2023 Mets Draft profile: AJ Ewing

A multi-sport athlete who also played football at Springboro High School, AJ Ewing really stood out on the diamond. In 2022, he earned All-Southwestern Ohio Conference honors with a .386 batting average and 4 home runs, and this past spring, he was named Great Western Ohio Conference Player of the Year after winning the triple crown, hitting .464 with 4 home runs and 37 RBI. He made the All-Conference First Team each year from 2021-2023 and was named to the Ohio Division I Second Team this past season.

Ewing stands square at the plate, holding his hands high and wrapping his bat behind his head at 9:30. He swings with a slight leg kick and has a long, whippy stroke. He has the raw bat speed to catch up to pitches down in the zone but still needs to shorten his swing to deal with pitches up in the zone. At 6’, 175-pounds, Ewing has room to continue growing and adding muscle mass, but he still is capable of making surprisingly loud contact. When he makes square up on the ball, he is capable of posting exit velocities over 100 MPH, though he posted more high-80s and low-90s exit velocities in exhibitions and tournaments in his sophomore, junior, and senior seasons than he did 100s. He does most of his damage to his pull side and has been pull-happy in general over the course of his high school career.

Ewing has above-average speed and is a strong defender as a result. A middle infielder, he currently profiles better at second base than at shortstop as his arm is only average and would be stretched at short. That is not to say that he can’t play the position in the near long term, as he as quick-twitch athletic, showing good reaction times and plenty of range but his arm will be stretched as plays get more and more advanced at higher levels of the minor leagues.

Ewing has a commitment to the University of Alabama.