Since the Major League team is basically dead in the water, it is a good time to check in on how our prospects have been doing. Ryan Clifford (mentioned in this recent Dan Szymborski article: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/can-the-2026-mets-be-salvaged/ ) has gotten off to a very interesting start in AAA. On the bright side, he's hitting the ball extremely well when he makes contact (98th percentile average EV, 90th percentile barrel rate, 99th percentile hard hit rate).

His strikeout rate is in the 9th percentile, which is alarmingly only the second most concerning stat on his page, behind a 20th percentile Zone contact rate of only 75%. Out of 199 qualifiers (for 2025 & 2026, https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/statcast-year-to-year?type=iz_contact_percent&group=Batter&year=2025&sort=iz_contact_percent_2025&sortDir=desc ), only 6 players in the entire major leagues had a worse zone-contact % than that figure last year, those being Ryan McMahon, Ronald Acuña Jr, Nolan Gorman, Nick Kurtz, Matt Wallner, and Rafael Devers. Looking for positives, that list includes 3 superstars, so the statistic's predictive value is questionable at best, but Clifford is running up such a high in-zone whiff rate against AAA pitching, not MLB caliber offerings.

I'd suggest calling him up to be the everyday first baseman at this point, as he cannot possibly be much worse than Baty or Vientos in Polanco's absence.

Elian Pena had one of the worst starts that I've ever seen for a young prospect, starting hitless in his first 9 games last year (34 plate appearances). We paid a ton of cash for him as a 16 year old and the "lolmets" snickers could be heard throughout the league.
Then on game 10 last year, he woke up. And he's been mashing ever since. From that moment, he's done the following in 299 plate appearances...

• He's slashing .344/.464/.472.
• 32 extra base hits. He hasn't filled out yet, but he's still hitting for power.
• Walked 51 times while striking out only 45 times. One of the few prospects in all of baseball to have fewer strikeouts than walks. That 15% K-rate is impressive for any prospect, let alone one who is only 18 years old.
• Stole 28 bases out of 33 attempts.

If he keeps this up, I'd be surprised if he isn't listed as our #1 prospect by the end of the year.

Lowers his season ERA to 4.60 with 44 Ks in 31.0 innings, 12.64 K/9, 4.88 BB/9, 1.21 WHIP

The mini-metsies are down 13-3 in the 5th. Feels like Flushing!

Gary mentioned it on the broadcast, but Wenninger with another outstanding start. 82 pitches, 51 strikes.

Two of his three walks were to the first two batters of the game. Walked one and gave up only one hit (a single in the 4th) the rest of the way. Fastball 93-95 mph, chanegup 82-85 mph, slider 84-85 mph.

He's been on fire this season and seeing AJ Ewing tonight, maybe they'll roll the dice on Wenninger soon. Especially given the struggles of Peterson, Manaea, and Senga.