We’re 107 days from Opening Day, and the next name in my 2026 Dynasty Baseball Prospects: Daily Write-Up series heads to Queens, where one of the Mets’ most polished young hitters continued sharpening his profile in 2025. Coming in at #123 is Ryan Clifford, a left-handed slugger whose blend of zone control, mature swing decisions, and emerging game power gives him one of the safer offensive floors in the system.
Even with some baked-in swing-and-miss, Clifford’s bat speed and approach held steady as he climbed levels, and he now looks like a potential middle-of-the-order piece if the impact keeps trending upward.
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Daily Baseball Write-Up Series #123 Ryan Clifford
Syracuse has a way of humbling young hitters, but Ryan Clifford spent this year doing the opposite; he kept turning Triple-A arms into leverage points. At just 21, he paired patience with real thump and looked every bit the middle-of-the-order bat the Mets envisioned when they acquired him. Age-to-level matters here, and Clifford’s production didn’t just survive; it translated.
Clifford’s calling card is the blend we want from modern corner bats: selective aggression with game power that shows up nightly. Over 579 plate appearances, he posted a .237/.356/.826 line with a .233 ISO and 29 homers, good for a 136 wRC+, well above league average for the level. The strike-zone control is already a big-league skill; his 85 walks translate to roughly a 14.7% walk rate, while 148 strikeouts land him around 25.6% K%. Pair that with a 10.2% swinging-strike rate, and you get an encouraging picture: the whiff is manageable for this power bucket, and the patience is bankable.
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The batted-ball profile supports what your eyes see. A 40.1% fly-ball rate with 21.3% line drives is how you run a .233 ISO without selling out all contact. The distribution is even more telling: 43.9% pull backed by a healthy 32.3% oppo suggests he’s not a dead-pull merchant gaming the short porch. He can drive the ball where it’s pitched. That matters in Citi Field, where lift to the big parts of the park plays. The .237 average comes with some inherent volatility for a lofted, power-first bat, but this isn’t an all-or-nothing approach; the on-base skill keeps the floor higher than most young sluggers.
Developmentally, Clifford looks the part of a bat that’s nearly ready. He’s likely a corner outfielder/first base/DH mix in the bigs, and the bat will have to carry, but that’s the plan. The next step is tightening zone contact just enough to trim a few extra strikeouts; given the whiff rate already sits in a reasonable spot, there’s a path to a more palatable MLB K%. He won’t be a burner. His 7 steals this season are more situational than a skill, but the power-OBP combo is the feature, and it’s translating against advanced pitching at a young age. With an ETA of 2026, he’s aligning his timeline with New York’s window.
Fantasy Outlook
In Dynasty, this is a premium OBP corner bat with real juice and a top-100 trajectory. Expect outcomes built on 25–30 homer potential, strong walk rates, and RBI volume, with batting average swinging between tolerable and slightly volatile depending on contact gains. In standard 5×5 AVG leagues, he’s more category-specialist than across-the-board helper, but the power and run production should play. In OBP and Points formats, Clifford jumps a full tier; his patience is a cheat code, and the K rate, while not elite, is not disqualifying. He’s close enough to matter in 2026 redraft conversations if he opens hot, and for Dynasty managers, this is the time to buy before the debut hype inflates the price.
Ryan Clifford 💪
The Mets' No. 7 prospect crushed 29 homers across Double-A and Triple-A last season.
He's the best power hitter in New York's system 🔥
Mets' Top 10, scouting reports + more: https://t.co/IGqJc5gVwH pic.twitter.com/FistGeLY1J
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) November 9, 2025
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