The Rockaway Wave
Originally Published August 21, 2026
Have you heard that Sammy Stafura is a Mets fan? No, really. The prospect the Mets got back for Luke Weaver at the trade deadline grew up a Mets fan. Breaking news being reported here for the very first time.
Yes, it’s been discussed ad nauseam since the trade occurred, but Stafura really did grow up a Mets fan. He gave his all-time favorite Mets lineup to Max Goodman of NJ.com, and a social media firestorm ensued. To his credit, he stood by it when asked a few days later about the reaction from Mets fans. Remember, he was asked for his favorites, not to pick the best player at every position.
“I do like every single guy I put out on that field, and that’s all that matters,” Stafura said.
The Westchester County native is a true Mets fan of his generation. His favorite player is Brandon Nimmo. He also has an affinity for Jeff McNeil. He thinks he’s been to at least 30 games at Citi Field in his life—a couple every year.
“When I was super young, I always wanted to be different and not like the things that other people like,” Stafura said. “So all my boys and everything like that liked the Yankees, and I was like nah, I am not gonna be liking the Yankees. So I became a Mets fan.”
He has fond memories of the 2015 squad, who made their run to the World Series when Stafura was 10 years old. Stafura said family and friends would gather at his neighbor’s house to watch the entire playoff run.
“We watched every single game together, and we enjoyed that,” Stafura said.
As was reported by Aiden Stepansky of MLB.com, Stafura learned the news while on the bus with his Greensboro Grasshoppers teammates on the way to Georgia to play the Rome Emperors. The news was broken on X by multiple reporters, first with the news that Weaver was headed to Pittsburgh and quickly followed by the news of Stafura being the player the Pittsburgh Pirates were sending back. Stafura read his name in the posts, just like everyone else.
His phone immediately started blowing up, and then a very busy next few days ensued. The focus of these big, deadline-day trades is always on the MLB stars switching teams, but the minor league players dealt have to drop everything and move, too.
“You gotta figure out where you’re going, you gotta pack, you gotta move places, so there’s a lot that goes into it,” Stafura said. “But I had a good group around me to help me move out, travel,
and all those good things. So, I got a lot of support, so it was very easy for me this year, and I was super excited about it.”
Fortunately for Stafura, he did have experience. At the 2025 trade deadline, he was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Pirates as part of the package for Ke’Bryan Hayes.
Stafura said the two trades were very similar to him, with the biggest difference this year being knowing how to react to it. The experience last year made it 10 times easier this year.
“Last year, I feel like I kind of panicked and was tweaking out, not sure how everything was gonna go,” he said. “But this year, I was calm. I knew the whole process, what was gonna happen, so I just understood that, and I just came here and just did my thing. Took a deep breath, and I just played baseball.”
Stafura is in the midst of an offensive breakout this season. Really, it all started when he returned to High-A from his rehab assignment on June 9 following his second stint on the injured list of the season. To that point, Stafura was hitting .188/.320/.318/.638 with three homers in 26 games, and none since April.
From June 9 to when he was traded, Stafura hit .331/.397/.765/1.162 with a staggering 17 homers in 34 games. To put that in some perspective, in his entire minor league career before that, Stafura had hit 18 home runs in 249 games.
“I hit the ground injured a couple times this year, so I couldn’t really find too much momentum,” Stafura said. “But once I found it, I feel like it really kicked in, and I feel like all the work in the offseason was one of the reasons why I’m having such a productive season.”
Stafura attributes the breakout to the mental side of the game, not necessarily anything physical. He goes out there and believes he’s the best player on the field.
That’s the impression his new coaches have as well.
“What I do know about that spike is he personally had some good self-talk, and is really trying to master the mental side,” Brooklyn Cyclones Hitting Coach Devin DeYoung said. “From his words, he just tells himself he’s Babe Ruth, and he feels like it, and he plays like it. Sometimes it is that simple. Baseball’s a very interesting sport. Sometimes you can shut the brain off and get hot, sometimes you have to strategize your way into some knocks, but more often than not, if you free up, you play better.”
The 21-year-old oozes with confidence. He’s a no-doubt shortstop with some very real power, which gives him an incredibly high ceiling. However, there are some hit tool concerns.
The good thing is, there’s plenty of time to work on it.
“We’re in the minor leagues for a reason,” Stafura said. “We’re here just trying to get better, trying to improve, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to hit all my weak spots, and that’s the goal. End the season strong the last month, and just work on everything I could do, and go into the offseason with the same mindset.”
