St. Lucie Mets want to repeat trifecta: develop players, win games and a championship
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PORT ST. LUCIE — The St. Lucie Mets will attempt to start a repeat of a unique balance of Single-A baseball at Clover Park – winning games, maybe even a championship, while developing players to promote within the organization.
It worked to perfection last year.
St. Lucie claimed the Florida State League’s first half in 2022 with a 40-25 mark then sent many of its best contributors up to High-A Brooklyn. It followed that up with a runner-up finish in the second half, four games behind the Palm Beach Cardinals.
In the postseason, St. Lucie won games started by two Palm Beach elite right-handers – Trent Baker and Tink Hence – and disposed of the Dunedin Blue Jays twice to claim its sixth FSL championship and first since 2006.
The Mets will open their title defense Friday against the Daytona Tortugas. First pitch is scheduled for 6:10
First-year St. Lucie manager Gilbert Gomez said a tricky balance exists in the minors.
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“Obviously, you want to get them to be better, but at the same time, you want to translate those skills that they are learning into a winning environment,” said Gomez, who was the 2022 bench coach during St. Lucie’s league-best 73-56 campaign. “I think it goes hand in hand: you would never sacrifice winning in order to develop the guys or vice versa.
“I think it’s just a combination you need to have. Both of them are as important as the other.”
Last year’s team relied heavily on heavy power.
The Mets led the FSL by slugging 132 round-trippers – 18 more than the Tampa Tarpons.
While Junior Tilien belted a club-record three homers in Dunedin on May 29, no long ball last season was more important than Carlos Dominguez’s two-out, two-run, game-winning blast in the ninth inning of the championship series’ Game 1 in Dunedin.
That 6-5 win on Sept. 18 propelled the Mets to the title two days later in their home park.
Dominguez led the FSL with 20 homers while Tilien slugged 12 in just 84 games. Both return to St. Lucie and will provide a veteran presence.
“We have some guys who’ve been (at St. Lucie) before mixed in with guys like Jett Williams who is new to the team,” said the 31-year-old Gomez, a St. Lucie outfielder from 2011-14. “These guys spend so much time with each other that they’re already familiarized with each other. They know what to expect.”
In all, 18 players on the roster played on the championship team. Eleven were on the playoff roster.
Williams, 19, has already planned for his longest season of baseball.
The 2022 first-round pick from Heath, Texas, was selected 14th overall by the Mets and spent last season on the back fields playing in the Florida Complex League.
The flashy shortstop – the Mets’ No. 5 prospect -- has already had one Florida summer under his belt and played a few times at upgraded Clover Park in spring training for the New York Mets.
At 5-foot-8, 175 pounds, Williams is listed as the shortest player on the St. Lucie roster, but he said it’s a battle he’s faced his entire career and one he uses to his advantage.
“What definitely stands out is just being the smallest on the field. I’ve never been the tallest, I’ve always been the smallest on every team,” said Williams. “(I’ve heard), ‘Is he 5-8 or 5-7?’. It makes me want to work harder … I had one draft reporter tell me that if I was 6-2 I’d be a top-five pick, which is great motivation.”
Williams is regimented in his approach to the game and his goals but has fun on the diamond – with a little flair mixed in.
“I play the game the right way but add a little bit of swag to it. A little flashiness but not too overdramatic,” Williams said. “I try to stay humble, not too high or too low.”
He keeps a daily notebook of his routine and has monthly milestones written up. Also, he has a detailed “goal board” at his residence in Port St. Lucie and back home in the Lone Star State.
“I have a lot of goals set, but I take it day-by-day and trust the process. My main goal is to at the halfway point get to Brooklyn,” said Williams, who originally committed to Texas A&M but switched to Mississippi State after the Aggies fired their coaching staff.
“What he brings is a commitment to the game that is good to see from a kid that age,” Gomez said. “He’s disciplined and has a real sense of what he wants to accomplish on a day-to-day basis. Obviously, the offensive skill set and the defensive prowess are there.
“But it’s mostly his commitment to becoming a better player every single day.”
DEFENDING A TITLE
St. Lucie Mets at Clover Park:
FRIDAY: vs. Daytona, 6:10
SATURDAY: vs. Daytona, 6:10
SUNDAY: vs. Daytona, 12:10
Tickets at Stluciemets.com
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: St. Lucie Mets want to develop players, win games and a championship
