The Rockaway Wave
Originally Published August 1, 2025
The pitching staff of the Brooklyn Cyclones has been great all season. The likes of Noah Hall, Brendan Girton, Jonathan Santucci, Nate Dohm, Joel Díaz, R.J. Gordon, and many others have turned in good seasons, but maybe no one has been as impressive as Will Watson.
“He might be one of the most talented arms that we have in terms of just pure stuff,” Cyclones manager Gilbert Gómez said. “It’s exciting to see what he could become if he puts everything together.”
Watson, the Mets’ seventh-round pick in 2024, started the 2025 season with Single-A St. Lucie. He pitched well, but wasn’t overwhelmingly impressive. In 10 games (eight starts), Watson threw 39 and 1⁄3 innings with a 3.66 ERA and 43 strikeouts. He was promoted to High-A Brooklyn on June 2 and has taken off.
“It was a bit of a relief for me,” Watson said. “I was excited to move. I feel like I’m doing everything I can to just play good ball for this org. I want to win, I want to get better, and it was a great experience to get that call-up.”
In nine games (eight starts) for the Cyclones, Watson has thrown an even 40 innings with a 2.25 ERA and 49 strikeouts.
“He’s got elite stuff in both hands,” Cyclones pitching coach Jordan Kraus said. “The fastball obviously speaks for itself, and then he really bought into working on the cut-fastball, which has been an absolute weapon for him. You pair that with a slider and changeup, he’s got four really, really good pitches.”
Watson’s fastball is a good one. It averaged 95.4 mph in St. Lucie, where the data is publicly available and has maxed out at 97-98 mph. He also gets a strong 17.0 inches of induced vertical break (IVB) on his heater, and Kraus said he’s shown the ability to get it into the 18, 19, 20 inch range — closer to the “elite” mark.
The velocity is up from last season, which Watson credited to weight room work and ironing out his mechanics, specifically keeping his glove side closed during his motion.
He’s introduced a new cutter this season, and the early returns are very positive.
“In January, I was out of camp, down in Florida. My catch partner, Jonathan Pintaro, shoutout to him, he was throwing a cutter to me and it was pretty gross,” Watson said. “I was like, ‘Man, how do you throw that?’ And ever since then, I just started throwing it and worked it into the arsenal.”
Watson said he breaks it out when he’s down in the count and the hitter is probably expecting a fastball, especially to lefties, when he can run it in on their hands. It’s a good pitch, he said, for inducing weak contact.
“The more he’s thrown it, the better feel he’s gotten for it, the better he’s been able to locate it and execute it, and has had really, really good results on that pitch,” Kraus said.
The changeup is also a great pitch for him, and has been for years.
“It was a weird thing that happened, I guess, but I couldn’t really throw a slider my JUCO year,” Watson said. “So I just started throwing a changeup, and guys couldn’t really hit it, so I just kept throwing it.”
Watson even still uses the same grip from when he first picked up the pitch, no one has ever touched it. It’s comfortable, it works, so there’s no reason to tinker.
“It’s an electric arsenal,” Gómez said. “And, it’s just an athletic body that moves well down the slope, and those things usually translate into 1) health, because he’s able to sync up his body, and 2) the ability to throw even throw a little harder if he gets a little stronger.”
He struggled a bit with walks in Single-A, issuing 21 free passes, but has managed to bring that number down to 15 with Brooklyn, and in more innings to boot.
“Biggest thing for him, as he’s been more acclimated into pro ball, his count control and his ability to stay in zone and throw more strikes has been slowly improving,” Kraus said. “You pair that with the stuff that he has, and that’s why I think he’s having so much success.”
Watson’s journey to the Mets organization is an unusual one. After starting his college career at Division III California Lutheran University, he transferred to San Joaquin Delta College, a JUCO. He was drafted after that season by the Seattle Mariners, his hometown team, in the 20th round of the 2023 MLB Draft.
Despite going to high school a little over an hour drive away from T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Watson turned the Mariners down, opting to go to the University of Southern California for his junior season. It was a little harder to pass up on the hometown team, though, Watson said.
He was then drafted again by the Mets in 2024, 13 rounds higher than the year before. This time he signed, just three years after beginning his college career at a Division III school.
“It’s pretty interesting to think about,” Watson said. “I don’t really think about it too often, I’m just very grateful for where I’m at and all the people that have helped me get here. My family, my friends, my teammates, all these guys around me, they’re all the best, and they all got my back, and I got theirs. It’s been a journey, so it’s been pretty sweet.”
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