Undrafted NY Mets prospect lived up to power hype in 2025

While the New York Mets system includes several high-profile prospects like Nolan McLean, Jett Williams, Ryan Clifford, and 2025 first-rounder Mitch Voit, sometimes there are guys who you've never heard of before that put up surprising numbers.

That's the case with Trace Willhoite, an undrafted free agent out of tiny Lipscomb University. Willhoite signed in March, making him the afterthought of afterthoughts, and was brought in mostly to fill out the roster down in St. Lucie.

Yet when the minor league season began, Willhoite got an opportunity, and he started to hit, and then he hit some more. And then some more. Suddenly, Willhoite was named an FSL All-Star.

Trace Willhoite went from an undrafted free agent to a Mets' minor league success story in 2025

In total, Willhoite played 85 Single-A games, logging 346 plate appearances while slashing .265/.382/.470 with 14 homers and, even more unexpectedly, 14 stolen bases while primarily playing first base.

The production was enticing, and under the hood, the metrics were even more encouraging. Willhoite's power was undeniable with a 14.5% barrel rate and a 45.7% hard hit rate that ranked in the 93rd and 85th percentiles among Single-A hitters, respectively.

He also posted a solid 90.7 miles per hour average exit velocity and a 20.4% pulled air percentage, showing that he was regularly threatening to hit homers.

He complemented those power skills with a stellar 13.6% walk rate while keeping his strikeouts in check, coming in at a reasonable 22% mark.

But before you go telling your friends that you discovered some hot new prospect who must be the reason the Mets let Pete Alonso walk, there are a few other factors to consider. Willhoite turned 25 on November 17, meaning he was just a little over three years older than the average competition in Single-A.

His exceptional performance with St. Lucie got him the call to Hi-A Brooklyn, and in a 19-game sample there, he struggled mightily against slightly more advanced competition.

In 72 Hi-A plate appearances, Willhoite hit just .186/.292/.339 with two homers. He stuck out and eye-watering 40.3% of the time, and he was still two years older than the competition.

That might bring your opinion of him back to earth, but the small sample caveat still does apply.

Willhoite likely won't be cracking the top prospect lists any time soon, and a betting man would say that he's a flash in the pan whose best hope is to hang around for a while as minor league fodder. But if you like to root for the underdog, there's enough there to give him another shot in 2026 to see if he can adapt to Hi-A and keep progressing.

Regardless, he already accomplished more than most, and at minimum has that All-Star nod while giving us all a fun story. Keep your eyes peeled to see what he does because, hey, you never know.