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00:03how we doing everybody it's tyler ward aka wardy to many of you guys here and in our latest straight
00:08out flushing metropolitan podcast segment for the new york post sports youtube channel we have to
00:13talk about yes you guessed it it's aj ewing okay as many of you guys have been following here on
00:18the new york post sports youtube channel going back to spring training i've been a heavy advocate
00:22as you guys know very well of aj ewing his game and why it's not a matter of if but
00:27when he would
00:28get called up to the major leagues this season lo and behold over the past 24 hours david stearns
00:33finally decided to be proactive about something and that was calling up their high-flying 21-year-old
00:37infield outfield prospect and let's just paint the picture for a second in case you guys did not know
00:42the background of aj ewing before his what was nothing short of a tremendous major league debut
00:47for the mets and their 10-2 victory this past night against the detroit tigers it starts with the fact
00:51that if we go back a calendar year for aj ewing's startup last year in the minor leagues where he
00:56played in three different levels from low a to high a to wrapping up the year in 2025 with the
01:00bing to rumble ponies and double a and what was the commonality in every single level that aj ewing
01:05was a part of he was just getting better and better and better okay this is a high flyer as
01:10we mentioned
01:10literally at the age of 21 currently but was 20 last year putting up an absurd and absolutely jaw
01:16dropping 7-0 yes you heard that correctly 70 stolen bases and just under 130 games across those
01:23multiple levels he batted collectively right around 50 above league average in the minor leagues last
01:28year he hit for right around 315 had a 400 on base had over 400 slug good for over 800
01:34ops and while he
01:35only had three home runs on his resume last year the gap to gap power was most certainly there and
01:40his
01:40ability to like singles into doubles and doubles into triples was always going to be apparent so now
01:45after having a tremendous year in the minor leagues a trade ship where a lot of teams wanted aj ewing
01:50including the chicago white socks at last year's traded line to which the new york mets said no
01:55thank you we're not going to go ahead we're not going to go ahead and do that at all we're
01:58going
01:58to wait to trade for robert in the offseason release on helcuna and how fitting is it that after what
02:03was nothing short of a tremendous spring training by ag ewing where he was a human highlight reel
02:07with the exception of the other mets top outfield prospect that made the opening day roster
02:11and mr carson bench ewing did everything imaginable to show you how great of a multi-tool town he is
02:17his ability to play both the infield and the outfield very jet williams-esque which goes
02:21in direct hand as to why the mets are so comfortable trading jet williams along with
02:25brandon spread away and that blockbuster for freddie perlton tobias myers before the season began the
02:30mets knew that they had a little bit of an embarrassment of riches of similarly profiled
02:33smaller statured speed demon players who put the bat on the ball spread for all fields and play
02:38great defense as well and aj ewing after looking so good in spring training began the year that we saw
02:43in double a but it did not take him long to get to triple a and ultimately as we saw
02:48happen after he
02:49was batting 80 percent above league average in a handful of a sample size in double a he gets moved
02:55up to triple a syracuse he plays out of his mind as well batting well over 300 already having a
03:00couple
03:00home runs he's already a home run shy versus what he had all of last year and essentially a essentially
03:04a hundred less games mind you so aj ewing with a big walk-off hit for triple a syracuse just
03:09a couple
03:10nights ago and now we see luis robert not looking good in his return from injury there is no timetable
03:16for robert's return from injury as he's dealing with the back ailment and we know when it comes to
03:19robert and health sadly those things go do not go well together this was always a concern a risk that
03:25the mets had when they initially acquired him and sadly for them when it comes to risk that is most
03:30certainly outweighing the good and these players upside it doesn't just stop a robert it continues with
03:35guys like jorge polanco who was mismanaged from the start of the season now we obviously francisco
03:39alvarez is dealing with ailment from yesterday's game hopefully he's going to be okay francisco
03:43and door is obviously out with injury for an extended period of time still so the new york
03:47mets have been in dire need of a jolt in their lineup and looking for someone who could actually
03:51provide that multi-tool aspect because while carson bench has been looking really good the past couple
03:56weeks he's been banging well over 300 the past north of 10 games now he's slapping the baseball
04:01either opposite field which he has typically done or pulling the baseball to right he's stealing bags
04:06he's looking like a web gem whether he's playing in center right or left there's a lot to love about
04:10carson bench and the mets philosophy and viewpoint on carson bench now holds true with aj ewing because
04:16after seeing robert knowing he's not going to return anytime soon according to mets president
04:20david stern speaking the media this past day lo and behold aj ewing gets the call he gets the leash
04:25he's in the mets lineup and their opening game against the tigers at home batting eighth and what did
04:30he look like oh yeah casually the best hitter and the mets lineup and that is not an exaggeration
04:34he was undoubtedly the most polished hitter 139 in the mets lab this past night he looked better
04:39than juan soto he looked better than carson bench he most certainly looked better than boby shed and
04:44everyone else and their mother let's call it how it is and here's why aj ewing's first at bat as
04:48a
04:48new york mad batting in the eight hole he works a nice north of seven pitch at bat for a
04:53walk
04:54tremendous eye coordination there at the plate we know how composed he is with working walks
04:58in the minor league level but everything that's been so great and advertised by aj ewing the high-flying
05:0321 year old was perfectly transitioned in at least throughout the first game for his major
05:07major league debut really you really honestly could not have done anything better than what aj was able
05:12to do and night one game one of his major league career so he works a walk in his first
05:16at bat we
05:17see him work a couple walks and then his first major league hit mind you is something that funny
