Jett Williams

With the 14th overall pick, the New York Mets selected Jett Williams, SS, out of Rockwall-Heath High School in Rockwall, Texas. The 14th overall pick was the Mets’ second selection of the first round. Metsmerized Online’s Dilip Sridhar detailed the 11th overall selection, where the team selected C Kevin Parada with the 11th overall pick.

Williams was ranked as the No. 15 draft prospect by Baseball America, No. 17 by FanGraphs, and No. 21 by MLB. He’s 5’8” and 175 pounds, but he stands upright and has solid bat speed. Williams is a plus runner with a 6.50 60-yard dash time. His instincts, reads, and speed should allow him to stick up the middle or in centerfield.

Here is a writeup from Baseball America on Williams:

“Williams stands with an upright stance and his hands close to his chest. Williams strides into the ball, drawing his hands back in time prior to contact. His plus bat speed is eye-opening, resulting in higher exit velocities off the barrel and gap shots you wouldn’t expect to come from someone of his age and stature. Scouts marvel at his ability to track spin and use all fields, which gives the notion that the transition into professional baseball should come with little restraint. Williams is a plus runner, turning in 60-yard dash times around 6.5 seconds. It’s not a rare occurrence to see him turn a single into a double and a double into a triple. Defensively, Williams’ plus speed, quickness, reads and instincts give scouts everything they look for in a center fielder. He has the ability to go deep in the gaps to make the difficult play and combines his defense with a solid-average arm. Throughout the year, Williams has also shown the ability to play up the middle on the dirt, adding to his versatility. Depending on which scout you talk to, the defensive future for Williams changes, but all agree it will be in the middle of the field somewhere.”

Here is a writeup from FanGraphs on Williams:

“Williams is a plus athlete and a 70 runner, a short-levered gap-to-gap hitter who added significant strength between his showcase summer and senior year of high school. He’s capable at all three up-the-middle positions but might trend toward CF/2B and off of shortstop due to issues with his arm. While on the surface his power ceiling seems limited by his frame, this is one of those prospects who is “short but not small,” and Williams is very physical in the arms and lower body. Even before he beefed up, Williams was banging balls to both gaps. His compact frame helps him get on top of letter-high fastballs, but he’ll also dip with his lower half to barrel pitches down. He had a very impressive 5-to-1 balls-in-play to swinging strike ratio on the showcase circuit, better than Termarr Johnson and Jackson Holliday, albeit in a smaller sample. He’s a top-of-the-order catalyst likely to stay up the middle of the field, and there might be sneaky pop here, too.”

Here is a writeup from MLB on Williams:

“With quick hands, feel for the barrel and a quality right-handed stroke, Williams rarely swings and misses and makes line-drive contact with ease. He has no problem handling premium velocity or quality breaking pitches, and his size belies his power. He should produce at least 15 homers per year with his bat speed and deceptive strength, perhaps more if he gets more aggressive about pulling pitches.”

“Williams has at least plus speed and knows how to use his quickness on the bases and in the field. He has the hands and actions for shortstop, but he didn’t throw well during the summer when his shoulder was bothering him. Some evaluators believe he has solid arm strength when healthy and can stay at short, while others think his arm is more fringy to average and he’ll wind up at second base or center field.”

ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel provided the following clip of Williams’ skillset:

Adding two top-14 picks in Parada and Williams to a farm system critiqued for being a bit top-heavy will do the Mets’ organization wonders. The club hopes tonight will be a memorable night to look back on many years from now. It’s time for Jett to board a jet and head east to New York.