Biography:
Standing in at an imposing 6’3” the second player acquired as part of the Mets deal for Justin Verlander, Ryan Clifford is an intriguing player with a solid ceiling offensively. Clifford is from North Carolina and was drafted fairly low by Houston (the 11th round). He took a signing bonus more typical of the second round and signed with Houston.
Now with the Mets he has shown significant power but struggled to succeed in Brooklyn when not hitting a home run ball.
Resume:
MLB.com ranks Clifford in a pretty mediocre way. He does rank a 55 in both power and arm strength but winds up being hurt by poor fielding and ho-hum contact metrics. He’ll begin 2024 at the age of 20 and will likely repeat High A Brooklyn to at least start the year.
Hitting:
Contact:
MLB.com gives Clifford a generous mark of 50 for his contact but this is skewed by his early numbers in Low A. Once promoted to High A his numbers came back to earth. After being traded to the Mets he saw his numbers slide even farther as his batting average dove and his strikeout rate went way up.
Power:
Given that his other metrics aren’t amazing Clifford’s power potential winds up being underwhelming. He is not a Pete Alonso and he’s not even appearing on par with a Michael Conforto right now. Conforto remains his more ideal projection, at least with the bat.
Speed:
While he does play the outfield part time I would bet money that Clifford’s future would rapidly relegate him to a role as a team’s DH or first baseman. Brooklyn started him at first twice as often and that is going to be because of his limited range in the field.
Fielding:
One element where Clifford does make up for his slow feet in the field is with his arm. Should the Mets have rangy outfielders covering up for his shortcomings, Clifford will get a number of assists and DRS from having a very solid arm in the outfield.
Outlook:
If the Mets do not come up with a more lasting solution at DH I imagine in 2025, that Clifford will become a candidate to take DH at bats. I do not think he’s a factor for the MLB squad in the 2024 season and has a more likely trajectory of 2026.
Comp:
If you only look at the bat, you can see an element of Conforto in Clifford but I believe that Conforto looked better in the minors. That could be age. Clifford is only 20 and Conforto was still with Oregon State at the age of 21. Lets hope the numbers improve for Clifford as he has more time to adjust.
Right after the trade I made the comp to Lucas Duda, who at age 21 put up a .299/.398/.462 line at Brooklyn in 274 PA. The hits fell in more for Duda but similar BB% and power output.
That 36.4 K% for Clifford in Brooklyn is alarming.
In some ways, hitters just have to survive Brooklyn and look to get into a better hitter’s park. With the Mets’ M.O. of slow playing things, it certainly wouldn’t surprise me to see Clifford open 2024 back in Brooklyn. But if it was me, I’d move him to Double-A.
His strikeouts in a major concern and his power is suspect. He had 16 home runs with the Asheville Tourists. His home field was McCormick Stadium in Asheville. I have visited it many times. The right field dimensions are 297 ft and center field is 373 ft. and the wall is approximately 60 ft plus high. It is a charming stadium and I have fond memories when I visited it, but it really isn’t a ballpark for the minor leagues. His SLG .547 in Asheville dropped off to .376 in Brooklyn.