Mets Minors 2024 Prospects: No. 1 Jett Williams

No. 1: Jett Williams, INF/OF

B/T: R/R      Age: 20 (11/03/03)
Ht: 5’6″        Weight: 175 lbs
Acquired: Selected in the first round (14th overall) by the Mets in the 2022 draft.
ETA: 2025   Previous Rank: 5
2023 Stats: 121 G, .263/.425/.451/.876, 13 HR, 108 H, 55 RBIs, 45 SB
– Single-A (79 games), High-A (36 games), Double-A (six games)

Disclaimer: All prospects rankings were made in the preseason and have not been adjusted for play in 2024.

Williams’ first full professional season is in the books, and it earned him a boost all the way to the top of the Mets’ prospect rankings.

Some might argue Drew Gilbert deserves to be first; Williams and Gilbert have different skillsets, and they’re undoubtedly the Mets’ top two prospects, but which one of them is “better” varies on who you ask. FanGraphs slightly prefers Gilbert, ranking him the No. 52 prospect in baseball with Williams only barely behind at No. 54. MLB Pipeline, on the other hand, narrowly likes Williams better, putting him at No. 43 with Gilbert at No. 50.

In any case, Williams represents one of the brightest spots in the Mets’ future, and he only just finished his teenage years.

After getting a taste of pro baseball with 10 Rookie ball games in 2022, Williams began last season with Single-A St. Lucie. He spent more than half the minor league season there and continued to develop an advanced approach at the plate that raised some eyebrows among scouts and casual fans alike. Though his batting average was a modest .249, his OBP was a whopping .422. He actually had more walks than hits — 69 to 65 — and struck out only seven more times than he walked.

Keep in mind that Williams was doing this as a 19-year-old. Even Brandon Nimmo, who’s become known for his plate discipline at the big league level, didn’t post numbers quite that pristine when he was at Williams’ age and level. It’s impressive for any player to show that kind of maturity at the plate, but it’s even more eye-popping for a teenager.

Williams, who was drafted as a shortstop, also added the outfield to his game. He made his center field debut for St. Lucie on April 16 and ended up playing 118 innings there (compared to 481 at shortstop). He showed a prowess on the base paths, too, with 32 stolen bases. He was only caught stealing six times.

It all earned Williams a midseason promotion to High-A Brooklyn, where he got even better. In 36 games, he posted a 1.018 OPS. His batting average jumped to .299, and his walk rate rose from 19.9% in St. Lucie to 20.4%. He walked more than he struck out, with 33 compared to 32. Though the sample size was relatively smaller, his production increased against theoretically tougher competition.

Williams was the primary shortstop for Brooklyn, though he got five starts in center field as well.

He got a taste of Double-A at the end, playing six games for Binghamton down the stretch. The sample size is too small to make anything out of — in one direction or the other — but he went 5-for-22 with a .308 OBP and one extra-base hit.

Williams is an interesting type of player, standing at only 5-foot-6 and not possessing a ton of raw power. He doesn’t fit the typical mold of someone you’d expect to be drafted in the first round, but his plate discipline makes it quickly apparent why so many people think highly of him. Add in his speed on the bases, plus his ability to play a premium position (whether it’s shortstop or center field), and you have a really complete player. Power might be one of his weaker tools, if not his weakest, but he still hit double-digit home runs last year, which could just be the cherry on top for a player who does so many other things well.

2024 Role

For Williams, this season will be all about mastering the upper levels of the minors. He handled Single-A and High-A with little problem; now it’s time to see if he can do the same in Double-A.

If he does, he’ll almost certainly get a promotion to Triple-A at some point in 2024. He probably won’t debut in the majors until next season, unless he really tears the cover off of Double and Triple-A and forces the Mets’ hand. Expect him to get substantial time at both levels in 2024, assuming all goes well and he remains healthy.

Come 2025 — or maybe even late 2024 — he should be making his highly anticipated MLB debut.

• No. 2 Drew Gilbert 
• No. 3 Luisangel Acuña
• No. 4 – Ryan Clifford
• No. 5 – Christian Scott
• No. 6 – Marco Vargas
• No.7 – Ronny Mauricio
• No.8- Kevin Parada
• No.9 – Jeremy Rodríguez 
• No. 10 – Mike Vasil
• No. 11 – Colin Houck
• No. 12 – Blade Tidwell
• No. 13 – Yovanny Rodriguez
• No. 14 – Dom Hamel
• No. 15 – Brandon Sproat
• No. 16—Jacob Reimer
• No. 17—Jesus Baez
• No. 18—Boston Baro
• No. 19—Ronald Hernandez
• No. 20—Alex Ramírez
• No. 21-25
• No. 26-30

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