2) Joey Meneses
Joey Meneses burst onto the scene in 2022 with the division rival Washington Nationals, slashing a spectacular .324/.367/.563 with a .395 wOBA and 158 wRC+ in 240 plate appearances as a 30-year-old rookie. He swatted 13 home runs with a .239 isolated slugging percentage with a respectable 21.3% K%, albeit with an unimpressive 6.3% walk rate.
However, Meneses would quickly fall back to Earth with roughly league-average numbers in 2023. The first baseman would take another large step in the wrong direction in 2024, batting just .231/.291/.302 with a .264 wOBA and 64 wRC+ in 314 plate appearances. Meneses still only walked 6.7% of the time with a solid 20.1% K% but hit just three home runs with a .071 isolated slugging percentage. Meneses was optioned to Triple-A in July but wouldn’t resurface in the Majors again for the Nats.
After the season, Meneses was outrighted off their 40-man roster and elected free agency. The Mets quickly picked him up, and he has hit extremely well for Syracuse to open 2025. In 75 plate appearances, Meneses owns a .309/.373/.500 triple-slash, .387 wOBA, and 129 wRC+. He has drawn a walk in 9.3% of his plate appearances and has only struck out 17.3% of the time. Meneses has been punishing the ball with a 92.2 MPH exit velocity and 12.2% barrel percentage.
Meneses is out-hitting some of the Mets’ best prospects. He has the third-best batting average among Mets minor leaguers with at least 50 plate appearances. His wRC+ outpaces that of Ryan Clifford and just below that of 2024 fourth-round pick Eli Serrano III. But he has a better batting average, slugging percentage, OPS, wOBA, and wRC+ than Serrano III.
