It looks like the NY Mets made the most of losing one of their most beloved players

When Jacob deGrom left the New York Mets after the 2022 season, the immediate task at hand was to replace him in the starting rotation. The Mets made the most obvious pivot by signing Justin Verlander. While it didn’t go so well for the team, there aren’t really any hard feelings.

Departing Free agents rarely offer much of a reward especially when they are as beloved as deGrom. However, when the free agent is as highly paid as deGrom became with the Texas Rangers, draft pick compensation is awarded to the team that lost the star player.

The Mets were awarded the 134th overall pick in the draft. A fourth round selection and their third of the round, the team decided to take high school shortstop A.J. Ewing. He was their sixth overall selection in a draft headlined by Brandon Sproat and Nolan McLean. He is quickly becoming as important as any minor league position player.

A.J. Ewing is one of the fastest rising Mets prospects and we got him for losing Jacob deGrom

The 20-year-old hit .400/.506/.616 in 81 plate appearances in St. Lucie. A little light on power with just 3 doubles and a home run, Ewing is a speedster who managed to knock 4 triples before his promotion to Brooklyn. He has made the most of it. Through 9 games, Ewing has already homered, smacked 3 doubles, and tripled all while slashing .316/.381/.526. He has stolen 7 bases in 8 attempts to fully match the pace of 14 stolen bases in 16 tries he had in 18 games for St. Lucie. As a left-handed hitter in Brooklyn, he’s bound for some regression.

The immediate first thought to see someone play this well in the minors as a compensatory draft pick is to relate it back to David Wright. By now, everyone knows the story of how the Mets were able to select him. The school system in Denver called Mike Hampton to leave the Mets after one year. As a result, the Mets were able to draft Wright with an extra draft pick. He’d go on to become one of the most important, talented, and eternally loved players in New York sports history.

That’s a lot of pressure for Ewing to live up to. He’s hardly alone. Plenty of other compensation picks have fallen by the wayside.

Ewing is a long way from a big league impact, but the statistics are finally beginning to match where he ranked in preseason rankings. Similar to Jett Williams in a lot of ways but already more of a center fielder than anything else, his continued success continues to ease any heartache of fans who still have a deGrom jersey hanging in the closet.