The Rockaway Wave
Originally published September 15, 2023
The Mets reloaded their farm system at the deadline, adding high-profile prospects like Luisangel Acuña, Drew Gilbert, Ryan Clifford and Marco Vargas. They added them to a farm system that already included the likes of Kevin Parada, Ronny Mauricio, Colin Houck and Blade Tidwell.
There are things to be excited about with all of them. However, the best prospect in the Mets system might just be someone else — a 5-foot-6 teenager out of Rockwell-Heath High School in Heath, Texas.
It’s Jett Williams, who has the potential to be one of the best all-around players to come out of the Mets system in a long, long time.
“I’ve said this for years, and I preach it to these guys daily, those who are consistent will wear the uniform longer,” Cyclones manager Chris Newell said. “He’s as consistent as they come, and you know what, he’s a six-tool player, and he’ll beat you in every which way. And not to mention he’s truly, truly one of the nicest young men I’ve ever had the privilege of being around.”
The sixth tool, to go with the usual five, Newell said, is what he called the five-inch gap between your ears.
“He’s got it,” Newell said. “And if people want to say there’s more than six tools, if there’s 15, he’s got every tool in the f—— bag, I can promise you that.”
Newell emphasized how advanced mentally Williams is, especially for someone his age.
“I told him one of the first days, we were standing on third base, it was a pitching change, and he and I were shooting the crap, and I said ‘you’re 19 years old trapped in a 28-year-old kid’s body with five years in the big leagues already.’ He’s got a really good idea of what’s going on,” Newell said.
One of the things that has impressed people around him the most is his approach, which is extremely developed for a 19-year-old. In 36 games for the Cyclones this year, Williams walked more than he struck out. That is, exactly one more walk than strkeout, but it’s still very rare to see for anyone, much less a teenager.
Over his full minor league season that now stretches across multiple levels, his walk rate sits almost exactly at 20%, meaning one-fifth of his plate appearances end in a walk. Among all
qualified minor leaguers who have appeared in at least Low-A or higher, it ranks seventh. Among teenagers in that group, it’s fourth.
His on-base percentage for the season is .433, which is 11th among qualifiers that fit the same description as above. Among teenagers, it’s second, trailing only the hottest name in prospect circles and the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball on MLB Pipeline — Jackson Holliday. Everyone else above Williams aside from Holliday is at least 23, usually 24 or even 25 years old.
Williams was playing high school baseball last year.
At this level, Williams said, a lot of pitchers want you to get yourself out. So, if it’s not his pitch, he’ll take it until he gets it.
“If I’m not getting my pitch, just spit on it, for the whole year” Williams said. “…. For me, it’s just staying up the middle, just taking what they give me, and then if they don’t give it to me, just take that free pass.”
Richie Benes, Brooklyn’s hitting coach, said Williams does a good job of being selectively aggressive with pitches.
“The sooner you learn that discipline, and you get a handle on it, the better it is as you mature,” Benes said. “As you get older, you get wiser, and if you’re getting that early in your career, I mean, it’s nothing but a bright future ahead.”
Of course, Williams said he’s a hitter and he wants to hit every at-bat, but he recognizes that walks are an important part of the game, especially for him. When he gets on base, he can make things happen with his legs — like his 44 stolen bases in 51 attempts this season.
“If I walk, then I’ll steal second, steal third, so it’s almost like either a double or triple,” Williams said. “Mainly if I walk, I’m just trying to help my team and get into scoring position, put pressure on the pitcher and make my teammates behind me get good pitches to hit.”
Newell has previously referenced players, not by name but other Cyclones players, who have not gotten to where they could be because of their approach and how much they chase pitches. Players who have the approach that Williams does, and again especially at his age, become hot commodities, Newell said.
“It makes everybody who took a chance on him, it makes them be able to look in the mirror and say you got this one right,” Newell said. “And you know what? Anybody that tells you that striking out is okay, they’re lying to you, or they don’t know the game, because it’s not okay. I guess it is part of the game because it’s in the stat column, but give me a guy who puts the ball in
play. We’ll go back to Rhylan Thomas [a former subject of The Brooklyn Cyclones Report], we’ll go back to Jett Williams, these guys don’t strike out, and they’re difference makers. We were lucky to have two of them in the lineup at the same time, because in this day and age, most teams, they don’t even have one of those guys. And you give me nine of those guys and I might go undefeated.”
