Promising NY Mets prospect finally heating up, looking like a solution

A weak spot on the roster has a funny way of turning into an invitation. The New York Mets do not need a giant flashing sign to know first base has been more question mark than answer, and that kind of uncertainty tends to get noticed down on the farm. For a young hitter, this is usually the part where a hot start gets people whispering, then talking, then wondering if a timeline might need a little editing.

That is what makes this moment so interesting. Baseball loves a well-timed entrance, the kind where a prospect gets rolling just as the big league club starts looking around the room for help. Those are the stories that write themselves. The tension here is that this setup has been sitting there, almost gift-wrapped, and instead of building momentum toward that kind of buzz, the story has opened with a little too much silence.

Mets prospect Ryan Clifford is letting a real first base opportunity slip away

The New York Mets are not just 7-15 and riding an 11-game losing streak; they are playing the kind of baseball that makes fans start bargaining with the television. The offense has fueled much of it, ranking bottom 2 in MLB in fewest runs scored and bottom 10 in team batting average. First base has been sitting right in the middle of that wreck.

Four different players have already been used there in 21 games, including Jorge Polanco, Jared Young, Brett Baty, and Mark Vientos. Two of those options are now hurt, with Polanco dealing with a nagging Achilles and a wrist issue and Young out 6-8 weeks after torn meniscus surgery. That stings a little more because Young had actually been the one showing the most life, hitting .350 before the injury and giving the Mets their best early production at first base.

Baty and Vientos have not done much to steady things, as they are in the middle of going 4-for-58 with 3 RBI, while bringing shaky defense at times as well. On a team starving for offense, that is the kind of production that should have made this a golden ticket moment for Ryan Clifford. Up until Saturday’s doubleheader against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, Clifford has not been giving the Mets much reason to speed up anything. If Clifford were showing even a little of the hitter who had 29 homers and 93 RBI last season, Mets fans would have gladly Venmo’d David Stearns money to cover the Uber from the airport and get him into this lineup.

Prior to Saturday, Clifford was hitting .211/.297/.281 with no home runs, two RBI, and 26 strikeouts in 57 at-bats, which had turned what should have been pressure on the front office into an easy excuse to wait. Then came a 4-for-6 day with two homers and five RBI, bumping his batting average more than 40 points and his OPS more than 140 points. Clifford had a path to a lifetime supply of chocolate, but right now, he is still standing outside the factory gates. After Saturday, though, maybe he is finally starting to fight his way back into the tour.

For a prospect trying to debut sooner than planned, that may be the part worth watching now. If Saturday was the start of something, maybe Clifford can keep the factory gates open a little longer. Otherwise, you can almost hear the Oompa Loompas singing, “What do you get when you can’t hit the ball? A missed big league chance when opportunity calls”.

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