3 popular NY Mets players who fast-tracked through way the upper minor leagues

Watching the New York Mets call up A.J. Ewing after barely unpacking his suitcase in Triple-A immediately made some fans wonder if the organization was hitting the fast-forward button a little too aggressively. That reaction is understandable. Prospects usually are not promoted this quickly unless a team either sees something special or starts feeling desperate enough to try anything short of letting Grimace take batting practice. The interesting part, though, is that the Mets have made a few bold jumps like this before, and some of those players ended up becoming important pieces on teams that made serious October runs instead of cautionary tales fans complain about for the next decade.

3 Mets prospects who reached Queens early and helped fuel postseason runs

Edgardo Alfonzo - 0 games played in AAA

Edgardo Alfonzo never even played a Triple-A game before the Mets decided he was ready for Queens. After spending the entire 1994 season at Double-A Binghamton, the Mets added him to the 40-man roster that November to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft, already viewing him as one of the organization’s top prospects. That belief came after Alfonzo hit .293/.369/.460 with 15 home runs and 75 RBI in Double-A, numbers that convinced the Mets he was polished enough to make the Opening Day roster in 1995 when baseball finally returned from the strike.

At the time, Alfonzo arrived as a versatile infield backup capable of playing second, third, and shortstop. A few years later, he became one of the most important players on the Mets' winning teams. Across the 1999, 2000, and 2003 postseasons, Alfonzo hit .299 with a .521 slugging percentage and 22 RBI in 131 at-bats. Mets fans, especially, will never forget what he did against the Cardinals in the 2000 NLCS, when he hit .444 with a 1.176 OPS and looked completely incapable of making an out for an entire week.

Daniel Murphy - 1 game played in AAA

Daniel Murphy technically played in Triple-A before reaching the majors, although calling it a “Triple-A stint” feels generous considering it lasted exactly one game. Before that, Murphy spent most of 2008 tearing through Double-A Binghamton, where he hit .308/.374/.496 with 13 home runs and 67 RBI across 95 games. Murphy was called up on Aug. 2 to replace Marlon Anderson while the Mets were getting hammered by injuries during the middle of a postseason race. The team lost a ridiculous 916 games to injuries that year and badly needed another bat capable of helping stabilize the lineup. Murphy answered quickly by hitting .313 with an .871 OPS across 49 games down the stretch.

A few years later, Murphy became one of the defining postseason hitters in franchise history. Across 25 playoff games from 2015 through 2018, he hit .309/.398/.588 with eight home runs and 19 RBI. Of course, Mets fans will always remember the 2015 postseason when Murphy basically spent two rounds impersonating prime Babe Ruth, launching seven home runs while carrying the Mets through the NLDS and NLCS.

Michael Conforto - 0 games played in AAA

Michael Conforto skipped Triple-A entirely when the Mets called him up directly from Double-A Binghamton during the summer of 2015. The Mets badly needed offense at the time, and the move made even more sense once Michael Cuddyer landed on the injured list and created an opening for a left-handed hitting outfielder. Conforto checked every box. Before the promotion, he was hitting .312/.396/.503 with 23 extra-base hits and 26 RBI in just 45 games for Double-A Binghamton, making it difficult for the Mets to justify leaving him in the minors while the major league lineup searched for offense almost every night.

Turns out he handled the jump just fine. Conforto hit .270 with an .841 OPS, nine home runs, and 26 RBI in 56 games while helping push the Mets toward the postseason and eventually the World Series. He struggled some during the NLDS and NLCS, but Conforto came alive against the Royals in the World Series, hitting .333 with a 1.046 OPS and launching two solo home runs in Game 4. Unfortunately, the Mets still lost the game and the series, although Conforto was one of the few bats making Kansas City pitching sweat a little.

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