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PORT ST. LUCIE — Jett Williams spent his time away from baseball last season to reflect on life.
For the first summer, he could remember, Williams — the Mets’ top position player prospect — was separated from the game he loved.
In June, he underwent a TFCC debridement on his right wrist to repair damaged ligaments and cartilage. The next two months involved a tedious rehab.
The lesson he learned?
“Just find stuff that you enjoy away from the field, too, because you never know — baseball can be taken from you at any moment,” Williams said. “Try not to just always rely on baseball, baseball, baseball. Just try to have other identities because baseball is not going to define me as a human so just trying not to make it a be-all-do-all type thing.”
Williams, the quintessential baseball grinder, takes enjoyment in golf and said he’s come to appreciate time with his family.
But baseball is the focal point, and trying to fulfill his goal of becoming a major leaguer.
With his wrist finally healthy, he returned to play late last season at Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse before heading to the Arizona Fall League.
The 21-year-old infielder — who is also playing center field to increase his versatility — is trying this spring to leave another positive impression on Mets officials.
Last year, in his first major league camp, the 5-foot-6 Williams became a fast favorite of manager Carlos Mendoza and the coaching staff.
“He carried himself like a big leaguer,” Mendoza said. “He went through a lot last year and you watch him in the clubhouse like he belongs here. I want to see him be himself — go out there, control the strike zone, do damage. He’s got good bat-to-ball skills, run the bases and play defense, too.”
Mendoza added that he’s seen Williams take grounders at second base, but now he’s interested in watching him play center field.
Williams, who arrived as a shortstop in the first round of the 2022 draft, is the only Mets position player ranked in the top 100 by MLB Pipeline. Williams is ranked No. 58.
Though he received just 148 plate appearances in his shortened season, Williams won’t use the word “frustrating” to describe his situation last year.
“I think everybody kind of has to go through that,” Williams said. “I would just say that it’s part of the process. Not everything is going to go your way, it just depends on how you bounce back from it. You just kind of learn from yourself and learn from the things you need to be doing correctly on an everyday basis.”
Williams began to show life late in the season in his six games for Syracuse and it carried into the Arizona Fall League, where he produced a .764 OPS in 101 plate appearances.
“The Fall League went good,” he said. “I think it was more so just trying to find myself again and try to be normal. Kind of getting back into it and the big thing was coming back and making sure my wrist was healthy.”
Williams’ locker sits in the middle of the room in the Mets’ clubhouse, a position reserved for non-roster minor leaguers invited to camp.
Luke Ritter occupies the locker to Williams’ right. Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford have lockers in the same cluster, on the opposite side.
Williams is embracing all of it.
“I think I was comfortable here last year,” he said. “Obviously, you come into a new locker room with these big leaguers you have seen on TV – it’s just more so how they welcome you and I think they did an amazing job last year, just welcoming me with open arms.
“It just goes to show what type of team this is, that you can come in, if you are on the team or not on the team, it just helps that they welcome you and make you feel comfortable and say you do make it to the big leagues you don’t have to worry about anything. You just go out there and play.”
