The Rockaway Wave
Originally published June 7, 2024
The 2022 MLB Draft looks like a good one for the New York Mets.
Jett Williams, a first-round pick, is the current No. 1 prospect in the Mets system and No. 33 overall on MLB Pipeline. Second-rounder Blade Tidwell, sixth-rounder Tyler Stuart and seventh-rounder Jonah Tong have all become promising pitching prospects. 11th-rounder Rhylan Thomas has some of the best bat-to-ball skills in all of the minor leagues, and fourth-rounder Jacob Reimer is also a highly-regarded prospect.
Even third-rounder Brandon Sproat — who did not sign in 2022 — was drafted by the Mets again in 2023, signed, and has dominated.
It’s not all hits. First-rounder Kevin Parada has not hit nearly as much as expected for a bat-first catcher. Overall though, it’s impressive how many Mets draft picks from 2022 have turned into legitimate prospects — and there’s one more making a name for himself right now in Brooklyn.
Nick Morabito, a second-round pick in 2022, has maybe been the best hitter across all of the Mets minor league affiliates.
Cyclones Manager Gilbert Gómez, who also managed Morabito at Single-A St. Lucie last year, has watched Morabito develop up close.
“He’s more comfortable in his own skin,” Gómez said. “He knows the type of hitter he is, he knows what he needs to do to be successful, and that’s something that you’re always gonna strive for. Just knowing yourself and making sure that every single day, you’re going out and creating a routine that allows you to perform, and he’s doing that, or he’s learning to do that more and more often. He’s still young, but definitely the maturity has shown a little more this year.”
Morabito, drafted with the pick the Mets received after Noah Syndergaard left in free agency, had a slow start to his professional career. After playing six complex league games in 2022, he returned to the complex to start 2023. He spent 30 games there before being promoted to Single-A St. Lucie, but played just 27 games.
He played well, hitting .306/.421/.407 across both levels, but played just 57 total games — far fewer than other top picks like Parada, Williams and Reimer.
Morabito was back with St. Lucie to begin 2024 and strafed Single-A pitching. In 24 games he hit .397/.530/.513, good for a 1.043 OPS. His OPS in Single-A increased by over 250 points from 2023 to 2024, which Morabito credited to fixing some things in his swing in the offseason and the way he prepares for each game.
He had 18 walks and 18 strikeouts with two doubles, two triples and one home run, earning a promotion to High-A Brooklyn in early May. He said it was a cool moment when he found out he’d be promoted, and also cool to share it with Christopher Suero who was promoted at the same time.
“I played well, so I can’t really say I was surprised,” Morabito said. “But I think when it does happen, it’s kind of a surreal moment.”
Through his first month with the Cyclones, Morabito has been one of the team’s best hitters. In 23 games, Morabito is hitting .308/.406/.418 — a .824 OPS — with two homers and four doubles.
“I’m trying to hit a hard line drive up the middle,” Morabito said. “It’s been working with me so far, and I’m gonna stick with it.”
Right now he’s not much of a power hitter, but Gómez said he thinks there’s more to come from him.
“I feel like the bat is going to continue to come around, the power is going to continue to develop,” Gómez said. “He already hits the ball hard to all fields, so just getting him more comfortable taking his best hack every single time. But definitely impressed with what we’re seeing so far.”
What he might lack in power right now though, he makes up for in speed. Morabito is one of the fastest players in the Mets system, and it shows in his stolen base numbers.
Across both levels this season, Morabito has swiped 25 bases in 47 games. He said he has free rein to run whenever he wants and looks for little things the pitcher might to do give away that he’s going to the plate. He comes armed with information to help give him the best chance to safely steal the base.
“One of our goals here is we’ve got to know the catcher’s pop time and the pitcher’s time to the plate,” Morabito said. “I think once you know that, and you get a good jump, you can really do damage out there on the bases.”
Morabito is one of 10 players across all of Minor League Baseball to steal at least 25 bags. The player who leads the group, Chandler Simpson of the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits, has 42. Simpson started the season with the High-A Bowling Green Hot Rods, and was with the team when the Cyclones visited in mid-May.
Gómez said coaching against someone with speed, like Morabito or Simpson, brings a different dimension to the game. It impacts how many times the pitcher looks over to check the runner, if the pitcher will slide step or quick pitch, or maybe even if they run a pitch out. Even defensively, Gómez said, it changes the game. Nothing is a routine ground ball with elite speed barreling down the first baseline.
“It just creates a different dimension of a threat that as a manager you have to respect,” Gómez said. “So the fact that we have that guy — especially with Omar [De Los Santos] getting promoted — the fact that we can still have him, it’s definitely big. Especially leading off a game, you know right after he gets on base there’s the threat of a steal. So it’s definitely something that you like to have on your team rather than fight against it.”
Major League Baseball has made an effort in recent years to encourage stolen bases, which started to dwindle over the past few decades. Expanding the size of the bases, limiting the number of times a pitcher can attempt a pickoff and introducing the pitch clock have all contributed stolen base numbers skyrocketing.
Morabito, naturally, is a fan.
“I’m glad the game is leaning towards stealing bases because in the end, that’s what the fans want to see,” Morabito said. “It’s very exciting when you’ve got guys running and stealing bases. I think it’s good that fans want to see it and baseball is moving towards it.”
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