Latest news with #JettWilliams
New York Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Electrifying starter Jonah Tong among Mets prospects promoted to Triple A: Sources
A wave of top New York Mets prospects is set for a new challenge. The New York Mets are promoting Jonah Tong, widely considered their best pitching prospect, along with top position player prospects Carson Benge, Jett Williams and Ryan Clifford to Triple-A Syracuse, league sources told The Athletic. Advertisement Tong, 22, turned heads with ridiculous numbers at Double A, his lone level this season. In 97 innings (19 starts), ahead of his last outing on Sunday, Tong had a 1.58 ERA with a whopping 154 strikeouts (44 walks). Tong started to gain attention last year when he produced a 3.03 ERA with 160 strikeouts (47 walks) in 113 innings across three levels, including a final stint at Double A. Tong earned a trip to the All-Star Futures Game last month. Afterward, he cracked The Athletic's Keith Law midseason top-60 prospects list at No. 52, behind Williams (18) and Benge (30). Similarly, MLB Pipeline ranked Tong as the Mets' second-best prospect behind Williams and ahead of fellow pitchers Nolan McLean (third) and Brandon Sproat (fifth). At Triple A, Tong will join a rotation that includes McLean and Sproat. The Mets do not have plans to call up either McLean or Sproat, though that may change before the end of the season. McLean has mostly pitched well all season. After a tough start to the season, Sproat bounced back with a strong recent run of starts. At this point, club officials view both right-handers as major-league depth. Out of the trio, Tong may hold the highest upside. Listed at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds, he throws a lively fastball in the upper 90s with a big curveball and changeup. Benge, who has played all three outfield positions and mostly center field, made the All-Star Futures Game last month, too. The Mets' top pick from the 2024 amateur draft (19th overall), Benge has soared through the farm system in his first full year. Last year, he had a .857 OPS in 69 plate appearances with Single-A St. Lucie. Across High-A Brooklyn and Double A this season, Benge, 22, posted a .936 OPS heading into Sunday's game. This marks Williams' second stint in Triple A. He ended last season with Syracuse after missing most of the year because of a wrist injury. While appearing in games at center field, shortstop and second base, Williams bounced back in a big way in 2025. Through Saturday, he was slashing .284/.394/.483 with 10 home runs and 32 stolen bases in 417 plate appearances. MLB Pipeline ranks Williams as the Mets' top prospect. Advertisement Clifford ranks as the Mets' No. 7 prospect, behind infielder Jacob Reimer. While the Mets drafted Tong, Benge and Williams, they acquired Clifford — and Drew Gilbert, whom they flipped to the San Francisco Giants at this year's trade deadline — in a trade for Justin Verlander in 2023. At the time, some scouts suggested Clifford was the better of the two prospects because of his power, even though he was ranked lower in some prospect publications. Clifford, who plays first base and the corner outfield spots, hit 24 home runs in 433 plate appearances with Binghamton heading into Sunday. (Top photo of Jonah Tong: Brett Davis / Imagn Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Mets Prospects Highlights Jett Williams, Ryan Clifford
Mets prospect Jett Williams went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three stolen bases for the Rumble Ponies. Ryan Clifford also hit a home run, his 24th of the season, as Binghamton topped the Sommerset Patriots 5-2.
