Prospect Deep Dive: Drew Gilbert
Hit: 55 | Power: 50 | Run: 55 | Arm: 60 | Field: 55 | Overall: 55
Each Friday, I aim to pick a prospect and give a deep dive into their baseball careers until this point.
This week’s installment — the Mets’ No. 3 overall prospect, Drew Gilbert.
You may be asking yourself why I started with the No. 3 overall prospect instead of the No. 1 overall.
I did give it some thought — if there was any player in the Mets’ farm system to start with, who I thought had the potential to be a Met for the longest — it’s Drew Gilbert.
Introduction
To start, Drew Gilbert is a L/L outfielder who has an abundance of energy. Listed at 5’8” and 185 pounds, he’s far from an imposing presence. That being said — he’s been described as someone who plays like their hair is on fire and is the exact type of player you want in your system. Reminds you a bit of Michael Conforto.
On August 1st, 2023, the Mets acquired two minor league outfielders for Justin Verlander. My very next thought was — they better be good.
When Max Scherzer was traded, I did believe the Mets finally decided on which ace to build around — Justin Verlander — for next years rotation. It made sense to a point. Two days later, he was traded. Last year, Verlander never reached 140 regular season innings for his $17.5 million vesting option — so it was the wise choice in the end.
Flash forward to today — the two outfielders in the trade were Drew Gilbert and Ryan Clifford who are both the No. 3 and 4 overall prospects in the Mets’ system, respectfully.
High School
While Gilbert profiles today as an outfielder — he also pitched, as well. Gilbert had a great junior year at Stillwater Area High School in Minnesota, pitching to a 7–1 record with a 0.63 ERA, notching 100 strikeouts over 55.2 innings pitched.
Oh yeah, Gilbert held his own offensively with a .400 batting average, as well.
Gilbert’s senior year in 2019 was more of the same dominance — finishing with 97 strikeouts while giving up only one run over 49 innings pitched. Offensively, Gilbert batted .370 and stole eight bases. Gilbert was selected by the Minnesota Twins in the 35th round of the 2019 draft; but didn’t end up signing.
Originally, Gilbert had committed to play collegiately at Oregon State, but decided to forgo that commitment the summer after his senior year after a coaching change.
He instead committed to Tennessee where he would begin his college career.
College
Gilbert’s first season of college was during the COVID-19 Pandemic, pitching only eight innings with ten starts in the outfield before the season was shut down. During his sophomore campaign, Gilbert ended up getting sole possession of the same starting position that he may someday play for the Mets — center field.
Gilbert was named SEC’s Newcomer of the Week twice during his sophomore season. The national spotlight finally found Gilbert when he hit a towering walk-off grand slam versus Wright State during the opening regional round of the 2021 NCAA tournament.
Worth the watch.
In addition, Gilbert was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Knoxville Regional after hitting a home run in all three games — which helped the Volunteers reach their first Super Regional in 16 years.
Gilbert finished his sophomore season starting 67 games, slashing .274/.341/.437 while collecting 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases with 62 runs batted in. After the season ended, alongside teammate RHP Blade Tidwell — the Mets No. 8 prospect — Gilbert was named to the USA Baseball National Collegiate Team after the 2021 season.
Gilbert returned for his junior season at Tennessee in 2022 as their starting center fielder and was named All SEC-First Team. Tennessee was the top ranked team in the nation from when they took it over in early April and held it until the end of May.
The Volunteers made it to the first game of the Super Regional versus Notre Dame where Drew Gilbert was ejected — and suspended one game for arguing a strike call.
Once again, worth a watch.
Gilbert did return for the third and final game of the Super Regional, but Tennessee lost, which subsequently ended their season. Gilbert finished with 58 games played —slashing .362/.455/.673 with a 32/33 K/BB ratio, 11 home runs, 21 doubles, and 70 RBIs.
Houston Astros
In July, the Houston Astros selected Gilbert 28th overall in the first round of the 2022 MLB Draft. The Mets took Jett Williams in the same round with the 14th overall pick.
Gilbert ended up signing with the Houston Astros for $2.5 million.
Gilbert debuted professionally with the Florida Complex League Astros, homering in his first at-bat. After four games, he was promoted to the Single-A Fayetteville Woodpeckers; but that stint was fairly short. Unfortunately, Gilbert’s season ended in August after he dislocated his right elbow after a collision in the outfield.
In the ten games he played, Gilbert hit .313 with two home runs. To begin his 2023 season, he was assigned to the High-A Asheville Tourists. In less than two months, Gilbert was promoted again in early May to the Corpus Christi Hooks — the Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros.
Gilbert was selected to represent the Astros at the 2023 All-Star Futures Game in July.
After the aforementioned Justin Verlander trade in the very beginning of August — Drew Gilbert was assigned to Double-A Binghamton. Over 116 games in 2023 for the Rumble Ponies, Gilbert slashed .289/.381/.487 with 18 home runs and 59 RBIs.
Gilbert began his 2024 season in Triple-A for the Syracuse Mets.
New York Mets
Unfortunately for Drew Gilbert, his 2024 in Syracuse was cut short in early April due to a high-grade right hamstring strain.
In 56 games with Triple-A Syracuse, Gilbert hit 10 home runs and slashed .215/.313/.393.
In the final six games of Syracuse’s season, Jett Williams and Drew Gilbert were both in the lineup together. Williams, the Mets’ No. 2 overall prospect, was out since April 21 himself with right wrist soreness — which eventually called for surgery.
Seeing two top prospects go down with injury to have them bounce back is extremely encouraging going forward.
Scouting report on Drew Gilbert:
“The left-handed slugger is often described as a player who performs like his hair is on fire. Once criticized for putting the ball on the ground too often, he did a better job of adding lift and pushing his pull percentage to 50.9 across all three of his stops. That allowed his average power to play in games, especially at hitter-friendly Asheville, but he projects as a hit-over-slug batter given his 5-foot-9 frame.”
“Gilbert uses above-average speed well on the basepaths and can push defenses on balls to the gaps. He got time in all three outfield spots with both the Mets and Astros, but his wheels and aggressiveness serve him just fine in center. His arm strength that helped him throw 93 mph off the mound in college also suits a move to right, if that’s where New York needs him.”
Arizona Fall League
Drew Gilbert did make some history.
In the second inning of an Arizona Fall League game, Gilbert questioned the automated check swing system after offering at a 3-1 pitch. After tapping his helmet, it signaled Gilbert wanted to challenge the umpires call that said he swung.
After allotting a few seconds for review, Gilbert ended up winning the appeal — making it the first successful checked-swing challenge.
Who knows, maybe Gilbert could be the first to successfully appeal a checked-swing by the time the systems — and Gilbert — arrive to the majors.
In 72 Arizona Fall League at-bats over 21 games, Gilbert slashed .208/.380/.403.
When thinking about the Mets future and where Drew Gilbert fits into it, center field seems to be the spot, for now. It’s possible Gilbert’s a long-term replacement to replace Brandon Nimmo in left field — or in right if Soto plays left. In addition, if Jose Siri or Tyrone Taylor don’t look great, Gilbert may have an outsiders chance to get a call. A lot of factors are currently outside Gilbert’s control.
What he can control is how he hits early into the spring and summer.
Gilbert has experience at all three outfield spots — so it’ll be interesting to see where he ends up. The DH spot for the Mets could become a way for certain prospects to get certain opportunities — pending injuries and/or poor play.
If Drew Gilbert is healthy and productive for an extended period of time — a lot of factors — but a call up to the majors sometime in 2025 shouldn’t be too far behind.