A.j. Ewing Debuts In Center Field For Mets, Hits Eighth

A.J. Ewing made his MLB debut Tuesday night, and a.j. ewing was in center field and batting eighth for the Mets. The 21-year-old reached the majors after 251 games in the minors, arriving while the club was a quarter of the way through a season that had already gone sideways.

Stearns Puts Ewing In The Lineup

David Stearns said Ewing was ready or he would not have been in center field and hitting eighth Tuesday night for his MLB debut. That decision put him straight into a demanding spot, not on the edge of the roster, and it showed the Mets wanted his bat and legs involved immediately.

Ewing had spent 12 games as high as Triple-A in the past two weeks. Before that stretch, he had played 251 games in the minors, building the kind of base that got him to this point in one shot rather than through a slow rollout.

Mets Need Life Quickly

The call-up came with the Mets described as listless and lifeless through a quarter of the season. Ewing had been capable of getting on base and then creating havoc once there, which gave the lineup a different look on a night when the club needed something more than a routine debut.

For the Mets, the move was less about ceremony than urgency. A 21-year-old prospect with 251 minor league games behind him and only 12 at Triple-A in the last two weeks stepped directly into center field, and the lineup card showed that the job was not symbolic.

That leaves Ewing in the middle of the same problem the Mets were trying to solve Tuesday night: whether a young player can turn a flat stretch into a useful jolt while the season is still young enough to change shape.