00:03big news for the New York Mets they call up their top prospect in the farm system AJ Ewing top
00:11outfield prospect now will be making his major league debut Mets felt like they had to do
00:16something because this season has not been great for them as as of May 11th they have the worst
00:20record in baseball at 15 and 25 I'm Dexter Henry joined by the great minor league baseball reporter
00:27host of the Mets Dove report my guy Ernest Dove here with me and Ernest I guess the first question
00:33I have about this off the top is I saw the alert come in and first reported by Will Salmon
00:37if the
00:37athletic got to give credit where credit is due and I said wow this is a bold move the Mets
00:43actually
00:44did this it feels like they need to make a bold move in a season that has not been good
00:48were you
00:49shocked by this move by the Mets to call up AJ Ewing I mean I'm definitely surprised I can't pretend
00:56all
00:56this was coming soon because I'm the minor league guy and he's hot uh he's dominated the whole season
01:01of sorts he dominated last year he was dominating this year I was surprised after his spring I was
01:09shocked that he didn't break camp in triple a Syracuse so when he broke camp in double a I was
01:16thinking okay this is going to be a while but I was told and even in January one of the
01:22Mets staff told
01:22me AJ Ewing is about to explode so that's why I was hyping him all spring had a great spring
01:28I thought
01:29he would break camp triple a show up in with the Mets at some point but I was surprised to
01:35do this
01:35now after only 12 games in triple a uh even in other experiences well you know so-and-so Confortos
01:42we can go back to David Wright how many how many games people play in triple a but uh Carson
01:48Benj I
01:49believe he played 20 ish maybe 30 games uh in Syracuse last year at the end of the year 12
01:54is not a lot but
01:55maybe when you break down the hit tool what he's doing uh he literally has five walks five k's in
02:02these 12 games in triple a his k rate is lower in triple a than it was in double a
02:07so overall everything
02:08is showing elite above average defense by the way in center field he made back-to-back highlight plays
02:14last week in center both diving plays back-to-back pitches that was exciting plus he still has the
02:21speed he's like a 50 70 stolen base guy a year uh capability so even on the other tools straight
02:28defense and speed he can play right now in the major leagues question is hit tool right that that's
02:35going to be the question into what can he do up here now in triple a 12 games you talked
02:39about 326 average
02:41there so you know that you talked about the tools you talked about the speed that's interesting what
02:46you heard from somebody around the Mets and saying that hey this kid is about to explode onto the scene
02:50what made you believe from everything you've done with watching him what made you believe that
02:55AJ Ewing was maybe different from the other Mets outfield prospects and we just saw Carson Benj come up
03:01to start this season but what separates Ewing is it the speed is it the defense that he can provide
03:07for
03:07this team two things that this team needs right now is that what separates him from other
03:10Mets outfield prospects I mean that's the other thing too now if you want to start you know
03:15breaking down certain guys pound for pound even Ewing versus Benj Ewing versus Morabito who by the way
03:22Morabito is on the 40 man uh but the thing with AJ Ewing even from a year or two ago
03:27speaking with other
03:28staff and scouting departments his plate discipline his maturity understanding you know pitch shape uh stuff
03:35like that barrel he was doing that as a teenager when he first got here in pro ball so he
03:41had some
03:41of those tools going with him naturally and then now going into this year uh between him and Benj it's
03:48a it's almost a pound for pound for the hit tool between Morabito he seems to have even a higher
03:53hit tool
03:53even a little bit more power ish uh between the combo there so the power is going to be the
03:59thing
04:00between Morabito but now AJ Ewing is AJ Ewing maybe a 12-ish home run a season guy uh as
04:07far as an
04:07everyday player over 162 games that's one of those things but again when you want to compare these
04:13guys he already has the defense uh and by the way before anyone asks he's a lefty batter but he
04:20doesn't
04:20have horrible splits uh actually in 2026 his slash line is actually higher against opposing lefties
04:28than it is against opposing righties last year full full season uh the splits were like a few
04:34digit points in all slash lines still a very solid against lefties so for the love of all things
04:41he can be an everyday player if it was up to me AJ Ewing leave him in center Benj has
04:49the arm anyway for
04:50right field that should be the configuration maybe I was thinking to sneak Ewing in at second base but
04:57technically for he kind of seems like Semien definitely hitting with runners in scoring
05:01position he has wonderful defense still and his hit tool is somewhat coming around so it makes sense
05:09all these things considered again Morabito I think would be a very solid replacement for a Tyrone
05:16Taylor type guy but if they're gonna go all in with a guy like Ewing he's not here like in
05:20Acuna to show
05:21up and pinch run there's absolutely no way you do that he's gonna have to play every day day one
05:26like I said better play against lefties yeah I like the fact that he can do that and you feel
05:32like
