The New York Mets have picked up where they left off last year, jumping out to a big lead in the National League East while sporting the third-best run differential in baseball. Pete Alonso has been a monster, Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor are heating up and the pitching staff has the second-best ERA in the majors. Even though all that is true, there are still areas the Mets could improve, especially in the outfield. In 21-year-old Jett Williams, help may be just a call-up away.
Soto has been holding down the fort, but the rest of the Mets' outfielders have been OK at best. Brandon Nimmo seems like he's waking up from a dreadful start (a nine-RBI day against the Nationals last week didn't hurt). Tyrone Taylor's overall numbers won't bowl anyone over, but he's come up with some clutch hits and some even more clutch defense. Beyond that, it's slim pickings, as Starling Marte is below the Mendoza line and Jose Siri will be out another two months or so with a broken tibia. Jeff McNeil is basically a super utility man at this point of his career, and Jesse Winker strained his lat in the first game he was asked to put a glove on.
Williams would provide a lot of things that the Mets could use more of. Speed for one, as the team currently ranks just 23rd in the league in stolen bases. Take Luisangel Acuña and his eight stolen bases away and nobody else on the team has more than three. Williams has six of his own through 21 games. That's a 46-steal pace on a big league schedule, and it's not a fluke, as he swiped 45 bases in 121 games in 2023. Last year, his efforts were short-circuited by a wrist injury that limited him to just 33 games.
Williams is young, but there's a reason he's the No. 2 ranked prospect in the Mets farm system behind only promising starting pitcher Brandon Sproat. He's batting .295 with an .873 OPS, and he has the positional versatility to play shortstop or center field. With Lindor locked in at short, it doesn't take Carlos Mendoza to know where Williams could find his place at Citi Field.
The Mets' youth movement over the past couple of seasons hasn't been without its bumps in the road. Still, t's been more positive than negative. Brett Baty has raked whenever he's been sent down to AAA. In the majors, he hasn't been able to replicate that success. Mark Vientos burst onto the scene last year by slugging 27 homers in just 111 games after replacing Baty at third. He had a rough first few weeks this year, but he's been coming around. Francisco Alvarez is undoubtedly one of the best young catchers in baseball, even though he's missed time each of the last two seasons with separate hand injuries.
You don't see a lot of players who only recently gained the legal ability to drink get called up to the majors. Williams is a special case. He was the 14th overall pick in 2022 and has done nothing to dissuade the Mets from believing that he's going to be a foundational piece of this team going forward.
Jett Williams can be the bridge from the Mets' present to the Mets' future
The Mets have a great mix of youth and experience on this roster. We've gone over the young guns and what they bring to the table, but it's not like most of the veterans are aging out. Marte doesn't have much left in the tank, but Soto will be here when current kindergartners take their prom dates to Citi Field for a game. Lindor is in his prime, and it's difficult to imagine the Mets letting Alonso go with the way he's playing.
Now is the perfect time to bring Williams up and give him a taste of the big leagues. He doesn't have to be an every day starter. He can follow the same path that Acuña did, by getting a chance and then hopefully earning a longer look with his play. If it looks like the majors is too much, too soon, he can drop back down to AAA Syracuse, where he batted .364 in a handful of games last year, or even go back to AA Binghamton if that makes more sense.
The Mets have other outfield prospects that are promising in their own way. Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford both came over in the Justin Verlander trade with the Astros two seasons ago, and both are working their way up, with Gilbert especially getting noticed for mashing the ball this year. Our own Zach Pressnell thinks that Gilbert deserves a shot in the big leagues as well, and it's hard to fault him for that take. Carson Benge was taken in the first round last year and has already shown great plate discipline for a young player. Nobody knows where Ronny Mauricio will end up on the diamond, but he got some work in the outfield before being injured last year.
None of those guys have the juice that Williams has right now. He's destined to be a fan favorite with his high-effort, high-speed style, and the sooner the Mets can get him acclimated to the big leagues, the better, both for him and the team.
Many things were credited for the Mets' meteoric rise last year, from Lindor's leadership to Grimace's inexplicable voodoo magic. Vientos is an underrated part of that for the way he came up in May and never relinquished the third base job. Williams could have a similar impact this year, if he only gets the chance.