A quickly revamped farm system has the Mets with a trio of prospects — Luisangel Acuna, Drew Gilbert, and Jett Williams — ranked with MLB Pipeline’s top 80 heading into the 2024 season.
David Stearns is at the helm for his first season as president of baseball operations and for a team that has opted to move away from the big-money, veteran signings of previous years, the door is cracked ajar for those trio of prospects, none of whom have hit Triple-A yet, to see the majors this year.
“I am a big believer of letting your younger players play. At times, that means that you’re going have some hiccups at the major league level,” Stearns told SNY’s Andy Martino last week, though he was alluding more toward getting the likes of Brett Baty and Mark Vientos more at-bats. “And even in New York, we have to be OK with that. We have to understand that, at times, we’re going to play young players, and they’re not going to succeed immediately. We have to be patient and if we are, we’ll be rewarded for that.”
Balancing patience and the expectation of competing for a spot in the postseason — which he has repeated throughout the winter — Stearns could very well find himself looking toward his farm system for a boost this season.
The Mets are currently slated to rely on the light-hitting but defensively-gifted Harrison Bader in center field, allowing the team to shift Brandon Nimmo from center to left. That potentially allows DJ Stewart to form a designated hitter platoon with Vientos, but that spot in the lineup has been a glaring hole for the last two seasons.
Meanwhile, second baseman Jeff McNeil and his defensive versatility to play left field is coming off a campaign in which his average dipped from a batting-champion-winning .327 in 2022 to .270 with a .711 OPS in 2023.
Stearns has always preached versatility in his players. It’s what helped him take a lower-market team in the Milwaukee Brewers and make them a perennial playoff contender during his time as POBO.
Acuna and Williams appear to be developing just that.
Ranked as the Mets’ top overall prospect, the 21-year-old Acuna has mostly played second base and shortstop in the minors, but is capable of playing center field despite getting just four minor-league starts in the outfield at Double-A last year — and that was while he was with the Texas Rangers’ farm club before the Max Scherzer trade.
He will need to show more from the offensive side in the Mets’ farm system, however. The predominantly ground-ball hitter had an .830 OPS with the Rangers’ Double-A club in 362 at-bats last season. In 148 at-bats with the Mets’ Double-A affiliate, it sank to .621.
Gilbert, 23, has continued his ascent as a legitimate center-field option that could see the majors later this season. While his defense at the position has improved, his bat took off in Double-A after being traded to the Mets’ system.
Slashing .241/.342/.371 (.713 OPS) with six home runs and 20 RBI in 224 at-bats with the Houston Astros’ Double-A affiliate, Gilbert posted a .323/.423/.561 slash line with six home runs and 21 RBI in roughly 45% fewer at-bats (123 ABs). His strikeout rate, however, jumped from 20.5% to 24.4%.
He’ll start the 2024 season in Triple-A.
Williams, 20, is the youngest of the trio but could touch the majors later in the season despite playing just six games at the Double-A level last season. He was named the Mets’ organizational player of the year in 2023, posting a 1.018 OPS with seven home runs, 18 RBI, nine doubles, and two triples in just 36 games with the Single-A Brooklyn Cyclones.
While his best chance of getting to the big leagues is through second base, which would allow McNeil to provide more corner-outfield depth in the process, Williams hasn’t played at that position in pro ball, yet, getting time at his natural shortstop position — which will be Francisco Lindor’s spot for the foreseeable future — and center field.
It certainly doesn’t appear to be a concern for Stearns, who gushed about the prospect to Will Sammon of The Athletic.
“This guy is so athletic and his body just moves so naturally that I think we’d have full confidence that he’d be able to play second base and pick that up pretty quickly,” Stearns said. “I do think there will come a point where having some exposure would make some sense given where we are organizationally.”
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