Tom Brennan: Mets Minors Mashers; and Is Citi Slump-Inducing?

Happy Thursday, after the Mets swept Mikey Trout’s angelic beings.

Anyway:

Who are the best (WOW!) Mets minor league hitters of 2025 so far?

But first…

Who is THE HOTTEST minors hitter over a long stretch?

Smiling Kevin Parada, who else?

WHAT??  Yes indeedy, Bobby!

He started the AA season as the Mets minors’ coldest hitter, 10 for 82.

He then spiked upward, hitting a power-packed 46 for 138 (.333) with 22 XBH since, to climb 133 points from .122 to .255.  

Bravo.

Moving on…(stats thru Sunday)

Five Star Hitters:

Guys who have been excellent throughout 2025.

AJ Ewing (.425 OBP, 55 SB in 81 G)

Carson Benge (.429 OBP, 18 SB in 76 G)

 

                                                

Jett Williams (above) (51 BB in 81 G, 28 SB, 40 XBH, 59 runs)

Four Star Hitters:

Guys hitting excellently, except for a brief cold stretch

Jacob Reimer (38 XBH, 51 RBIs)

Nick Morabito (.333/.423/.506 with RISP, 33 steals)

Chris Suero (53 RBIs, 25 steals in 76 G, .232 - and catches!)

Three Star Hitters:

Guys who were cold for a while, but scorching at times, too

Kevin Parada (see the smiling guy above)

Jesus Baez (41 RBIs in 71 G)

Trace Willhoite (49 RBIs in 223 AB)

Ryan Clifford (18 HR, 55 RBI, .224) - he’d rank higher, but .224?

- just .148 in July’s first 15 Clifford games.

Drew Gilbert was a Two Star-a month ago.  But 4 for 5 Wednesday night, jumping him to .255. And a sizzling .333/.406/.649 in July.

Two Star Hitters:

Those doing fairly well at the dish:

There are a number of them.  I won’t name them here.

You can look them up for yourself if you’d like.

One Star Hitters - not good - if you don’t ask, I won’t tell.

Well, I will name one: mystifying JT Schwartz, just .159 in AA.

He hit .302 in his 66 game debut in AA in 2023. Where has he gone?

Brief list it is, but there you have it. 

Eleven “3 to 5 Star” solid bats in total.

How many of these prospects play for Syracuse? 

NONE.  

(Well, Drew Gilbert does, I stand corrected there.)

While Syracuse has several dandy prospect pitchers….

….it has just ONE prospect hitter.

Strange, very strange. 

Promote the three 5 Star gents to AAA today.

THEY DESERVE IT.

P.S. 

Nick Morabito on IL, apparently, with just 2 at bats in the 10 days after July 12 - he came out of a game midway through the July 18 game.

Get healthy quickly.

SLUMPING PETE ALONSO (ALMOST) STRIKES AGAIN

Missed Tuesday’s game (I was busy, I have a life).

But I saw the Fast Forward 60 Minutes, and the 3-2 nail biter box score.  

Pete went 0-4 and slumped to .271. Last 30 games, .213, 4 HRs.

What’s wrong with him??

Of course, the box score did not show the great catch on Slumping Pete’s drive to the right center field wall by wall-crashing sprinter Jo Adell. Ouch!

Somewhere, some writer pest with the initials TB had suggested the fences be moved in 5-7 feet to help hitters like Pete who, if the fences were 7 feet closer, would probably have 8-10 more home park HRs this year - prodigious numbers - &  perhaps 3 more HRs during his recent slump. 

Which would have made his recent slump be no slump at all.

The dimensions are slump-inducing. Period.

Lindor .245? Soto .256? They’ve been induced into slumps, too.

Steve Cohen can un-induce slumps at Citi. How? 

By moving in those border walls. The only ICE agents are Mets sluggers.

(Well, Pete hit a 3 run shot into Deck Two of the Citi Cruise Liner on Wed.

Some of his shots, like that one, even the Grand Canyon cannot contain.)

Addendum: 

Poor Tyrone Taylor, starving for hits, flew out to the wall in Wednesday’s game.

No doubt he returned to the dugout exuding joy. 

LASTLY…WAIT…HE IS STILL PLAYING??

Yes, he is.

35 year old James McCann, a guy who once caught for the Mets and hit poorly, .212/.275/.325 Citi career, and even lower than that in his 2 partial Mets seasons at Citi, in part due to many warning track fly outs at Citi Field, is in fact still playing:

12 games, .375/.500/.625 for the D Backs in 2025.

Nothing like a change of scenery, one might conclude.