05:32he can come in and play day one I also thought second base might be an option for him but
05:37looks
05:37like the Mets are going to have him here in the outfield and look they need to help in the
05:41outfield
05:41right now with Luis Robert down on the injury list and we know his injury history so he can get
05:45the reps
05:46do you think that you know when you think about the Mets fan base right and they've been starving
05:52probably lately for some young homegrown talent to come up and produce and they've seen some of this
05:57with Benj Benj has been coming around recently in terms of the hitting at the plate and the defense
06:01has been really good too do you think it's fair to say particularly with the way the Mets season has
06:07gone through 40 games that there might be a little bit of pressure earnest on AJ Ewing to feel like
06:12a
06:12spark not a savior but a spark for this team right now do you think he can maybe feel some
06:16of that
06:16coming up here I mean the timing of it is one of those things that you want to maybe worry
06:22about
06:22from a media fan perspective with the bright lights but again this is a very kind of well
06:28mature kind of balanced young man when I spoke with him in spring in the clubhouse asking him about
06:35certain things one of the biggest things that he told me two things number one he said the game is
06:41like 75% mental and then the rest is tools and talent that was an interesting quote that I got
06:47from him the other thing that he told me that I still think about a couple months later what was
06:52some of the keys to your success last year that exploded due to this level in spring he said my
06:57failure in 2024 that failure of hitting like 200 or so for most of the year it kind of taught
07:05him
07:05learned everything he needed to learn through failure which you can hear about a lot of professionals
07:09major leaguers they talk about it all the time maybe that early failure he hasn't stopped since
07:15so he has the right head on his shoulders I don't think he'll truly kind of feel that type of
07:20pressure
07:20to put it all on him because again he's got the mental aspect down at least he has the talk
07:25is he going to start to walk it we're going to find out soon yeah we are absolutely going to
07:30find
07:30out soon I guess last thing for me here Ernest is when you look at his game and you're very
07:35high on
07:35this game and what he can do right because we know he's got the speed he's got the defense there's
07:40versatility with him because we know he also could play a little bit in the infield as well too and
07:44put
07:44pressure on the base pads with that speed what do you think his true ceiling is at the major league
07:51level what do you think that AJ Ewing can truly do here at the major league level well that's the
07:56thing now for today's baseball no matter the position even if it's center field or short
08:00everybody wants guys to hit 20 30 home runs now I don't think he's going to be a super home
08:06run guy
08:06I will definitely still project or predict he's going to be an everyday player as a ceiling so
08:12as far as all-star you know MVP type stuff uh obviously not short about that but I see an
08:20everyday player who can hopefully get one of those guys that hits for average that would be super nice
08:26wouldn't it uh like the Bo Bichette we felt we were getting of sorts uh I don't see AJ Ewing
08:32as
08:33being as aggressive with a bat as an as a Bo Bichette so he might be a little bit more
08:38disciplined
08:39hopefully now because we're talking about a rookie when he arrives I think he's an everyday player I
08:44would see him best at center field to use his speed but then you may want to almost mesh him
08:50in
08:50because you have to to Carson Benj as far as again is he a future Bryce Harper is he a
08:56future
08:57young Juan Soto like we can't get into those type of things for this young man I see Ewing and
09:03Benj
09:03every day dare I say it future core players as far as core guys to have in your lineup for
09:11the next six
09:11years of their control plus that's the potential that he has now we have to see it a little bit
09:17sooner
09:18than anyone might have thought but again did really well in spring probably should have broke
09:23camp anyway in triple a so I think he's ready ish but by my saying ready go ahead and bat
09:30him like
09:30maybe ninth maybe see if he can get on base and then be the speed guy to bring up those
09:34Soto's and
09:35hopefully it's starting to hit Bichette uh bat him at the bottom of the order bat him against lefties
09:40play him every day for the rest of the season and evaluate him from there why not why not at
09:46this
09:47point maybe this is why the Mets make this move at the time they do 15 25 after 40 games
09:51but their
09:52top outfield prospect AJ Ewing is coming to flushing and we will see how he performs this
09:58week as the Mets now return back to Queens for a homestand that is Ernest Dove does a fantastic job
10:04with the New York Mets Dove report fantastic fantastic job covering the Mets minor league system
10:08Ernest always appreciate you joining me here on Straight Outta Flushing we'll talk soon
10:13see you next time I will worry about the next call up because I'm hearing other stuff kind of
10:17coming through the pipelines maybe they might need another pitcher soon is my Jack Winninger on the
10:22way maybe Tom I'm ready to talk about that probably next up soon enough hey you know I'll be giving
10:28you
10:28a call thanks Ernest appreciate you man all right
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