A silver lining the NY Mets can’t ignore from A.J. Ewing’s second-half slump

Even as the rest of the New York Mets team around him has begun to play much better in the second half, rookie center fielder A.J. Ewing appears to have hit a rookie wall late in the summer. Since the All-Star break, he's hitting a paltry .191/.261/.241 (44 wRC+), as his OPS has dropped a whopping 287 points from the first half.

The struggles extend to nearly every part of his game, as his walk rate has fallen, his strikeout rate has risen, and his hard-hit rate has collapsed. That's not to say that he's destined to fail at the major-league level -- he only just turned 22 and his problems appear fixable -- but it is a reminder that development in baseball is rarely linear.

In other words, Ewing isn't a finished product quite yet, and tasking him with starting every single day without a solid backup plan in place next year is probably asking for trouble.

The Mets must find reliable backup center fielder to alleviate burden on A.J. Ewing's shoulders

While it's nice to have the reminder that a quality fourth outfielder who can play center field should be high on the list of the front office's priorities this offseason, it also poses an open-ended question: Who should the Mets target to fill that role?

The internal options are, to say the least, limited. Luis Robert Jr would have been perfect, but he's too expensive and now the Baltimore Orioles' problem. Of the players currently on the 40-man roster, top prospect Nick Morabito is really the only other capable center fielder, though backing up a second-year player (Ewing in 2027) with a rookie kind of defeats the purpose.

That should turn our attention to the upcoming free-agent market, which isn't exactly rife with center fielders. There's a few old friends (Robert, Cedric Mullins) who we shouldn't expect a reunion with, as well as one (Tyrone Taylor) who would be welcomed back with open arms.

Perhaps the best options are players like Myles Straw and Victor Robles: veterans who are solid defensively and possess some (limited) offensive upside. Think Kevin Pillar circa 2021 (88 wRC+, +2 Fielding Run Value) or Tommy Pham in 2023 (124 wRC+, -1 FRV). That's the type of fourth outfielder the Mets should be honing in on.

Thankfully, unlike previous years when the Mets have tried to stuff a square peg into a round hole by trying to make full-time starters out of guys like Jose Siri and Harrison Bader, the goal now is simply to find a capable backup for Ewing. There's less pressure in trying to do that, though failing to do so could put the roster in an uncomfortable position if Ewing slumps hard again in 2027.

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