.¡±

One scout who¡¯s seen Ewing play this spring defined him as a likely bench player, given his size and relative lack of power. But Ewing has been hitting the ball in the air with regularity and recently bashed a 109 mph home run -- indications that he can grow as a hitter. Although Ewing has far more swing-and-miss to his game than Morabito, he¡¯s walked more than he¡¯s struck out so far this season.

And he possesses big goals. Earlier this spring, when Christie told him he¡¯d be returning to Single-A St. Lucie (the Mets¡¯ lowest full-season affiliate) to start the year, Ewing responded: ¡°I¡¯m going to make your life very difficult to keep me there.¡±

Said Christie: ¡°He is delivering thus far.¡±

Elsewhere in the Minors:

Triple-A Syracuse
No. 11 prospect Drew Gilbert -- one of the pieces the Mets received from the Astros for Justin Verlander in 2023 -- finally made it back to Syracuse this week after a delayed start to his season. The Mets have progressed slowly with Gilbert, who strained his hamstring early last April and didn¡¯t return until late July. Team officials felt that an elongated ramp-up could only help Gilbert, who¡¯s been working not just on healing his hamstrings, but on strengthening them to avoid future problems. Before reaching Syracuse, Gilbert set a new personal best sprint speed on the field.

Double-A Binghamton
Ryan Clifford, the other player the Mets received for Verlander, is heating up at the plate. After going hitless in his first three games, Clifford had two multi-hit efforts in his next six. Three of his half-dozen hits over that stretch went for extra bases, and Clifford walked as often has he struck out during those games. The Mets¡¯ No. 4 prospect, Clifford spent his final 98 games of last season at Binghamton. That makes him ripe for an early-summer promotion.

High-A Brooklyn
The hottest hitter at Brooklyn, without question, is No. 22 prospect Chris Suero. The catcher hit five home runs in his first nine games, with a .353/.405/.941 slash line over that stretch. Just 21 years old, Suero is athletic for a catcher, which is why the Mets have given him reps at first base and left field in addition to behind the plate. He could even eventually see time in center. Like Clifford, Suero is repeating a level, meaning his hot start may soon result in a bump up the ladder ... but he¡¯ll probably need to cut down on his hefty strikeout rate before that happens.