Well, I’m sure that game against old friend Freddy Peralta went exactly how every Mets fan thought it was going to go.

Tuesday night, the Mets dropped game two of a three game set against the Rays by a score of 6-2. Freddy Peralta threw six stellar innings, giving up three hits and one run. Man, imagine where the Mets could be right now if that kind of Freddy showed up all year. Sigh.

The Mets bats were completely lifeless, mustering only three hits and four walks against the Rays staff. The two Met runs came via a Francisco Lindor leadoff home run, and a seventh inning bases loaded Lindor walk. Tuesday night against the Rays was yet another display of the total lack of offensive depth that the Mets have displayed all year. On nights where the top of the lineup doesn’t have much, the bottom of the lineup produces even less. The combination of Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez, and A.J. Ewing was a combined 0-for-9 with five strikeouts. The trio of Mets lineup staples reached base one time, a walk by Ewing.

A.J. Ewing by Berto Carlo

Tuesday continued a very rough stretch for Ewing at the plate. Entering the game, Ewing’s OPS had dropped to .663, and his batting average had dropped to .239. These struggles are magnified in the most recent month. In the month of August, Ewing’s 33 wRC+ ranked tied for sixth lowest of 190 qualified hitters. His .463 OPS ranked fourth lowest of that same qualified hitter sample size. It is normal for young players to struggle when they initially come up. Fellow outfielder Carson Benge had a very rough stretch when he started his MLB career but has settled into a very nice season. However, these players are very different profiles.

Ewing’s calling card throughout the minors was his ability to hit for incredibly high batting averages without much power or walk potential, whereas Benge was a much more complete hitter. What is interesting to me is his struggles with strikeouts. Entering Tuesday, Ewing held a 26.3% strikeout rate, which is much higher than any of his time in the minors during 2025 or 2026. However, it’s not because he’s swinging hard. Typically, we see a direct relationship between strikeout rate and swing speed. As swing speed increases, hitters are much more prone to strikeouts. Ewing is a rare example of this being the opposite. Not only is Ewing not swinging hard, but he is also striking out a ton.

Of the 63 hitters in the bottom 30% of baseball in swing speed, only two players have a higher strikeout rate than Ewing. For the record, I don’t ever think Ewing’s swing speed is going to be super high. And that’s totally okay, much of his game revolves around his bat skills and putting balls in play. However, the strikeout rate being as high as it is can partially be explained by him being overmatched by MLB pitching.

The other part of Ewing’s struggles, other than the natural adjustment to MLB pitching, has been adjustments to how he is being pitched. In the month of June, Ewing saw a season low 48.4% of his pitches were fastballs. During July and August, the fastball rate skyrocketed to 58.8% and 55.4% respectively, however, his success against off-speed and breaking pitches has fallen off a cliff. In the months of July and August, Ewing was 10-for-86 (.116) off of non-fastballs. This is something that is going to take time to develop. However, Ewing’s game is naturally going to benefit from either swinging harder to drive and lift the ball more or adjusting to strikeout fewer so that his speed can get put to use.

The best part about Ewing is how high of a floor he has. As an elite defender and baserunner, even a below average hitter is still going to be a decent starter. However, his ceiling is also incredibly high. If Ewing is able to become an above average, or even league average offensive player, the Mets are looking at one of the best outfield trios in the league.

With the Mets season over, Ewing’s struggles should not deter the Mets from giving him every opportunity possible. Ewing said, “Every time I go through a stretch like this, I figure out more of who I am as a hitter and in the long run, I think it’s a good thing,” which is all you can ask for in terms of attitude. The Mets need to hope that he is able to figure it out, because if the offense can get to the same level as his defense and baserunning, the sky is the limit.