A.J. Ewing’s box score from Thursday night told a bleak story: four trips to the plate, four zeros, and another hitless game in the Mets’ loss to the Brewers.
But inside the dugout, Mets interim manager Andy Green saw something different.
“Hell of at-bats today,” Green told the 23-year-old outfielder as he learned over the railing. “They’ve been really freaking good.”
That’s been the strange part of Ewing’s August. The results have dried up, but the contact quality hasn’t disappeared with them.
Against Jacob Misiorowski, Ewing opened with a 99 mph line drive to center field, then later watched two more hard chances get erased by defense - David Hamilton diving to his left to steal a sharp ground ball, then Cooper Pratt laying out to snag a looping liner on the left side. It was the kind of night that leaves a hitter with nothing to show for good swings.
“I would say that it’s not fun not getting results, but I also think that I’ve grown a lot,” Ewing told NorthJersey.com before Friday’s game. “Every time I go through a stretch like this, I figure out more of who I am as a hitter and in the long run, I think it’s a good thing. I feel really good right now, and I’m excited to see how everything ends.”
Ewing’s first-half surge had set a much different tone. Since debuting on May 12, he flashed the kind of impact that can change a lineup in a hurry, and the final three series before the All-Star break were especially loud: his first four-hit game, three home runs, eight runs scored and five RBIs. He finished the first half with a .789 OPS, plus seven homers, 24 RBIs and 27 runs.
The second half has looked very different. Ewing said he stopped seeing the ball as well after the break, and that the change led him to try to adjust in ways that didn’t quite stick.
“I think that made me kind of do something a little different to try and feel contact and feel certain things,” Ewing said. “Once I started seeing the ball well, I still wasn’t hitting the ball well.”
He entered Friday’s game in the middle of a rough stretch: a .241 average and .591 OPS in the month, along with 18 strikeouts in 13 games to begin the second half.
Mets director of hitting Jeff Albert said the club has spent time tightening up details in Ewing’s swing path.
“When he’s good, part of the quickness is the path that his hands take to the ball,” Albert told NorthJersey.com. “I do see that being the area where we’ve really been focusing on getting in a spot where a big asset, big strength is how short, how direct he is. The consistency and quality of contact he can produce on the fastball is an important thing for him.”
The slump has also tested Ewing in a way he hadn’t faced yet in the majors, and Green and Albert both pointed to the way he’s handled it. Over the last three weeks entering Friday, Ewing was 8-for-66 (.121) with 22 strikeouts in 17 games.
There’s been some bad fortune mixed into the skid, too. In August, Ewing has hit 19 balls over 100 mph, and 12 of them have gone for outs.
“I think kind of seeing him interact with the group and focus on his work, of course, but then realize that no matter how you’re feeling, you’re not going to feel perfect or feel great all the time,” Albert said. “You still got to learn how to come out and play hard, be competitive and he’s been doing a good job of that. He has so many different ways to help the team win, so I think going through that process in the long run will be valuable for him.”
Even with the bat quiet, Ewing has kept finding ways to matter. Since the All-Star break, 12 of his 21 stolen bases have come in 36 games, and on defense he has split time between center and left field while posting a +5 outs above average.
Still, he knows where his biggest value lives.
“I feel good when I can do things to help the team win, but this game is about hitting,” Ewing said.
The slump hasn’t vanished yet, but there’s been enough under the surface to suggest he’s grinding through it rather than sinking under it.
“It’s always a fight to get back to it and it can be frustrating when you’re not feeling good,” Ewing said. “Being able to get back to it and hopefully I can do the same, it’ll feel really good.”
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