Former top NY Mets prospect may get an opportunity to be his new team's Carson Benge

One season wrapped up last night with confetti and a Lombardi Trophy, while another is just starting to roll carts of gear onto backfields in warmer weather across Arizona and Florida. As NFL headlines fade after the Super Bowl, New York Mets fans are turning their attention to a different kind of competition, the one that plays out during camp when roster battles and early impressions begin shaping what Opening Day could look like.

With players reporting to camp and depth charts still written in pencil, situations around the league can change quickly this time of year. Sometimes it comes from strong play, and in other cases, a well-timed trade reshapes an infield and opens opportunities that did not exist just days earlier. A former Mets prospect is already seeing that shift, now appearing as his new club’s projected Opening Day shortstop before spring games even get underway.

Former Mets prospect Jett Williams is projected as Brewers Opening Day shortstop

The dominoes started falling early this morning when the Boston Red Sox and Milwaukee Brewers completed a six-player trade that sent Caleb Durbin to Boston. Durbin started 119 games at third base for Milwaukee last season, so his departure immediately created movement across the infield. Trades like this rarely stop at one position, and Milwaukee’s depth chart wasted no time rearranging itself.

FanGraphs now lists Joey Ortiz at third base after handling most of the shortstop duties last year, and that shift places Jett Williams into the projected Opening Day shortstop spot. Williams, who arrived in Milwaukee alongside Brandon Sproat in the deal for Freddy Peralta, now heads into camp with an opening created by that infield shuffle.

The setup should look familiar to Mets fans heading into camp. The Mets’ trade of Brandon Nimmo for Marcus Semien helped open a projected spot for Carson Benge, putting him into a similar spring situation. A trade creates the lane, and spring training will determine who keeps it.

Baseball always finds a way to connect storylines you did not expect to share a headline. Spring does not promise anything, but it does give players a stage, and right now, Williams and Benge are walking toward it with a chance to turn a projected opportunity into an Opening Day introduction.