Williams said he’s always walked a lot, even going back to high school, and Greg Harvey, his coach at Rockwell-Heath High School said the same.
Harvey said his approach is what scouts would continue to talk about, how his bat-to-ball skills are rare.
“It was extremely above the level of what we would expect a high school hitter to be,” Harvey said. “He had great vision of course, which allowed him to have the plate discipline that he could be selective on the pitches that he was gonna swing at. Very, very rarely in high school did he swing and miss, I mean very rarely.”
Sam Dykstra, who puts together the Mets top-30 prospect list for MLB Pipeline, said there were even people who were more excited about Williams coming out of the 2022 MLB Draft than Parada, who was selected three picks ahead of him.
“He doesn’t really expand the zone, he’s willing to take his walks. You don’t see that with teenagers entering pro ball too much,” Dykstra said. “They get a little jittery, they want to show off what they can do, they get swing happy. He hasn’t done that. And talking to Mets officials, they’re really impressed by his plate discipline.”
He’s not just a singles hitter either, there’s some pop in his bat. In 116 games this season Williams has 13 home runs, including a handful at the notoriously pitcher-friendly Maimonides Park in Brooklyn. Hitting .267/.431/.461 (an .892 OPS) on the year with 22 doubles and eight triples, Williams is truly an all-around hitter.
Primarily a shortstop, he has also been getting some run in center field throughout the year. Newell was consistently impressed with the way Williams played out there, calling the ability to play and be comfortable at multiple positions on the field a luxury.
Williams said the transition from position to position has been easy to him, and he keeps it simple.
“Just take good routes, catch the ball, hit your cutoff,” Williams siad.
At the major league level, the Mets just had another top shortstop prospect, Ronny Mauricio, have to move off of shortstop to another position because of Francisco Lindor presence.
However, it’s something Williams said he doesn’t really think about potentially having to do down the line.
“As long as I’m playing, I’m fine,” Williams said. “I’m a hitter, so I mean, I can play any position. The main thing whatever best helps the team.”
Williams has now not only gone from Low-A to High-A this season, but he has just recently made it all the way up to Double-A. After Brooklyn was eliminated from postseason contention on the final day of their High-A regular season, the Mets made the decision to promote Williams to Double-A Binghamton.
To Harvey, it’s not something that surprises him.
“I knew that he was gonna have success,” Harvey said. “I just think he’s destined to be there, step by step, climbing the ladder. He’s so impressive that he’s gonna do things the right way all the time. He makes good decisions, and he puts himself in a position to be successful, and then his athletic talent propels him to where he’s gonna go.”
He said he knew all the way back when Williams was a sophomore in high school that he not only had a chance to be drafted, but had a chance to be drafted pretty high. He said the ball sounded different off his bat, and he could close his eyes in batting practice and tell when Williams was hitting. Combine that with his speed and ability to play anywhere on the field, and it is a player that Harvey said was the most pro-ready guy to go through his program, one that already boasts major leaguers like Canaan Smith-Njigba, Jake Thompson and Drew VerHagen.
Harvey also referenced what it means for someone of Williams’ stature, listed at 5-foot-6, 175 lbs, to be drafted No. 14 overall and have as much success as he is having.
“What a great example for other young players coming up that you don’t have to be 6-foot-3, 205 [lbs], to achieve the type of things that you want to achieve,” Harvey said.
Williams said he tries to model his game a bit off of Mookie Betts, Alex Bregman and José Altuve — some of the smaller superstars in the majors today.
“I feel like if they can do it, then I can do it,” Williams said.
On the last Friday of Brooklyn’s season, Williams stated his goals going forward. One of them is to be in the big leagues next season.
“Finish out this season strong,” Williams said. “Start in Double-A next year, and then hopefully, it’s a pretty big goal, but hopefully be a September call-up next year.”
A few days later, Williams got that promotion to Double-A.
Suddenly, a big league cameo next season, at 20 years old, seems that much more possible.
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