Mets top prospect Jett Williams proud of 2023 season, aims to make big league debut in 2024
Listening to Jett Williams speak for 10 minutes, it’s pretty clear he doesn’t lack confidence. Why should he? He’s just coming off the end of his first professional season, one that saw him shoot through the Mets farm system like a rocket and finish with Double-A, a year removed from playing in high school and still just 19 years old.
As it turns out, Williams’ season went just how he hoped it would.
“Just being 19 years old finishing in Double-A, I feel like that was probably my proudest moment for me and that was a goal I had at the beginning of the season to finish in Double-A at 19,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Drafted 14th overall in the 2022 MLB Draft, Williams began his 2023 season in Low-A where he played in 79 games, slashing .249/.422/.410 and excelling enough to be promoted to High-A. In Brooklyn, when he wasn’t getting woken up at 3 a.m. by sirens and cars honking, the Texas native did even better with a .299/.451/.567 slashline and a ridiculous 1.018 OPS.
Those numbers led to Williams winning the Mets Minor League Player of the Year award for 2023.
After the Cyclones’ season was over, Williams figured so was his. The Mets had other plans.
“It’s been awesome,” Williams said. “I thought my season was over in Brooklyn, which was kind of funny because we were in a playoff push there and then once our season ended they told me ‘hey you’re going to Double-A’ which I enjoyed the last two weeks of the season. It’s good to get that taste of it and get ready for the offseason.”
In six regular season games with Double-A Binghamton, Williams finished with a .227 batting average and .581 OPS. However, the 19-year-old did hit a home run in the postseason and walked six times, something he takes great pride in.
In fact, in 442 regular season at-bats this season, Williams walked 108 times to go along with 116 hits.
“There are sometimes that obviously I’d love to hit, but it’s honestly just taking what they give you,” he said about his plate discipline. “Not being too aggressive sometimes, but honestly being a leadoff hitter, where I hit throughout most of the season, for me it was just getting on base and getting into scoring position to help the team win.”
He added how, as a 19-year-old, he’s so good at recognizing pitches and working his walks at an age where a lot of hitters struggle with that.
“I feel like it’s just God-given, the ability to read the pitches out of the pitcher’s hand,” Williams said. “A lot of times I like to look at videos of the pitchers before the game and just go from there. See the release height and everything, but for me it was just ever since I was in high school I just knew that I had a really, really good eye at the plate and I’m not gonna chase or swing at bad pitches.”
Williams’ plate discipline was so impressive, manager Buck Showalter would often bring it up with reporters, unprompted.
Barring something incredible, the No. 3 overall prospect in the Mets system will start the season next year at Double-A. Where he’ll end the season remains to be seen, but Williams has his eyes set on the big prize – the big leagues.
“For me I feel like that’s definitely a reachable goal,” he said. “Obviously it’s a very hard goal just because that’s the end goal, that’s where everybody wants to end up.”
Well, he reached his goal this season, why not next season? Especially considering that he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to the majors as soon as possible, including changing his position.
A natural shortstop, the 5-foot-6 Williams already got a taste of this when he played some center field this season, a position he played his junior year of high school and what he called “pretty easy.”
“Wherever to best help the team,” Williams said about where he could play defensively. “I enjoy playing shortstop but if I need to play second, short, center wherever best helps the team.”
He added: “Whatever helps me get to the big leagues the fastest.”