05:21enough i had a conversation with a friend of mine off there this past day and i said aj ewing
05:26rbi triple
05:26soon like it's gonna happen and this was mine you at 2 p.m eastern this past day before the
05:31mets 7 10
05:32eastern game and lo and behold aj ewing's first hit as a new york met it is an rbi triple
05:37down that
05:38you see down the first baseline tremendous job by aj the high flyer that's what we love about him
05:43that speed's so dynamic it can be such a difference maker you know i think of harrison bader going back
05:48to the 2024 season with the new york mets where he tried legging signals into doubles it really didn't
05:53work because he didn't have the speed on his side the way that aj ewing most certainly has
05:56but ewing having himself an rbi triple as well as then going on and having himself an rbi walk
06:02as it was bases loaded late in the ball game he worked on another quality walk on six or seven
06:07pitches
06:08aj ewing got on base all four times that he got to the plate this past night he's batting 500
06:13on the
06:13season right now a 2300 ops casually through one game and he did steal a bag because of course he
06:19did
06:19again this is the same aj ewing in just under 30 games in the minor league so far this year
06:23has 17 stolen bases so there's a great likelihood that you're going to see aj ewing
06:28completely change the complexion the dynamic on how the mets are base running this year
06:32between himself towards the bottom of the order and carson menge who was batting leadoff who looked
06:36very good with a nice multi a game including an rbi for the mets this past day that kind of
06:40dynamic
06:41duo and this mets outfield paired with the one and only in juan soto can only bode well for this
06:46team given one how low the bar has been this year and two how dire they've been in need of
06:51young
06:51players to provide jolts both offensively defensively and with the base running when
06:55you take a look at this new york mets team we can all agree another year where they're not
06:58fundamentally sound there's a lot to be rather disheartened by if not concerned by as a fan
07:02with how they're defensively structured aj ewing who can play comfortably in center the way that we
07:07know he most certainly can or if it's going to be someone not just an aj playing in center but
07:11in
07:11right or left he can play second base for you can give marcus simian a day off he can even
07:15be your
07:16backup shortstop option you could really consider him a game there at short if you don't want to see
07:19boba shit there there are a lot of creative avenues that you can go down with someone like
07:23aj ewing so to see him not only be as advertised but essentially play above expectation and mets
07:28fans that didn't know him too well entering his major league debut all you have to do is tip the
07:33cap and be grateful that the mets finally and us fans talking right now have something to actually
07:37be happy about for a team that's been a basement dweller a bottom feeder the worst team in baseball
07:42essentially 10 games below 500 now they're nine games below 500 and let's see if aj ewing and this
07:47new york mets team can continue to chip away with the youth movement that they're continuing to do
07:52aj ewing's first start in the major leagues was absolutely a positive one something that mets fans
07:57should be excited about you saw the young outfielder draw three walks and the mets fans applauded him
08:03for that standing ovations for that you saw him steal a base and that also had the fan base excited
08:09then
08:10he also delivered a triple in this game one of the most exciting plays in baseball aj ewing delivered that
08:16now the question is can he provide a spark and the other question you're going to ask yourself is
08:20was this the right move to bring him up at this time well in situations like this i'll say a
08:26lot of
08:26things can absolutely be true this was a desperate move by the mets but it also absolutely was the
08:33right move where the mets were coming into play last night at 15 and 25 and they get the win
08:38and now
08:38they're 16 and 25 nine games below 500 the mets needed some sort of spark and they had to hope
08:44that aj ewing could do that now aj ewing is not going to walk three times every game he's not
08:49going to get a triple and steal a base but it's if he has that kind of play that kind
08:53of eye at the
08:54plate he did not look overmatched yesterday going up against the tigers pitching he looked patient at
09:00the plate when he got on the base pass he was able to wreck havoc there and then with the
09:04triple show
09:05you that speed that had been talked about with him in the minor leagues if he can do that that
09:10can
09:10absolutely helps his mets team and the mets the lineup they're running out with all the injuries
09:14that they've had to luis robert jr to jorge polanco to francisco lindor they could not bring up retreads
09:21guys that barely belong in the major leagues they had to find out something about this young player
09:26and what they have in aj ewing right now so nobody knows if it's going to work aj ewing may
09:32struggle
09:32after this that might happen but this was absolutely the right move because to me the mets really had no
09:38other move they had to inject some life not only into this fan base but into this team aj ewing
09:44in
09:44the lineup and i'm not saying this is totally because of him but for just the 23rd time this
09:50season the mets scored two or more runs in a game i'd love to think aj ewing had something to
09:56do with it
09:56we don't know but we're gonna see but at least it gave the mets offense a jolt for one night
10:02at least
10:03it gave the fans at city field a chance to cheer because there hasn't been much of that this season
10:08sometimes it takes teams making bold moves the mets hadn't made any bold moves all season fans have been
10:15calling for a bold move and they did one here in bringing up aj ewing now the question is will
10:21it pay
10:21off will we see more nights like this that book that chapter of this in met season this 2026 met
10:28season
10:29still yet to be written but what you did see in aj ewing's first major league start was that he
10:35can
10:36do some things he can give you some speed on the base pads he can have a good eye at
10:41the plate he's a
10:42speedster he can help you play some of the small ball the mets would like to play at city field
10:47he gives
10:48a different energy a different look to this mets lineup and that's something worth being excited about
10:54for the future we will see if aj ewing can continue to provide a spark for the new york mets
11:00in 2026
11:01which has been a very lackluster season but for one night one night at least aj ewing had the fans
11:07on their feet
11:09you