In a recent article by Will Sammon of The Athletic, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns offers important insight into a handful of top Mets prospects, including Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert, Luisangel Acuña, and plenty of others. The trio of prospects ended their years in Double-A Binghamton on a team that fell just short of the Eastern League championship.

Stearns opened his conversation with Sammon by discussing shortstop Jett Williams, one of the Mets’ two 2022 first-round selections. On Williams, Stearns said “[h]e has a lot of the core fundamentals that we think are important to successful baseball players. We’re talking about a very young player who has already reached Double-A, which just adds to the impressiveness.”

Williams started the 2023 campaign with the Low-A St. Lucie Mets. Williams played 79 games for St. Lucie, posting a .832 OPS for the Low-A squad. Following his promotion to High-A Brooklyn, Williams rode a red-hot summer to a 1.018 OPS, featuring seven of Williams’ 13 total home runs in his 36-game stint.

Williams split his time between shortstop and center field in 2023 at roughly a 4:1 clip, but a move off of both positions might not be out of the question. Regarding his ability to move to the other side of the diamond, Stearns said “[t]his 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 went on to say that he thinks “there will come a point where having some exposure would make some sense given where we are organizationally.”

Stearns, clearly opening the door to Williams playing second base, might have shown a few of the Mets cards as it relates to their middle infield plans going forward. Williams, who stands at 5’6” and 175 pounds, is one of the more athletic prospects in the Mets’ system. As Williams creeps closer and closer to Queens, one Francisco Lindor-sized cog stands in his way of playing shortstop for the Mets. Moving Williams off shortstop and transitioning him to second base could give the Mets a hyper-athletic middle infield with him and Lindor.

Outfiedelr Drew Gilbert, who will start the year in Triple-A Syracuse, is arguably the best prospect the Mets brought into their farm system last year. Gilbert also received high praise from the Mets lead executive, who said “[t]his is what you want to see from a prospect, from a first-round pick, you want to see them get incrementally better each year.”

Stearns continued that “all of a sudden, you look up and they’re in Triple-A and the high levels of our minor leagues, and they’re knocking on the major-league doorstep.”

Gilbert was acquired by the Mets as half of the return from the Houston Astros for Justin Verlander, along with Ryan Clifford. The 2022 first round selection mashed to a .984 OPS for the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies after the trade, and was in the heart of the Rumble Ponies lineup during their playoff push. Gilbert logged just under 200 innings in center field for Binghamton, with another 43 in left field, and 41 in right.

Gilbert figures to have the best chance of any Mets prospect to break camp with the big league club, potentially roaming center field for the Mets at some point in 2024.

Luisangel Acuña was described by Stearns as “unique” and “exciting.” Acuña was the return from the Texas Rangers in exchange for Max Scherzer. The younger brother of former MVP Ronald Acuña Jr., Luisangel struggled in his first stretch as a Met. The 21-year-old shortstop posted a .622 OPS through 37 games for Binghamton but still remains a top-100 prospect.

Next, Stearns and Sammon shifted the conversation to pitching within the Mets system, headlined by righty Christian Scott. Scott, a 2021 fifth round draft pick, burst onto the scene in 2023 as one of the Mets’ top pitching prospects.

On Scott, Stearns raved that “[i]t’s three very good pitches. It competes at a high level. It’s swing-and-miss stuff. All the things that you look for in potentially top-end starters, he has.” Scott dominated his way from Brooklyn through Binghamton last year, posting a 2.57 ERA, posting a K/9 of 11.0, and displaying dominant command to the tune of just 1.2 BB/9.

Scott was recently ranked as the No. 88 prospect in baseball, per Baseball Prospectus. Williams (No. 23), Gilbert (No. 29), Acuña (No. 77), and Ryan Clifford (No. 76) were all ranked in BP’s Top 101 for the 2024 season.

Make sure to check out the piece by Sammon for more on Mets pitching prospects!