Lucas Ritter He may not be as well-known a name as the Mets’ top-ranked prospects, but the slugger continues to make himself known at Triple-A Syracuse.
Ritter got off to a bit of a slow start after being selected in the seventh round of the 2019 Draft out of Wichita State, but he quickly solidified himself as one of the best power hitters in the entire system.
After hitting two home runs as part of a four-RBI effort during Syracuse’s win on Friday night, he added two more during Sunday afternoon’s victory.
Ritter has now recorded a combined 43 home runs and 114 RBIs in his final 168 games dating to last season, split between Syracuse and Double-A Binghamton.
While the slugger continues to produce high strikeout numbers, with 215 in that span, he is still hitting .261 and has been able to post an extremely impressive .370 on-base percentage.
So not only has Ritter been stripping the ball, he’s also an on-base machine.
On top of that, he has shown tremendous defensive versatility, logging at least one appearance at every position except pitcher and catcher throughout his college and minor league career.
Once again, the 27-year-old is nowhere near the level of some of the top prospects in the system, but he has shown more than enough to deserve his first chance to see what he can do at the Major League level.
With new President of Baseball Operations David Stearns At the helm, the Mets have been quick to cut ties with some of the dead weight on their roster during the early months of the season.
DJ Stewart He began to turn things around after a slow start to the season, but quickly found himself stuck in another rut as his playing time dwindled with the team red-hot. JD Martínez assuming full-time position at DH.
Since Stewart still has minor league options remaining, he should be optioned back to Triple-A if his struggles continue to get him more reps and help him regain some confidence at the plate, as Brett Baty.
While New York may prefer a left-handed bat to fill his spot, there is no clear option that fits that criteria, and Ritter is one of the top-performing prospects currently with the Triple-A ball club.
If that ends up being the case, he would provide a powerful right-handed hitter off the bench, and with his defensive versatility he should be able to crack the lineup virtually every day.
But if they decide to go elsewhere, we should expect to see Ritter make his major league debut sometime this summer, especially if he continues to win and the club finds itself selling at the deadline.
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