Forbes
4 days ago
- Sport
- Forbes
Top Prospect Jett Williams' Career Taking Off Towards New York Mets
New York Mets fans, annoyed for decades by jet planes flying over their home ballpark, ironically cannot wait for Jett Williams to land there. Williams, 21, can play shortstop, second base and center field and has exciting offensive skills. All that would be much more welcome than the screeching of jets taking off or landing at nearby LaGuardia Airport. The tiny Texan is no Jumbo Jet, standing only 5-foot-7 and weighing 175 pounds. But he puts surprising flight into a pitched baseball with a quick, right-handed swing. He's currently hitting .282 with 10 homers, 67 runs and 29 stolen bases this year for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies of the Class AA Eastern League. 'He's electric,' Binghamton manager Reid Brignac told during a dugout interview posted on X. The Mets organization thought that when they made Williams the 14th overall choice in the 2022 MLB Draft and gave him a $3.9 million signing bonus. Three shortstops chosen ahead of him are regulars in MLB ball. Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 pick, is the Baltimore Orioles' second baseman, No. 8 Brooks Lee plays short, third and second for the Minnesota Twins and No. 13 Zach Neto has already played 335 MLB games as the Los Angeles Angels' shortstop. Williams is best suited for short, but with all-star Francisco Lindor still having five years left on his 10-year, $341 million contract, this Jett likely will be diverted elsewhere. In 15 games this season at second base, Williams has made only one error in 60 chances with a 3.96 range factor. Though only a tiny sample size, that mark compares close to career rates at second for Gleyber Torres (3.92) of the New York Yankees and Brandon Lowe (3.98) of the Tampa Bay Rays. Jose Altuve, the 5-foot-6 star of the Houston Astros, has a career range factor of 4.00. Encountering Turbulence Williams' first full season in the minors was successful as he had 45 stolen bases and drew a whopping 104 walks at age 19 across three lower levels. Overall, he hit .263 with 13 homers, 22 doubles, 81 runs and 55 RBI in 121 games. The Jett was grounded much of 2024 with a bad wing – specifically a right wrist injury that needed surgery and sidelined him a couple months. He hit only .215 with no homers in 33 games. He went to the Arizona Fall League and hit .225 in 22 games, swiping seven bases in eight tries. He was hit in the hand by a pitch during spring training this past February but missed little time. In June, he was hit in the helmet by a pitch. He left the game and was back in the lineup two days later – going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a walk. That started him on an 11-game streak in which he batted .383 (18 for 47). Short Shorts Not all good ballplayers are as tall as sluggers Aaron Judge, Mark McGwire or Frank Howard. Guys shorter than Williams have done quite well, such as Hall of Famers Willie Keeler, Rabbit Maranville, Billy Hamilton, Hack Wilson, Phil Rizzuto and Joe Morgan. All of them except the 5-6 Wilson had similar skills. Wilson was built like a fire hydrant at 190 pounds and produced huge power. He was not fast and a poor fielder. Over a five-year span, 1926-30, for the Chicago Cubs, he averaged 35 homers, 142 RBI and .331 with a 1.031 OPS. At age 30, he had a season for the ages in 1930, driving in a MLB-record 191 runs with 56 homers with 146 runs and a .356 average. The other five all hit and fielded well with speed to burn. Hamilton batted .344 with 914 stolen bases; Keeler hit .341 with 495 steals; Morgan had 689 steals and more homers than Wilson at 268. Rizzuto and Maranville were exceptional fielding shortstops and fine leadoff batters. Altuve appears headed for enshrinement in Cooperstown at age 35 with 640 steals, 248 homers, three batting titles and a .305 career average. Jett Williams' Future He has the skills to succeed. Where those skills best fit into the Mets' lineup is the big question. For now, he is assuredly blocked at shortstop by Lindor. Former center fielder Brandon Nimmo, moved to left, still has five years left on his eight-year, $162 million contract. He moved over this year with Tyrone Taylor playing center. Taylor has hit only .200 with 19 RBI in 100 games. He's a .234 career hitter. The Mets brought in Cedric Mullins from the Baltimore Orioles at the trading deadline. He's age 30, a free agent at the end of the season, and still a tremendous defensive player. Unless Mullins regains a semblance of the form he had in 2021 when he hit .291 with 30 homers and 30 steals, the Mets probably won't make him an offer to return. That means there should be an opening in center. Williams could be in a spring-training battle for the role with natural center fielder Carson Benge. He is No.4 on MLB Pipeline's list of Mets prospects and hitting .336 as Williams' teammate at Binghamton at age 22. Benge, Williams and pitcher Jonah Tong have helped the Rumble Ponies to a 70-33 record this year. Veteran Jeff McNeil and young Luisangel Acuna have shared second-base duties in New York. McNeil, 33, has battled injuries. The two-time all-star signed a four-year, $50 million contract before the 2023 season after he won the 2022 NL batting title at .326. Acuna, younger brother of Atlanta Braves star outfielder Ronald Acuna, has played good defense at second. The 23-year-old is 12-for-13 in steal attempts but has no homers and only 7 RBI in 175 at-bats. In 520 games in the minors, he hit .281 with 41 homers and was forecast to grow into an MLB star. It has yet to happen. Williams has similar skills. Scouts believe he could develop some more power; remember, they forecast that for Acuna, too. That's Luisangel, not slugger Ronald. The best way for Williams to find a home with the New York Mets is to build one himself. If he continues to develop, he will force the issue. He will likely get a chance to challenge for a job next spring. It's up to him to clear the runway.
