Andrew Joseph Ewing attended Springboro High School in Springboro, Ohio, where he was a multi-sport athlete who also played football. A baseball rat, his skill on the diamond quickly began outpacing his skill on the gridiron, earning him All-Conference First Team honors in his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons and All-Southwestern Ohio Conference honors in his junior season. He was named named the 2023 Great Western Ohio Conference Player of the Year in his senior season after winning the triple crown, hitting .464 with four home runs and 37 RBI.
The Mets had a selection in the free agent compensation round of the 2023 MLB Draft, which they obtained when Jacob deGrom signed with the Texas Rangers, and with it, they selected shortstop A.J. Ewing. The youngster had a commitment to the University of Alabama but forwent it when he and the organization agreed to a $675,000 signing bonus, roughly $200,000 above the MLB-assigned slot value of $483,000 for the 134th overall pick. He was assigned to the FCL Mets to close out the summer and appeared in seven games with them, hitting .286/.524/.357 in 14 at-bats with 1 double, 1 stolen base in as many attempts, and 5 walks to 6 strikeouts.
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He remained in the Florida Complex League when the 2024 season began and got off to a hot start there. In 19 games, he hit .254/.422/.571 with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 5 home runs, 5 stolen bases in 6 attempts, and 19 walks to 22 strikeouts. He was promoted to the Single-A St. Lucie Mets in June and spent the rest of the season in the Florida State League, hitting .228/.345/.344 in 71 games with 10 doubles, 2 triples, 5 home runs, 8 stolen bases in 13 attempts, and drew 44 walks to 87 strikeouts. All in all, he appeared in 90 games in his first full professional season and hit a cumulative .233/.361/.390 with 13 doubles, 3 triples, 10 home runs, 13 stolen bases in 19 attempts and drew 63 walks to 109 walks.
The 20-year-old Ewing began the 2025 season in St. Lucie, but he did not stay there long. In 18 games, he hit an astounding .400/.506/.615 with 3 doubles, 4 triples, 1 home run, 14 stolen bases in 16 attempts, and drew 15 walks to 10 strikeouts, earning a promotion to High-A Brooklyn at the end of April. Ewing hit the ground running and thrived in an environment where many players—especially left-handed hitters like him—have trouble. In 88 games for the Cyclones, Ewing hit .288/.387/.388 with 16 doubles, 4 triples, 2 home runs, 44 stolen bases in 51 attempts, and he drew 46 walks to 66 strikeouts.
He was promoted to Double-A Binghamton in mid-August and finished the 2025 season there, hitting .339/.371/.430 in 28 games with 7 doubles, 2 triples, 12 stolen bases in 14 attempts, and he drew 7 walks to 29 strikeouts. All in all, Ewing hit a combined .315/.401/.429 in 124 games between Single-A, High-A, and Double-A, hitting 26 doubles, 10 triples, 3 home runs, stealing 70 bases in 81 attempts, and drawing 68 walks to 105 strikeouts.
Ewing remained in Binghamton to start the 2026 season, but as had been the case over the prior two seasons, he did not stay for long. In 18 games, the 21-year-old hit .349/.481/.571 with 6 doubles, 1 triple, 2 home runs, 12 stolen bases in 13 attempts, and drew 17 walks to 15 strikeouts. He was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse on April 27 and did not miss a beat. In 12 games with the Syracuse Mets, he hit .326/.392/.435 with 3 doubles, 1 triple, 0 home runs, 5 stolen bases in as many attempts, and drew an even 5 walks to 5 strikeouts.
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A natural right-hander who was taught how to hit as a left-hander by a father when he was a kid, Ewing stands square at the plate with a slight crouch, holding his hands high and wrapping his bat behind his head at 9:30. He swings with a slight leg lift or toe tap timing mechanism and has an extremely minimal load and weight transfer.
Ewing dedicated a lot of time and effort to working out and adding muscle mass to his 5’10” frame over the 2025 offseason, but even before making a dedicated effort, he was capable of making loud contact with his long, whippy stroke. As a 19-year-old, he averaged an 88 MPH exit velocity with a high-water mark of 108 MPH in 151 recorded batted ball events in the Florida State Leagu, and now as a 21-year-old, he averaged an 89.2 MPH exit velocity with a high-water mark of 108.8 MPH in 41 batted ball events in the International League. In the interim, where concrete data does not publicly exist, scouts and evaluators have remarked about how balls put in play off his bat pass the “eye” and “ear” tests.
Aiding in his ability to make loud contact and put well-struck balls in play, Ewing makes excellent swing decisions, not just relative to his youth and experience, but in general. For his career, he has a 3:5 walk to strikeout ratio, with a cumulative 14.4% walk rate and 21.8% strikeout rate; over the course of his time in in Double-A, he drew 24 walks in 213 plate appearances to 44 strikeouts, a 11.3% walk rate and 20.7% strikeout rate, and during his time in Triple-A, he drew 5 walks in 51 plate appearances to 5 strikeouts, a 9.8% walk rate and 9.8% strikeout rate.
Ewing rarely swings at pitches that he can’t hit, nor does he swing at everything for the sake of making contact. He goes with pitches, especially fastballs, spraying the ball to all fields. In the totality of 2025, he pulled the ball at a 40.8% rate, went back up the middle at a 21.2% rate, and went to the opposite field at a 38.0% rate. In his month-plus with Binghamton and Syracuse this season, he pulled the ball at a 38.9% rate, went back up the middle at a 30.0% rate, and went to the opposite field at a 31.1% rate. In Binghamton earlier in the season, he had a 46.9% Pull%, 28.6% Cent%, and 24.5% Oppo%, but in an almost equal amount of games in Syracuse, he had a 29.3% Pull%, 31.7% Cent%, and 39.0% Oppo%.
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Speed is Ewing’s carrying tool, and its influence is felt all over his game. One of the fastest sprinters in the Mets’ minor league system, he posts plus speeds out of the box, manufacturing singles busting out of the box and pushing the envelope stretching singles into doubles. As a result, Ewing has maintained a .372 BABIP for the totality of his minor league career, running a .430 BABIP during his time in Double-A and a .366 BABIP during his time in Triple-A. With that, Ewing has developed a style of hitting that maximizes his speed and takes advantage of that high BABIP. In Double-A Binghamton, he maintained a 25.9% line drive rate, 51.5% ground ball rate, 22.6% fly ball rate, and in Triple-A, he maintained a 21.1% line drive rate, 44.4% ground ball rate, 34.4% fly ball rate.
Ewing’s speed is also an asset on defense. Drafted as a shortstop and still technically listed as one despite never playing the position as a professional, Ewing has primarily shifted into center field, though he occasionally plays in a corner and every once in a while gets penciled in at second base as well. In the outfield, he is an above-average, borderline plus fielder, showing plenty of speed and range. He closes in on the ball well, is exceptionally sure-handed, and gets rid of the ball quickly and accurately with a strong arm. Occasionally, he will flub a play by misreading the ball or airmailing a throw, but Ewing has already developed into a legitimate above-average defensive center fielder with the potential to truly be plus with more time and experience out there.
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