Ryan Clifford came over to the Mets in the Justin Verlander trade in 2023. At the end of the 2024 season, MLB.com had Drew Gilbert, also acquired in the Verlander trade, and Clifford as ranked #3 and #4 in the Mets system.
Clifford was drafted right out of high school and immediately put up an .815 OPS over his first 25 games in the Astros system. He started 2023 in A ball and hit an absurd .337/.488/.457. When he got bumped to high A the power really started to click and although his OPS dropped from .944 to .903, he started to hit home runs, knocking 16 out over 58 games.
Things got rough for Clifford right after the trade to the Mets. For the rest of the season he hit .188/.307.376 over 32 games in the same league he was playing in with the Astros. This continued in the start of 2024 where he hit .216/.412/.304 with his second tour with the St. Lucie Mets. The Mets promoted him to Binghamton for the last 99 games of the season and Clifford to a strong step back to the numbers he was putting up in the Houston system. He hit .231/.359/.457 with 18 homers.
Clifford has a lot of pop as a 1B/OF and is only 20 years old. When he was in Binghamton last season he was 3.7 years younger than the average player. His second half showed so much promise that some fans were wondering if he could be a 2025 solution for the Mets if they failed to sign Pete Alonso. It’s pretty clear that Clifford needs at least one more year in the minors. A successful 2025 may factor in the Mets decisions about Pete Alonso after this season.
We are still watching for Ryan Clifford to take steps forward right now. How does fair this spring against major league pitchers and players trying to break camp with the team? Specifically we want to see:
- His power continue to develop
- Getting on base. Clifford has had a high OBP (.378) across the minors despite only hitting .245 – that’s because he works the count. He had 95 walks over 130 games last season.
- Dropping strikeouts. Clifford struck out 140 times over 115 games in 2023. In 2025 he struck out 160 times over 130 games