New York Times
5 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
The Mets' next center fielder is in Binghamton — but is it Carson Benge or Jett Williams?
SOMERSET, N.J. — In Thursday's fifth inning, on a fly ball to right-center field, Carson Benge drifted comfortably back, gliding toward the gap, and snagged a fly ball just over his left ear, a showcase of the grace that could make Benge the New York Mets' center fielder of the future. Of course, in Sunday's sixth inning, on a sinking fly ball to left-center, Jett Williams raced to cover ground, getting there in plenty of time to make the catch and preserve a scoreless tie, a manifestation of the outright speed that could make Williams the Mets' center fielder of the future. Advertisement Center field is not as easy to play as John Fogerty wants his coach to believe, and the quality two-way center fielder has become an endangered species in the major leagues. Center fielders have produced below league-average numbers offensively in each of the last eight seasons. Only the St. Louis Cardinals have received less production from that position than the Mets this season. New York's .590 OPS from its center fielders is its worst since 1973, perhaps proof you can win a pennant even with subpar production from Don Hahn and a 42-year-old Willie Mays. In general, the Mets have enjoyed quality work out of center in the 50-plus years since, thanks to Mookie Wilson and Lance Johnson, Carlos Beltrán and Brandon Nimmo. Who will be next to take that baton? As muddled as their present looks, the Mets know their future contains more clarity than most. Their right fielder, shortstop and left fielder are signed through the end of the decade, and they have promising team-controlled options at the big-league level at catcher, third base and perhaps second base. When projecting where the Mets' everyday lineup will need future assistance, center field glares. In his two seasons running the Mets, David Stearns has signed one center fielder and traded for three others. Cedric Mullins is the latest option brought in to stabilize the position before he hits free agency this winter. Tyrone Taylor and Jose Siri are controlled via arbitration, meaning New York has no money committed to the position beyond 2025. That's where Benge, Williams and the Binghamton Rumble Ponies come in. Drafted in the first round out of Oklahoma State last summer, Benge earned a promotion to Double A in late June. To say he hit the ground running, as his manager Reid Brignac did Thursday, is to understate the cliche. Even Usain Bolt might not have hit the ground sprinting this fast. Benge was just named the Eastern League's player of the month for July, and he entered Thursday hitting .349 with a .437 on-base percentage and 1.070 OPS with Binghamton. Advertisement 'I feel like I've been taking the same swings,' Benge said Thursday. 'Everything has started to click a little bit more.' Mets director of player development Andrew Christie called it 'repatterning' with Benge's swing — 'changing the goal of what he's trying to do.' That means fewer groundballs and more balls pulled in the air. Benge hasn't been thinking about that consciously. It's just been the result of the drills the Mets have worked on with him this season. The bat sure looks like it can play, and the glove is coming around with more exposure in center. As a two-way player in college, Benge saw the majority of his outfield time in a corner. Thursday marked his 45th start in center this season, compared to 38 in the corners. 'I'm getting reps in all three spots, so I'm equally as comfortable (in center) as any other spot,' Benge said. 'Pre-pitch, his jumps and his first steps to the ball have improved,' Brignac said. 'It's the ability to show you can go get balls, that you can turn your back on the baseball and then find it, beat the ball to the spot — those things young players need the reps and the time to progress.' In other words, you might say Benge needs to get up to speed in center, and that's not just about reps; his next step is adding the footspeed that makes an outfielder a viable option in center. The Mets have made deeper investments into their sports science department that they hope can pay off this winter, for Benge and others. They've already seen progress there with Benge this season, with higher max speeds on his routes in recent weeks, according to Christie. 'I think there's every chance he stays in center field,' Christie said, 'and that would be a huge win for him and for us. He has the requisite base of athleticism to do that.' A Mets first-round pick in 2022, Williams has rebounded from a lost 2024 season by making it look like it never happened. In spring training, Williams wanted to rediscover the swing that propelled his 2023 breakout; his numbers this season are proof that he has. He entered Thursday hitting .282 with a .389 on-base percentage and .873 OPS while spending the full season so far with Binghamton. Advertisement 'We got to the '23 swing, and now we're improving upon it,' Christie said, noting that minor adjustments Williams made in late May helped him generate more extra-base power. A natural shortstop, center field is less of a priority for Williams right now. He plays there once or twice a week to expand his versatility; when he does, he shows off the exact kind of speed Benge aspires to. 