2 Mets prospects whose stock will skyrocket this year, 1 whose will plummet

Mets prospect Jaylen Palmer has a lot to improve in order to avoid seeing his stock plummet

Jaylen Palmer is a Brooklyn native who went to school in Flushing so there’s already a great story about him rising up the minor league ranks and making it to the Mets. A member of the organization since 2018, he hasn’t done a whole lot.

His first two years were productive but last year’s return after the absent pandemic year of 2020 was not so great. He batted .244/.354/.368. Palmer can draw walks well but he also strikes out a ton. He fanned a total of 146 times last year in 460 trips to the plate. This could be overlooked if he was hitting for a lot of power. This isn’t the type of player he is. Palmer has only 14 professional home runs in 192 games. Over this course, he has 281 strikeouts.

Palmer was already in a tough spot within this organization to get overlooked. Ronny Mauricio is the top middle infielder you’ve heard about plenty in recent years. Palmer, a guy who has also seen some outfield action as well, may only be able to save his stock from falling if he becomes a credible center field option for the organization. Oh, cutting down on the strikeouts would be pretty important, too. Pitching will only get better as he advances.

MLB.com has him at number 14 for the Mets. A couple of nice tools at his disposal, such as speed and his batting eye, Palmer will need to add at least one more to avoid getting passed by the next cluster of draft picks.