Paul Articulates - Mullin' it over

I wrote a prior article “The elephants’ graveyard” where I talked about how many years the Mets lacked a center fielder who could play both offense and defense.  On a team with so many resources, including the highest paid right fielder ever, how can it be that the Mets cannot land a center fielder that can contribute with a bat in hand?

It continues to bother me, so I sat down to write this piece, which was going to be called, “Mullins, it’s over” to make it very clear that it was a bad choice to trade for Cedric Mullins at the deadline this year.  The numbers are pretty ugly – a 0.188 batting average and a .591 OPS in his first month with the team are cringe-worthy, and the defense has not been worthy of any highlight reels either.  We gave up three pitching prospects for this, and even though none were in the top 10, it still seems like a bad return on investment.  Even worse, the guy who Mullins replaced as the regular center fielder was Tyrone Taylor, who has put up similar offensive numbers (.218/.277/.315) and has superior defensive skills.

But a funny thing happened when I turned to the stat sheets to find a center fielder that I really wanted to start for the Mets.  I couldn’t find one.  To be clear, I wasn’t looking for the best of the current bunch, I was looking for someone like Carlos Beltran or Tommie Agee.  It appears that the Mets are not the only ones who are struggling to find a star to patrol the middle outfield.  Now before everyone begins to protest, I know that there are guys out there that are better than what we have – Pete Crow-Armstrong started the season on a tear, but he has since fizzled to a .250 batting average.  Byron Buxton was a name during the trade rush but Minnesota refused to give him up – he is probably one of the better ones out there but would come at an exuberant price.  Michael Harris was a shooting star – he has never matched the offensive output of his first season and his first half this year made you wonder if he would be playing MLB anymore.  Oneil Cruz is batting .202.  Even Julio Rodriguez has an OPS below .800.

Lots of names, lots of stats – I won’t bore you with more because I think you get my drift.  The more I mulled it over, the more I realized that Stearns couldn’t go out and obtain another Beltran, so he opted for a stop-gap until the prospects in the system got MLB-ready.  Why spend a fortune on the middling bunch out there when you can grow your own?  We have guys like Nick Morabito, Jett Williams, and Carson Benge moving up through the system with great promise, but it was too early to put that burden on them.

So for now, I will stop trying to run Cedric Mullins out of town.  He serves a purpose, although I think a healthy Tyrone Taylor is a better option.  I will bide my time dreaming of someone like Benge or Williams making everyone forget the initials PCA.  Let’s take a look at the three prospects that will vie for the job.

Nick Morabito was a second round pick by the Mets out of Gonzaga high school in Washington DC.  This pick (#75 overall) was a compensation pick awarded to the Mets when Noah Syndergaard signed with the Angels.  Nick played rookie ball in his draft year, and then shot up to AA by the beginning of this season.  In his minors career, Morabito has hit .292/.380/.392 and has mastered each level on his way to AA.   Last year he was named the Mets’ minor league player of the year after compiling a .312/.403/.398 line between low A St. Lucie and high A Brooklyn.  In the current season with the AA Binghamton Rumble Ponies, Morabito is hitting .274 with 43 stolen bases, 50 RBI, and 60 runs scored in 108 games.  

Jett Williams was the Mets’ 2022 first round pick out of Rockwall-Heath high school in Texas.  He signed with a $3.9M bonus, and has lived up to all the accolades since then.  A wrist injury during the 2024 season caused him to have some surgery and miss most of the season, but he has charged back this year, moving up to AAA early in the year.  Williams has shown the ability to play multiple positions with a current concentration on shortstop and center field.  Like Morabito, Williams is a speedy base-runner, compiling 89 stolen bases in his minor league career despite losing almost a season to the wrist injury.

Carson Benge was also a first-rounder for the Mets, in the 2024 draft.  He signed for $4M and debuted for the St. Lucie Mets, where he hit .273 in 15 games.  By this season, Benge was assigned to high-A Brooklyn where he hit .302 in 60 games.  By June, he was moved to the AA Binghamton where he hit .317 in 32 games, and now has been moved to AAA Syracuse.  The other thing that you should know is that Benge is capable of pitching as well.  He was originally a two-way player, but the Mets have focused him on the outfield for now.  I thought it was worthy of note since the Mets have developed another two-way player out of Oklahoma State named Nolan McLean.

So after Mullin’ it over, I have decided to use some patience and wait to see what develops in the Mets’ system rather than clamoring for an expensive and immediate change to the roster.