Alexander Wilson
The New York Mets called up A.J. Ewing because the roster was starting to look like a triage room.
Francisco Lindor, Francisco Alvarez, Luis Robert Jr., Ronny Mauricio, Clay Holmes, and Kodai Senga have all been part of the injury mess in one way or another, and the Mets needed bodies. Young players get emergency opportunities in situations like this.
Ewing is starting to make his look like something more interesting.
Ewing’s on-base skills are giving the Mets life
Through 35 plate appearances, Ewing is hitting .296/.441/.481 with one homer, two stolen bases, a 168 wRC+, a .413 wOBA, and 0.5 WAR. Those numbers are going to move quickly because the sample is tiny, but the shape of the production matters.
He is not hacking his way into a few lucky singles. Ewing has seven walks already, a .441 on-base percentage, and enough speed to make pitchers care once he reaches. Baseball Savant backs up the early feel with a .429 xwOBA, an 11.8% barrel rate, and a 22.4% chase rate.
A banged-up roster can fall in love with that profile fast. The Mets need runners, pressure, and clean at-bats. Ewing has given them all three.
The Mets may have found a table-setter
MLB Pipeline had Ewing as one of the Mets’ better prospects before the promotion, and the appeal was always easy to see. He can run, control the zone, cover center field, and force pitchers to execute.
I would be careful about pretending he has solved anything in nine games. Baseball has a nasty habit of humbling young players the second the league gets a clearer plan against them.
But I also would not be eager to send this skill set away if the on-base approach holds. The Mets have spent too much of the season patching holes with whoever is healthy enough to stand upright. Ewing gives them a different kind of answer, not the loudest bat, but one that can help an offense breathe.
If the injuries keep dragging on, Ewing should keep playing. Emergency call-ups usually get asked to survive, but he is starting to ask a better question: what if the Mets accidentally found someone they actually need?
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