Wednesday catch-all thread (7/22/26)
Please use this thread all week to discuss any Mets-specific topic you wish.
In my mid-to-late 20s, I played on a softball team that had guys of various ages, going up to their 50s. There was one player on the team, who was pushing 40, if not already there, who was an excellent hitter but who you could count on to make a bonehead play in every game, whether that came on the bases or in the outfield. I asked another guy on the team about him and he said he was always like that. It’s just that when he was younger he could out-run his mistakes and he simply could no longer do that.
A.J. Ewing reminds me of that guy. We’re seeing the young version, the guy who can out-run his mistakes in the field. Ewing has a +6 DRS, with a +5 on range. FRV, Statcast’s all-encompassing defensive metric, has Ewing with a +1.
When you go to Baseball Savant, you can get a deeper dive on a player’s Statcast defensive numbers. If you go to their Outfielder Jump Leaderboard, you’ll see Jump, which is how many feet a player covers in the correct direction in the first three seconds. Ewing does a nice job in this category, ranking tied for 26th among 96 outfielders with an average of 35.8 feet covered in this span.
Jump is further split into Reaction, the first 1.5 seconds, and Burst, which measures 1.6 to 3.0 seconds. Ewing is tied for 25th in Reaction and tied for 19th in burst.
But Reaction does not take into account which direction the outfielder takes, which seems like it would be a good thing to know. Fortunately, they have a stat called Route, which measures the feet covered versus a direct route to the ball. Here, Ewing ranks tied for 76th with a (-0.6) rate. Juan Soto is tied for 33rd, with a 0.4 mark.
Old pal Brandon Nimmo is tied for 12th in Route. Too bad his Reaction and Burst are both in negative numbers. Going back to 2022, Nimmo had a positive number in Burst, although his Reaction was still underwater. Nimmo had a +3 FRV in ‘22 and has a (-3) FRV here in 2026. But we have to consider that the Rangers are playing him in RF, the position his arm is least-suitable to play. DRS has him with a (-2) with his arm.
Regardless, we know that Ewing is not doing a great job with his routes to the ball. He’s compensating with speed, which is something a 21-year-old outfielder can do. The big question is if his routes will improve as he gains more experience. Let’s hope so.
A few weeks ago, someone gave an over/under on five players traded. Most everyone is taking the under, but I’d like the over - and way over. I’d like to see Holmes, Peralta, Raley, Minter, Bichette, Manaea, Weaver, Brazoban, and possibly Robert, Semien, or Baty.
My rationale for such a purge is to send off anything of value because relievers are finicky, pitchers in general are one pitch away from getting hurt and having no value. The only name that I would withdraw from the list is Robert due to his high end skills and I wouldn’t wait for Baty to slump again. Sayonara to all of them, and may the Mets receive some nice value and plenty of prospects.
To continue, when the Mets traded Verlander, Scherzer, et al, they got prospects that were well ranked, but like all prospects, can fizzle and did. I hope the scouting is better this time.
Another fresh take and insightful analysis of the available data. Anyone that played on a team in any sport recognizes the archetype that you describe, Brian: the guy with poor mechanics who compensated with sheer athleticism. I suspect that Ewing will learn his craft and his routes will only improve. If memory serves, Nimmo had lousy routes in the beginning when he started playing CF regularly. With all of the video technology, I’d be shocked if the Mets did not have a plan to get him going in the right direction (pun intended.)
Articles like these are what set M360 apart from other sites and why I keep coming back. I don’t take these for granted!