MACK - MY Sunday Observations - Mets Futures: SS, ISO, MVP, Jett

 We move on to the position we have a good chance of keep moving on… shortstop.

Current Mets starter, Francisco Lindor, is currently under contract through the 2031 contract. He’s currently 31/years old, so we can assume this will be his last contract with the Mets, maybe even baseball.

We all want to believe that guys like this one never get injured, but Lindor already proved that wrong last season. So, there is a good chance he could go down once, twice, who many knows how many more times, during this contract.

So, we have to address this subject seriously.

First candidate here would be current sometimes second baseman, sometimes late inning defensive relief, and sometimes pinch runner, LuisAngel Acuna. Acuna proved last season that he is more than capable, both with his glove as well as his bat, to make fans stop worrying about when Lindor was returning. He’s currently dying of old age at 23 and is team controlled into the next decade.

Next up would be the Mets #1 prospect, once in awhile centerfielder but always ready to play short, Jett Williams. Williams has all the tools to become a star in this game, but like so did so many guys, like F-Mart before him, still need to go all the way. I continue to be surprised he hasn’t played more center, which is a position currently needed to fill in earlier, but the Mets must feel keeping him at his natural position right now at the AA level. Through May 27^th, he is hitting .284/.373/.485/.858 for the Rumble Ponies, with 19-BB, 4-HR, 16-RBI, 9-SB, in 134-AB. One must assume he will finish this season at the AAA level and could be ready as a September playoff bat addition.

Next up is current Brooklyn starter, Boston Baro. He looked like a nice 8^th round draft pick (2023), after hitting .288 last season as St. Lucie’s starter. He’s only 20, and also plays third and second. Only problem is his current slow start in Brooklyn (as of 5-27: 153-AB, .222, 2-HR, 12-RBI, 7-SB, .619-OPS). He also is playing equal times on both second and third, so his position of future choice is still up in the air. The good news is he has heated up this past week, so he might be going all Jesus Baez on us here (details on upcoming 3B analysis). For now, not a hot topic.

The current starter in St. Lucie is an exciting one. Jeremy Rodriguez is a highly regarded lower-level prospect that looks like a steal in a trade for someone named Tommy Pham. He was 17 then. He isn’t 17 now. He’s off to a slow start but I expect him to heat up when Tom’s heat… wait… it’s always hot in Florida. Hmm…

Oh. And then there is some dude named Elian Pena.  12-years old. Billion dollar signing bonus. Scheduled to open up for one of the DSL teams this year. Normally, they keep someone this young in camp for another year, but Pena must be showing him he already has the ability to play. Hopefully, his bat doesn’t fizzle some of this team’s other recent high bonus international bats. ETA is… well, wake me up when I’m dead.

Mets the best in baseball at limiting extra-base hits

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6386784/2025/05/28/mets-limit-extra-base-hits/

An even 140 pitchers entered Tuesday having thrown at least 35 innings this season. Here’s where New York’s starters rank in that list in ISO — all well ahead of the league average.

Mets' ISO for SP

Tylor Megill       0.093     12^th  

Clay Holmes      0.104    17^th

Kodai Senga      0.114    28^th

David Peterson   0.115    30^th

Griffin Canning    0.122    37^th

 

Odds to Win MLB’s 2025 MVP

https://www.justbaseball.com/mlb/odds-win-mlb-mvp/

1. Shohei Ohtani/Los Angeles Dodgers                         -140          

2. Fernando Tatis Jr./San Diego Padres                         +450         

3. Pete Crow-Armstrong/Chicago Cubs                         +900         

4. Corbin Carroll/Arizona Diamondbacks                      +1200       

4. Kyle Tucker/Chicago Cubs                                             +1200       

5. Freddie Freeman/Los Angeles Dodgers                    +2000       

6. Pete Alonso/New York Mets                                        +2800

MLB top 50

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6385849/2025/05/29/mlb-top-50-prospects-2025-roman-anthony/

#33             Jett Williams                  SS

Preseason 2025 Rank: 61

Williams is fully healthy again and he’s playing a lot more like he did in 2023, drawing walks and stinging the ball with surprising pop for a fun-sized player. Injuries limited him to 33 regular-season games last year, but he’s already surpassed that, with a .284/.373/.485 line in Double A through Sunday, and the Mets have started playing him a little in center field since shortstop is rather occupied in Flushing for the foreseeable future. 

His plate discipline is truly elite; he has swung at pitches well out of the zone just 8 percent of the time this year, so those high OBPs are very likely to carry him to everyday status and beyond.

Sandy Alcantara

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6389751/2025/05/29/sandy-alcantara-marlins-trade-deadline/

All the talk that he’s not good anymore. That the Tommy John surgery broke him. That he’s lost all his trade value. That he’ll never be the same.

It’s been a brutal 2025 for Alcantara, the 2022 Cy Young winner who returned this season after missing last season rehabbing his elbow.

And while he’s confident his 8.47 ERA will improve, his first start after making those comments was a lot more of the same. Four innings pitched on Wednesday in San Diego, six earned runs, four walks, seven hits and zero strikeouts for the first time in a start since April 2019.

The 29-year-old has 29 walks and 40 strikeouts over 51 innings. Left-handed hitters have reached base against him at a prodigious clip. And his altered pitch mix hasn’t shown positive results.

The ace who authored six complete games amid a dominant season in 2022 hasn’t thrown a pitch in the seventh inning all year.

Potential trade partners are forced to wonder if he is not the same pitcher as before the surgery. Until he performs, those questions will linger. And so both the Marlins and Alcantara are both dealing with a problem they’re extremely motivated to fix.

Against left-handed hitters, Alcantara has walked 22, compared with just 17 strikeouts. It’s a major regression for a pitcher who once pitched to both sides of the plate with similar effectiveness.

If he wasn’t Sandy Alcantara, he’d probably be in the minor leagues.

    Mack –

    Look… we all (especially me) need to dial it back here and stop putting up packages you would send the Marlins for the services of this guy. Right now, he’s worth less than Miami would accept. Let’s all move on here.