Why the Mets are taking a chance on promoting top prospect A.J. Ewing and what scouts see

The Mets are desperate, obviously. They had to try something, anything to give angry fans a reason to cling to any sort of hope at Citi Field as a six-game homestand opens Tuesday night. Or, in truth, a reason not to boo from the jump.

So here come A.J. Ewing, and under ordinary circumstances David Stearns wouldn’t be calling up a 21-year old kid with all of 12 games at Triple-A under his belt. But under these circumstances it’s the right move to make, and not just because Stearns knows that fans want to run him out of town.

That is, it’s right because Ewing might just have the game to make it pay dividends.

At least that’s the opinion of scouts I’ve spoken to, before and after Monday night’s decision, via sources, to call up Ewing.

“If you’re looking for a spark, like they are, he’s got the game to bring energy,” one scout told me Monday night. “He’s got great speed. He’ll steal a base, he’ll make a diving play. He gets really good jumps in the outfield -- he’s a natural in center field.

“Whether he’ll hit major league pitching right away, that’s always the toughest thing to project. But he’s got the tools for it. His swing is short and quick to the ball, and he has a knack for fouling off pitches to keep at-bats alive until he gets a pitch he can handle. He adapted quickly to Triple-A pitching, so I wouldn’t bet against him.”

As the Mets’ fourth-round pick out of high school in Ohio in the 2023 MLB Draft, the left-handed-hitting Ewing has exceeded projections as he has excelled offensively and moved up quickly in the minors.

Last season Ewing moved up two levels as he put up numbers, finishing the season in Double A, where he hit .339 in 28 games. He began this year in Double A and was hitting .349 with a 1.051 OPS after 18 games, forcing his way to Triple-A as he began to show power in addition to his contact skills.

He was hitting everything his first week in Triple-A, and though he cooled recently, he was still hitting .326 with a .392 on-base percentage at the time of his call-up, with five stolen bases -- and never caught stealing.

In short, he profiles as an obvious leadoff hitter, and you’d have to think he’ll be in that spot on Tuesday against the , which would allow to slide back to the No. 2 or 3 spot, especially considering Soto has been slumping since being moved to leadoff himself.