NEW YORK -- Speed has always been a part of A.J. Ewing’s prospect profile. On-base acumen, absolutely. Power? Not so much.
Yet Ewing, who hit just three home runs last season in the Minors, needed only three games to launch his first as a big leaguer. The recent callup took Tigers right-hander Keider Montero deep in the third inning of a 9-4 win at Citi Field on Thursday, hitting a 93.2 mph fastball a Statcast-projected 405 feet off the roof of the home bullpen.
“He’s more known for a guy that’s going to hit the ball gap-to-gap, he’s going to control the strike zone,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It’s more like a line-drive [swing]. But hey, he’s only 21. The power is usually what comes last. He’s short to the ball. It’s a compact swing. So I’m not surprised by it.”
Ewing’s home run indeed came on a swing with 6.4 feet of length, according to Statcast data, or a foot shorter than the Major League average. Yet it rocketed off his bat at 110.5 mph, making it by far the hardest-hit ball of Ewing’s young career. Since bat tracking data went public in 2023, only two players -- Oneil Cruz of the Pirates and Corey Seager of the Rangers -- have hit a homer that hard on a swing that short.
It was also the second extra-base hit of Ewing’s career, following an RBI triple in his Major League debut. Counting the homer, Ewing reached base safely in six of his first 10 Major League plate appearances. He’s the first Met to record a triple and a home run for his first two career hits, and just the seventh Major Leaguer to do so in the past 20 years.
For Ewing, the early accolades (and souvenir baseballs, which he has been stacking on his desk at home) go on and on. In his first 13 plate appearances, Ewing has reached base safely seven times, with a single and four walks in addition to his homer and triple. He also stole a base in his big-league debut and scored the winning run from second base in Wednesday’s walk-off.
Yet despite his advanced approach at the plate, Ewing has never featured much over-the-fence power, hitting 15 homers in 1,099 Minor League plate appearances prior to his callup. MLB Pipeline gave his power a 40 grade on the 20-80 scouting scale, which is below-average for a big leaguer.
Ewing’s extra-base pop has shown up more frequently in his ability to shoot balls to the gaps, resulting in 49 doubles and 15 triples as a Minor Leaguer.
“I think it can be a part of my game,” Ewing said of hitting the ball over the fence. “I don’t think it’s going to be my identity. I want to spray the ball, hit a lot of line drives and put myself in position to get on base a lot. But when I catch stuff out front, it can happen for sure.”