NY Mets prospect seems bound to go through growing pains, that’s no reason to hold him back

While the MJ Melendez light begins to dim, the New York Mets can contemplate who some of the future replacements could be for him on the roster. Jared Young can return from the IL and replace him, sending Melendez back to the minors to take advantage of his minor league options for this season. There’s also Ryan Clifford who’d pack the most excitement.

A first baseman/corner outfielder who seems like he could solve a lot of the future Mets roster problems if successful, Clifford has the abundantly obvious downside of being a candidate to struggle in the majors. He hasn’t been manhandled by lefties this year despite swinging from the left-side. With monster power and also a tendency to strike out plenty too, he’s the kind of young player you’d be happy to see “signs” from rather than actual results.

Now probably isn’t the time to call up Clifford who’s now batting .227/.299/.427 with 7 home runs and 23 RBI. He shouldn’t be in the majors unless he’ll play regularly, a situation possible at the moment that isn’t disappearing anytime soon. Just because Clifford appears to be someone who’d go through growing pains doesn’t mean the Mets shouldn’t pull the trigger prematurely just as they probably did with Carson Benge.

When is the right time to call up Ryan Clifford?

Timing will be everything with a Clifford promotion with the intent to help the Mets rather than let him get his feet wet. An August promotion, for instance, can really happen at any time. That’d be a learning experience post-trade deadline when the Mets have presumably sold.

In May, June, or July, the Mets shouldn’t be so hesitant to call him up as long as the Spidey senses tell them to. They waited it out with Benge’s early struggles and were rewarded. A.J. Ewing took off running immediately. He’ll face adversity, but by calling him up while on a roll, he didn’t seem to miss much of a step.

The idea of ruining Clifford or any other prospect’s confidence by calling them up early is a weak one. In Clifford’s case especially, you almost have to expect him to hit for a low average. The goal with having him on a roster trying to compete this year is to have him run into a few home runs.

The 64 strikeouts in 167 plate appearances has him a tick over 38% for punchouts. It’s huge in the minor leagues. We’d have to prepare ourselves for worse results in the majors. Brett Baty has the worst K% among qualified players on the major league Mets this year. He’s only at 26.6%.

The goal with Clifford should be to cut down on the strikeouts yet not worry about eliminating them entirely. That’d be like waiting for Mark Vientos to improve his sprint speed before calling him up to the majors. Some skills will always lack.

Yet to master Triple-A pitching, the Mets have three roads to go down with Clifford. They can call him up sooner than later to try to save the season. They can call it quits on the 2026 regular season and let him start the major league learning process later on. There’s also a chance we see them treat him similarly to Pete Alonso in 2018 when he wasn’t called up at all despite a lost year. If Clifford is struggling in the minor leagues, having him perform worse in the majors for a month or so might not be so wise.

Some players you just know when they’re ready. With Clifford, there’s a lot of acceptance the Mets will need.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow