A. J. Ewing

[Frayed Knot]

A. J. Ewing is a guy 'on the rise' in the NYM system according to the prospect gurus at mlb.com

Another small-ish (5' 11" / 160) offensive guy, he was a 4th round draft pick in 2003 out of an Ohio HS between Cincinnati & Dayton.

Listed as a 2B/OF, he is said to have "plus speed" and is starting to look like a "potential plus defender" in CF. He's also cut down on the K-rate in his 2nd year of pro ball which had been split in 2025 between low-A & high-A where his .312/.413/.436 slash line shows a very good walk rate though with below average power.

Turns 21 on Sunday

[Edgy MD]

Good pick. He kind of reads like a righthanded-throwing Dykstra to me, hopefully without the Dykstra-ness.

[Cowtipper]

Ewing dominated across the board in 2025, hitting .400/.506/.615 in 65 ABs for St. Lucie, .288/.387/.388 in 299 ABs for Brooklyn and .339/.371/.430 in 121 ABs for Binghamton. Between all three stops, he stole 70 bases and had 10 triples, hitting a combined .315/.401/.429.

[MFS62]

Ewing, was promoted to Triple-A on Monday after tearing up Double-A Binghamton.

In 81 plate appearances over 18 games for Binghamton this season, Ewing slashed .349/.481/.571 (1.053 OPS) with two homers, six doubles, one triple, and 12 stolen bases.

Later

[Edgy MD]

Ewing's Syracuse debut couldn't have gone better, with him leading off, going three for four, with a walk, a double, a triple, two runs scored and three RBI in a 10-4 cakewalk over Lehigh Valley.

Binghamton, on the other hand, was so sorry to see him go that they got no-hit.

[Edgy MD]

The start he is off to in AAA has gone from hot to insane, as he is 11 for his first 22 at-bats.

Overall, between AA and AAA, we're talking .388 / .500 / .588 // 1.088 on the season, and that's through 106 plate appearances.  Plus, he's stolen 12 bases in 13 tries, just to be a dick.

That's moving into Ty Cobb's neighborhood.

[Frayed Knot]

On 8/7/2025 at 10:12 PM, Edgy MD said:

He kind of reads like a righthanded-throwing Dykstra to me, hopefully without the Dykstra-ness.

I was thinking a decent comp might be Gregg Jefferies. Similarly sized, Jefferies came up about six weeks after turning 20 (while Ewing turns 22 in August).  

Jefferies went on to play 14 seasons in MLB for six different clubs ending with a 107 OPS+ [117 for years 1-9, 88 for his final six seasons] but played his last game while still a few months shy of age 33. The biggest downside was that he wasn't a particularly good defensive player and so put up most of those stats as a 1B/LF/3B/DH (plus some 2B where he was nothing special anyway). The point being that those somewhat above average offensive numbers start to lose some shine when they come from the lesser end of the defensive spectrum. 

But if Ewing can put up Jefferies-like offense -- near-.300 BA (.293) / .350 OBA with doubles by the bushel-full and just shy of 200 SBs -- while also providing speed and better defensive (CF?) contributions, I'd take it in a heartbeat.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I remember when Jefferies came up in 1988, everyone (not literally, of course) assumed he'd be a superstar and started hoarding his baseball cards, anticipating that a rookie Gregg Jefferies card would have a similar value to a rookie Mickey Mantle.

I'm pleased to say that I wasn't one of those people, but I did anticipate him having a better career than the one he ultimately had. 

[Frayed Knot]

So the 2023 draft is working out pretty well so far for the Mets

- 4th round: AJ Ewing

- 3rd round: Nolan McLean

2nd round: Brandon Sproat

And the one who is Not working out so well to date is 1st rounder (32nd overall) Colin Houck, a SS out of a Georgia HS. He's currently OPS'ing 639 in Brooklyn although is still just 21 y/o so certainly time to ripen.

Ewing is the second 4th round pick from the 2023 draft to make his ML debut. Kristian Campbell, also listed as a 2B/OF, made the Red Sox roster on opening day but was a college pick and so is two+ years older than Ewing.

[MFS62]

I thought Edgy had adopted Ewing.

You got yourself a good young'un. 

Later