ANGRY MIKE: 2025 PROSPECT REPORT: WILL WATSON

 

ANGRY MIKE

Will Watson was selected in the 7th Round of the 2024 Draft out of U.S.C., after spending a couple years of eligibility honing his skills on the JUCO circuit. Watson’s assignment St. Lucie started off very well, before battling control issues during his second month, allowing an uncharacteristic 18 walks for the month of May. The Mets still saw enough to promote him to Brooklyn in June, which is when Watson’s season really took off. Watson features an improving arsenal, that features 3 pitches above-average to plus, highlighted by a 4-seam fastball, that generates comparable I.V.B to Jonah Tong. 

Watson’s entire arsenal exhibited an impressive bump in average velocity across the board, starting with his fastball which sat comfortably at 95 MPH, topping out at 97. There is reason to believe he might experience another incremental uptick in velocity as he continues to build up arm strength and physically mature. Both his changeup and slider experienced upticks in velocity, sitting in the mid-80s and high-80s respectively. Both pitches are capable of generating whiffs or inducing weak contact. Watson is still a bit inexperienced, and with continued and added experience, his arsenal has the potential to improve significantly. 

It took one season for Watson to establish himself as another potential high-upside starting pitcher during his stint with Brooklyn, logging successful outings each and every time he took the mound. 

The outings weren’t as long as you would see from typical starting pitching prospects, but the Mets were extremely conservative with his pitch counts while transitioning him into a starting pitcher. 

Despite the conservative pitch counts, Watson regularly pitching into the 5th inning or longer. As he continues to gain experience as a starter and improve his command, there is no reason why he can’t develop into a reliable middle-of-the-rotation innings-eater or better. Despite the string of consecutive solid outings, his BB-Rate needs to improve, as does limiting the number of non-competitive pitches seen from game film. In seven of his outings he allowed 3 or more walks, and 12 other outings he allowed two walks, which is way too many, when you take into account, he only averaged slightly over four innings per outing. 

As ugly as the walk-rate is, it actually shows you how electric his stuff is and the type of moxie he has to regularly pitch his way out of trouble. Unfortunately as he advances to the higher levels and eventually to the MLB, hitters become more adept at making you pay when you create unnecessary traffic on the base paths.

2025 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:

- 14 outings allowed ZERO ER -> pitching into the 5th IP in 12 of them

- 18 outings allowed 3 hits or fewer -> 4 outings pitched fewer than 3 IP

- 8 outings pitched into the 5th IP or longer -> allowed 2 or fewer hits 

- 21 outings he had 4+ strikeouts 

- 9 of his final 10 outings he had 5 or more strikeouts 

- 9 outings of 6+ strikeouts 

- 7 outings of 7+ strikeouts 

- Posted 4 months of with an ERA under 2.00 & 16+ IP 

- Posted 3 months only allowing 3 or fewer runs across 16+ IP

- Only 2 outings -> allowed more than 3 earned runs 

- 6 outings -> 23 ER | 23 IP -> 9.00 ERA 

- 22 outings -> 12 ER | 98.1 IP -> 1.10 ERA

MAY 31st GS: 1st outing of season -> pitched a career-high 81 pitches 

Fastball registered (95+) -> 6 times past the 65-pitch mark

JUNE - AUGUST 23rd OUTINGS -> Promoted to Hi-A: Brooklyn 

Performed his best facing off against toughest competition of his career

Eclipsed previous career high in IP for a season

Showing ZERO signs of fatigue 

Showed improved command

Fastball, Changeup, & Slider -> all flashed above-average

Mets increased pitch counts into the 65-87 pitches per start

1.70 ERA -> 14 outings | 63.2 IP

.199 BAA was the lowest of his professional career over longest stretch of his professional career 

25 strikeouts -> 2 starts posted 8 strikeouts each 

30% K-RATE & 11% BB-RATE | 63.2 IP career-best for longest stretch of IP

Allowed fewest homers per 9 IP

After his brilliant stretch of games at Brooklyn, the Mets promoted him to Double-A, an impressive feat for a young pitcher who was transitioning from a reliever to a starting pitcher during his first professional season. His AA debut was his worst outing of the season, surrendering 6 earned runs, in 4.1 innings, but that could be partially attributed to not following his normal routine. 

Reed Garrett was rehabbing, and Watson entered the game after Garrett’s lone inning of work. Watson finished the season incredibly strong in his final 2 starts, surrendering only 2 hits across 9.2 scoreless innings, racking up 14 strikeouts, and most importantly surrendering only 2 walks. 

Only a 150 innings prior to these two starts, Watson was facing off against JUCO hitters, only to now find himself pitching against some of the Red Sox AA-affiliate. Watson faced off against Boston’s top prospect, and the #24 overall ranked prospect in baseball, Franklin Arias, retiring him 4 straight times, before giving up an infield single. 

Although it is a small sample set, the fact Watson had zero trouble retiring one of the more talented players in minor league baseball showed a glimpse of Watson’s exciting future potential. With continued development, a little more refinement, and experience, the Mets should be very excited at the possibility of adding another dynamic arm to an already loaded group of high-impact pitching prospects.

Watson might be a little further away than their other top pitching prospects, but the ceiling is extremely high as either a mid-rotation starter or as a high-leverage reliever. Watson absolutely dominated left-handed hitters during his professional debut, recording a .186 BAA, with 61 strikeouts across 52.2 IP. He was equally tough against right-handed hitters, recording a .216 BAA, 81 strikeouts across 65.1 IP. 

These splits are important to note, because the Mets need to reconstruct their bullpen from scratch, and Watson has the type of electric stuff capable of filling a critical role in the Mets bullpen for the 2026 season. If he can limit the walks, he can provide the Mets with a dynamic multi-inning reliever, they have been missing since Dedniel Nunez was lost to Tommy John surgery.