What will Mets’ new youth movement actually do?

It’s May 20 and the last-place New York Mets have pivoted to what most non-playoff teams do at some point after the All-Star Break: Let the kids play.

In the last week alone, the Mets have called up three of their top prospects: outfielders A.J. Ewing and Nick Morabito, plus pitcher Zach Thornton, who will make his MLB debut in Washington this evening. The team currently sits 21-27, 11.5 games behind first-place Atlanta, and holds a -10 run differential.

Granted, it’s not as though the Mets made these moves willy-nilly. Thornton, a finesse lefty with low-90s velocity, is in the rotation after Clay Holmes fractured a leg in the Subway Series. Moreover, he’s having a decent year at Triple-A Syracuse while righty Jonah Tong continues to struggle with walks.

Ewing, on the other hand, is there to play elite defense in center field and hopefully do just enough with his bat to stay ahead of Tyrone Taylor on the depth chart. Morabito might not do much with his bat, but is a better fielder than Juan Soto.

Anything to jumpstart a lineup missing Luis Robert Jr., Francisco Lindor and, most recently, Francisco Alvarez. The Mets have the third-worst team wRC+ in baseball, at 88, rank 25th with only 43 home runs, and are also among the worst in walk rate (BB%). The only thing the team does well is not strike out that much, ranking sixth in K%.

Pitching-wise, the Mets actually rank 10th in team ERA at 3.82. Believe it or not, they actually rank in the Top 10 in most of the deeper pitching metrics. The only downside is that the team’s collective Stuff+ sits right at the league average, which in turn results in getting burned by BABIP. Mets pitchers have the ninth-worst in MLB at .292.

But even with bad luck factored in, the Mets’ staff has underperformed save for Nolan McLean. Holmes was already overachieving before his injury. David Peterson looks slightly better than his counting stats, but has still been demoted to a bulk arm in bullpen games. Freddy Peralta has only pitched six innings in three of ten starts. Forget Kodai Senga’s ghost fork, focus more on finding the ghost of who Senga used to be.

Add it all up and what do you get? Simple. The New York Mets, dead last in the NL East and drowning in injuries, are at what I’ve come to call the Baseball Spaghetti Phase.

This is a team throwing literally anything at the wall to see if it sticks. It’s probably only a matter of time before the Mets give No. 3 prospect Ryan Clifford a chance. At least if he can quit hovering around the Mendoza Line.

Stranger things have happened in baseball. The crosstown rival New York Yankees were 14 games out of first place before rallying themselves to their second consecutive World Series. The Mets were a game under .500 before trading for Yoenis Cespedes and making their own run to the Fall Classic.

But neither of those teams were bit by the injury bug as badly as this year’s New York Mets. Between that and generally underachieving—say hi, James Wood’s inside-the-park grand slam—getting above .500 is Sisyphean.

Maybe Ewing proves to be a second coming of Brett Gardner, but in a Mets uniform. Could be that Thornton has some Tom Glavine in him. Morabito could surprise everyone and become just as beloved as another Met who wore No. 8, Gary “Kid” Carter.

One way or another, nothing seems to be working for the Mets in 2026. What better time than now to try literally anything?