'Easy,' Williams said of playing center. 'There's still a lot of work to do — taking the angles to the wall, knowing how many steps you have to the track, jumping into the wall if you have to, knowing the slice of the ball and the angles off the bat.' 'It's continuing to do what he's been doing,' Brignac said. 'He looks like a natural.' For the Mets, it might be less a question of whether Williams can defend at the position and more whether that's the best fit for him long-term. After all, he could be Jeff McNeil's successor at second. Binghamton's Nick Morabito and Brooklyn's A.J. Ewing have also had strong seasons while playing a bunch of center field. Finding reps for all those guys in center is the proverbial good problem to have. Just how valuable would it be for the Mets to find a two-way center fielder from within? 'This is not a very difficult question to answer: It would be massive,' Christie said. 'We have a huge opportunity to provide value to the major-league team, and those guys can be a huge part of it.' Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
New York Post
01-08-2025
- Business
- New York Post
Mets fulfilled trade deadline needs without losing top prospects
The Mets transformed their bullpen and added a starting center fielder without touching those who MLB Pipeline regards as their seven best prospects. The trade deadline became a positive reflection on the depth of the club's farm system, which could be used to improve the team — with four useful, if all impending free agent, players — without losing the higher-upside prospects. Advertisement 'I think the story of this deadline for us is really an amateur-talent-acquisition and player-development story,' president of baseball operations David Stearns said over Zoom after Thursday's deadline. 'Our amateur talent acquisition departments and our player-development group put us in position to be able to have this type of deadline — where we're able to go out, acquire players that we think are really going to help us at the major league level, and not touch some really high-upside players at the top of our system.' Their best minor leaguers off-loaded, according to MLB Pipeline's rankings before the trades began, were infielder Jesus Baez (No. 8), righty Blade Tidwell (10), outfielder Drew Gilbert (12) and righties Nate Dohm (16), Anthony Nunez (18) and Wellington Aracena (19). Traded from outside their top 30 were righties Raimon Gómez, Chandler Marsh, Frank Ellisalt and Cameron Foster, along with major league reliever Jose Buttó. 3 Mets prospect Jonah Tong (16) throws a pitch for the National League during the second inning against the American League during the minor league All-Star game at Truist Park. Brett Davis-Imagn Images The gems of the farm system remain — such as starting pitchers Brandon Sproat, Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong, plus high-upside bats such as Jett Williams, Carson Benge, Jacob Reimer and Ryan Clifford. Advertisement Among the above group, only Tong (a seventh-round pick) was selected outside the top four rounds of the draft. The Mets held on to the prospects they value most highly in part because they have been able to successfully develop others. Thursday's trade that landed Cedric Mullins was particularly illustrative. Advertisement 3 Mets' Jett Williams hits during Mets spring training on Feb. 20, 2025, in Port St. Lucie. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST For a good glove and OK outfield bat, the Mets lost Nunez, who was discovered last year as a free agent who had flamed out with the Padres as a hitter, transitioned to a reliever at the University of Tampa then was plucked by the Mets, with whom he shot up to Double-A Binghamton; Gomez, a huge but raw arm who was signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela in 2021; and Marsh, a righty who was signed as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Georgia last year. 'Enormous credit to [the development and acquisition departments] to be able to bring that type of talent into the organization,' Stearns said, 'and then once they're in the organization, to help them get better.' 3 Ryan Clifford takes batting practice before a spring training game. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST Advertisement The notable exceptions were Gilbert (an Astros first-round pick in 2022 who came over in the Justin Verlander deal) and Tidwell (a 2022 second-round pick), who were used to acquire Tyler Rogers from the Giants. Gilbert, a center fielder, was having a nice season at Triple-A Syracuse but likely was lower on the outfielder-prospect depth chart than Benge and Williams. Tidwell debuted this season with better stuff than results but is worse-regarded than Sproat, McLean and Tong. Delivering insights on all things Amazin's Sign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+ Thank you Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Enjoy this Post Sports+ exclusive newsletter! Check out more newsletters 'There's no question they're good players, and proximity to the major leagues certainly factors into these types of deals,' Stearns said of the pair. 'And we believe we traded a number of players who are going to play on TV. 'We were in a position where we thought that these deals made sense, giving up good players to get players who maybe can help us in a more concentrated fashion right now.'
