Mets’ Jett Williams Offers Rare Power-Speed Blend

The challenge in trying to classify 19-year-old shortstop Jett Williams is trying to determine whether he’s a speed guy with power or vice versa.

He might be his own separate category.

“He’s got more power than most of the speed guys I have seen, and more athleticism than most of the power guys I have seen, so he is pretty unique,” Mets farm director Kevin Howard said. “His skill set is rare.”

The 14th overall selection in last year’s draft from high school in Texas, the 5-foot-8, 175-pound Williams is a throwback to the days of smaller shortstops. The Mets view his offense as more advanced than his defense.

Williams’ pitch selection and ability to find the barrel are two of his biggest assets, according to Howard, but Williams’ desire to succeed might be his carrying tool. 

“He is a guy who just lives and breathes baseball,” Howard said. “That is going to be the driving factor that is going to make him better than everybody else, because I just think he wants it more.

“He’s really gifted too, even against the older pitching we have had in the intrasquad games and he looks like he hasn’t missed a beat. He hits a bunch of barrels, he’s got a bunch of speed.”

In a 10-game pro debut in the Florida Complex League, Williams went 8-for-32 (.250) with three extra-base hits and six stolen bases.

Williams—selected three spots behind catcher Kevin Parada in the first round last year—but Howard said that is more of a difference in experience than in talent.

“The college guys are close to the big leagues. It’s more relevant (and) it’s more exciting to envision (Parada) on how he would fit on the current roster,” Howard said.

“I don’t think Jett is that far away, but certainly the roster is going to look different by the time you are trying to fit him, whereas Parada you could probably imagine that scenario a little bit sooner.”